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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What were the ancient ruins decorated with on the deserted island where Conan and Olivia slept?", "tokens": [ "What", "were", "the", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "on", "the", "deserted", "island", "where", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "slept", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Statues", "tokens": [ "Statues" ] }, { "text": "Lifelike statues.", "tokens": [ "Lifelike", "statues", "." ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What is the name of the city Olivia is escaping from?", "tokens": [ "What", "is", "the", "name", "of", "the", "city", "Olivia", "is", "escaping", "from", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Akif", "tokens": [ "Akif" ] }, { "text": "Akif", "tokens": [ "Akif" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What happens to the Captain of the pirate ship that docks on the deserted island?", "tokens": [ "What", "happens", "to", "the", "Captain", "of", "the", "pirate", "ship", "that", "docks", "on", "the", "deserted", "island", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Conan slays him.", "tokens": [ "Conan", "slays", "him", "." ] }, { "text": "Conan challenges and kills him", "tokens": [ "Conan", "challenges", "and", "kills", "him" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "As they leave the island, what does Conan say he will make Olivia?", "tokens": [ "As", "they", "leave", "the", "island", ",", "what", "does", "Conan", "say", "he", "will", "make", "Olivia", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Queen of the Blue Sea", "tokens": [ "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea" ] }, { "text": "Queen of the Blue Sea", "tokens": [ "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Where was Conan hiding out when he found Olivia?", "tokens": [ "Where", "was", "Conan", "hiding", "out", "when", "he", "found", "Olivia", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Marshes", "tokens": [ "Marshes" ] }, { "text": "In the reeds", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "reeds" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What do the pirates nickname the island?", "tokens": [ "What", "do", "the", "pirates", "nickname", "the", "island", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "\"Devil Island\"", "tokens": [ "Devil", "Island" ] }, { "text": "the Devil Island", "tokens": [ "the", "Devil", "Island" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What was the title of the story?", "tokens": [ "What", "was", "the", "title", "of", "the", "story", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Shadows in the Moonlight", "tokens": [ "Shadows", "in", "the", "Moonlight" ] }, { "text": "shadows in the moonlight", "tokens": [ "shadows", "in", "the", "moonlight" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Who Fled the city of Akif?", "tokens": [ "Who", "Fled", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Olivia", "tokens": [ "Olivia" ] }, { "text": "Olivia", "tokens": [ "Olivia" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Where did they stay the first night?", "tokens": [ "Where", "did", "they", "stay", "the", "first", "night", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "In ancient ruins with lifelike statues", "tokens": [ "In", "ancient", "ruins", "with", "lifelike", "statues" ] }, { "text": "In some ruins", "tokens": [ "In", "some", "ruins" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What was Conan more concerned about?", "tokens": [ "What", "was", "Conan", "more", "concerned", "about", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Something lurking in the jungle", "tokens": [ "Something", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle" ] }, { "text": "What lurked in the jungle", "tokens": [ "What", "lurked", "in", "the", "jungle" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What comes into port on the island?", "tokens": [ "What", "comes", "into", "port", "on", "the", "island", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "A pirate ship", "tokens": [ "A", "pirate", "ship" ] }, { "text": "A pirate ship", "tokens": [ "A", "pirate", "ship" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What was happening back at the ruins?", "tokens": [ "What", "was", "happening", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "a horrific slaughter", "tokens": [ "a", "horrific", "slaughter" ] }, { "text": "Conan is held captive by drunk pirates", "tokens": [ "Conan", "is", "held", "captive", "by", "drunk", "pirates" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Who was made \"Queen of the Blue Sea\"?", "tokens": [ "Who", "was", "made", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Olivia", "tokens": [ "Olivia" ] }, { "text": "olivia ", "tokens": [ "olivia" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "At the start of story, what is Olivia escaping?", "tokens": [ "At", "the", "start", "of", "story", ",", "what", "is", "Olivia", "escaping", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Life in the city of Akif, under her former master, Shah Amurath.", "tokens": [ "Life", "in", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "under", "her", "former", "master", ",", "Shah", "Amurath", "." ] }, { "text": "She is running from Shah Amurath, a sadistic rogue.", "tokens": [ "She", "is", "running", "from", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "." ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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", "tokens": [ "Who", "does", "the", "mad", "man", "who", "defeats", "Olivia", "s", "pursuer", "turn", "out", "to", "be", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Conan the Cimmerian.", "tokens": [ "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", "." ] }, { "text": "Conan", "tokens": [ "Conan" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Where do Conan and Olivia seek refuge to take a rest?", "tokens": [ "Where", "do", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "seek", "refuge", "to", "take", "a", "rest", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "In ancient ruins on a deserted island.", "tokens": [ "In", "ancient", "ruins", "on", "a", "deserted", "island", "." ] }, { "text": "Ancient ruins", "tokens": [ "Ancient", "ruins" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "When Conan and Olivia spend the night in the ancient ruins, what is Olivia concerned about?", "tokens": [ "When", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "spend", "the", "night", "in", "the", "ancient", "ruins", ",", "what", "is", "Olivia", "concerned", "about", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "That the statues were once men, and they will come to life and attack them. ", "tokens": [ "That", "the", "statues", "were", "once", "men", ",", "and", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "and", "attack", "them", "." ] }, { "text": "Statues coming to life ", "tokens": [ "Statues", "coming", "to", "life" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What do the pirates do with Conan after they tie him up?", "tokens": [ "What", "do", "the", "pirates", "do", "with", "Conan", "after", "they", "tie", "him", "up", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "They talk about what to do with him, drink too much, and fall asleep.", "tokens": [ "They", "talk", "about", "what", "to", "do", "with", "him", ",", "drink", "too", "much", ",", "and", "fall", "asleep", "." ] }, { "text": "take him to ruins", "tokens": [ "take", "him", "to", "ruins" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What followed Olivia through the jungle and back to the ruins?", "tokens": [ "What", "followed", "Olivia", "through", "the", "jungle", "and", "back", "to", "the", "ruins", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "A giant man-ape.", "tokens": [ "A", "giant", "man-ape", "." ] }, { "text": "a giant man-ape", "tokens": [ "a", "giant", "man-ape" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What happens when Conan is confronted by the pirates at the end of the story?", "tokens": [ "What", "happens", "when", "Conan", "is", "confronted", "by", "the", "pirates", "at", "the", "end", "of", "the", "story", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "The pirates make him their captain.", "tokens": [ "The", "pirates", "make", "him", "their", "captain", "." ] }, { "text": "He challenges them, and they accept him as captain", "tokens": [ "He", "challenges", "them", ",", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "captain" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What body of water is Olivia corned in a marsh near?", "tokens": [ "What", "body", "of", "water", "is", "Olivia", "corned", "in", "a", "marsh", "near", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Vilayet Sea", "tokens": [ "Vilayet", "Sea" ] }, { "text": "Vilayet sea", "tokens": [ "Vilayet", "sea" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What is the newcomers' name that Olivia meets?", "tokens": [ "What", "is", "the", "newcomers", "'", "name", "that", "Olivia", "meets", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Conan", "tokens": [ "Conan" ] }, { "text": "Conan the Cimmerian ", "tokens": [ "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Where does Olivia and Conan hide after fleeing Shuh Amurath?", "tokens": [ "Where", "does", "Olivia", "and", "Conan", "hide", "after", "fleeing", "Shuh", "Amurath", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Boat", "tokens": [ "Boat" ] }, { "text": "In a boat", "tokens": [ "In", "a", "boat" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm\nconcept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared\nwith anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project\nGutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.\n\nProject Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed\neditions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.\nunless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What does Olivia think of the statues in the moonlight?", "tokens": [ "What", "does", "Olivia", "think", "of", "the", "statues", "in", "the", "moonlight", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "That they will come to life", "tokens": [ "That", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life" ] }, { "text": "That they will come to life. ", "tokens": [ "That", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "." ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What shows up at the deserted island?", "tokens": [ "What", "shows", "up", "at", "the", "deserted", "island", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Pirate ship", "tokens": [ "Pirate", "ship" ] }, { "text": "A man-ape", "tokens": [ "A", "man-ape" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "According to the pirates, what is the name of the island?", "tokens": [ "According", "to", "the", "pirates", ",", "what", "is", "the", "name", "of", "the", "island", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Devil Island", "tokens": [ "Devil", "Island" ] }, { "text": "Devil Island.", "tokens": [ "Devil", "Island", "." ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What did Conan say he will do to Olivia?", "tokens": [ "What", "did", "Conan", "say", "he", "will", "do", "to", "Olivia", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea\"", "tokens": [ "Make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea" ] }, { "text": "Make her the queen of the blue sea", "tokens": [ "Make", "her", "the", "queen", "of", "the", "blue", "sea" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm\nconcept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared\nwith anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project\nGutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.\n\nProject Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed\neditions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.\nunless a copyright notice is included. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Who is chasing and pursuing olivia?", "tokens": [ "Who", "is", "chasing", "and", "pursuing", "olivia", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Shah Amurath is chasing Olivia.", "tokens": [ "Shah", "Amurath", "is", "chasing", "Olivia", "." ] }, { "text": "Shah", "tokens": [ "Shah" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What knocks Conan unconscious?", "tokens": [ "What", "knocks", "Conan", "unconscious", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "A stone from a ling knocks him unconscious.", "tokens": [ "A", "stone", "from", "a", "ling", "knocks", "him", "unconscious", "." ] }, { "text": "a stone", "tokens": [ "a", "stone" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What nickname do the pirates give the island?", "tokens": [ "What", "nickname", "do", "the", "pirates", "give", "the", "island", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Devil Island.", "tokens": [ "Devil", "Island", "." ] }, { "text": "devil island", "tokens": [ "devil", "island" ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Who becomes the new captain of the pirate ship?", "tokens": [ "Who", "becomes", "the", "new", "captain", "of", "the", "pirate", "ship", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Conan becomes the new captain.", "tokens": [ "Conan", "becomes", "the", "new", "captain", "." ] }, { "text": "Conan becomes the new captain of the pirate ship.", "tokens": [ "Conan", "becomes", "the", "new", "captain", "of", "the", "pirate", "ship", "." ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n www.gutenberg.org\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What kind of queen does Olivia become?", "tokens": [ "What", "kind", "of", "queen", "does", "Olivia", "become", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Queen of the Blue Sea.", "tokens": [ "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ] }, { "text": "Queen of the Blue Sea.", "tokens": [ "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ] } ]
{ "id": "00950a3641e6a28b04a6fabf6334140e2deaa9fd", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42188.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 90192, "word_count": 17670, "start": "Produced by Greg", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.\nConan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.\nA pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.\nOlivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.\nThe two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the \"devil island.\" Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her \"Queen of the Blue Sea.\"", "tokens": [ "The", "story", "begins", "when", "a", "female", "lovely", "named", "Olivia", ",", "having", "fled", "captivity", "from", "the", "city", "of", "Akif", ",", "is", "chased", "down", "and", "cornered", "in", "a", "marsh", ",", "on", "the", "edge", "of", "the", "Vilayet", "Sea", ".", "Her", "pursuer", "and", "former", "master", "is", "a", "sadistic", "rogue", "named", "Shah", "Amurath", ".", "But", "before", "he", "can", "lay", "hands", "on", "her", ",", "a", "figure", "rises", "from", "the", "reeds", ".", "The", "newcomer", "has", "seen", "all", "his", "friends", "betrayed", "and", "treacherously", "cut", "down", "to", "a", "man", "before", "escaping", "into", "the", "marshes", ".", "There", "he", "has", "hidden", "out", "for", "so", "long", "he", "is", "nearly", "mad", ".", "The", "newcomer", "quickly", "dispatches", "Shah", "Amurath", ",", "then", "he", "and", "Olivia", "hop", "in", "a", "boat", "and", "decide", "to", "lie", "low", "for", "a", "little", "while", ".", "Only", "then", "does", "the", "newcomer", "identify", "himself", ":", "Conan", "the", "Cimmerian", ".", "Conan", "and", "Olivia", "find", "their", "way", "to", "a", "dark", "and", "apparently", "deserted", "island", ",", "where", "they", "spend", "the", "night", "sleeping", "in", "ancient", "ruins", "decorated", "with", "remarkably", "lifelike", "statues", ".", "Olivia", "has", "a", "dream", "in", "which", "she", "sees", "a", "band", "of", "men", "turned", "into", "those", "statues", "and", "wakes", "convinced", "they", "will", "come", "to", "life", "in", "the", "moonlight", ".", "Conan", "is", "less", "than", "convinced", "of", "Olivia", "s", "fears", ";", "he", "is", "more", "concerned", "by", "whatever", "it", "is", "lurking", "in", "the", "jungle", ",", "lobbing", "giant", "boulders", "at", "the", "two", "fugitives", ".", "A", "pirate", "ship", "makes", "port", "on", "the", "island", ".", "Leaving", "Olivia", "hidden", "in", "the", "brush", ",", "Conan", "challenges", "their", "captain", ",", "an", "old", "rival", ".", "He", "slays", "the", "pirate", "captain", ",", "but", "is", "knocked", "unconscious", "by", "a", "stone", "from", "a", "sling", ".", "The", "pirates", "bind", "him", "and", "take", "him", "with", "them", "to", "the", "ruins", "where", "they", "discuss", "his", "fate", ",", "until", "they", "pass", "out", "drunk", ".", "Olivia", "meanwhile", ",", "narrowly", "escapes", "from", "a", "massive", "and", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursues", "her", "up", "to", "the", "ruins", ".", "Olivia", "sneaks", "past", "the", "drunken", "and", "sleeping", "pirates", "and", "frees", "Conan", ".", "Conan", "then", "slays", "the", "dark", "figure", "that", "pursued", "Olivia", ",", "a", "giant", "man-ape", ",", "which", "had", "also", "been", "hurling", "the", "boulders", "at", "them", ".", "As", "Conan", "recovers", "from", "his", "battle", "with", "the", "man-ape", ",", "they", "hear", "the", "beginning", "of", "a", "horrific", "slaughter", "back", "at", "the", "ruins", ".", "The", "two", "quickly", "head", "back", "to", "the", "deserted", "pirate", "ship", ".", "As", "Conan", "prepares", "the", "ship", "to", "sail", ",", "a", "band", "of", "beaten", "and", "bedraggled", "pirates", "comes", "and", "asks", "to", "come", "aboard", "and", "leave", "the", "devil", "island", ".", "Conan", "challenges", "them", "and", "they", "accept", "him", "as", "their", "captain", ".", "At", "the", "end", "Olivia", "begs", "Conan", "to", "allow", "her", "to", "stay", "with", "him", ",", "and", "he", ",", "laughing", ",", "accepts", ",", "saying", "he", "will", "make", "her", "Queen", "of", "the", "Blue", "Sea", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Moonlight_(story)", "title": "Shadows in the Moonlight (story)" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nTitle: Shadows in the Moonlight\n\nAuthor: Robert E. Howard\n\nRelease Date: February 24, 2013 [EBook #42188]\n\nLanguage: English\n\n\n* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n\n\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT\n\n By Robert E. Howard\n\n [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in Weird Tales\n April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nA swift crashing of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a\ndespairing cry. From the dying steed there staggered up its rider, a\nslender girl in sandals and girdled tunic. Her dark hair fell over her\nwhite shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped animal. She did not\nlook at the jungle of reeds that hemmed in the little clearing, nor at\nthe blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her. Her wide-eyed gaze\nwas fixed in agonized intensity on the horseman who pushed through the\nreedy screen and dismounted before her.\n\nHe was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel. From head to heel he was\nclad in light silvered mesh-mail that fitted his supple form like a\nglove. From under the dome-shaped, gold-chased helmet his brown eyes\nregarded her mockingly.\n\n'Stand back!' her voice shrilled with terror. 'Touch me not, Shah\nAmurath, or I will throw myself into the water and drown!'\n\nHe laughed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding from a\nsilken sheath.\n\n'No, you will not drown, Olivia, daughter of confusion, for the marge is\ntoo shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps. You\ngave me a merry chase, by the gods, and all my men are far behind us.\nBut there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Irem for long.'\nHe nodded at the tall, slender-legged desert stallion behind him.\n\n'Let me go!' begged the girl, tears of despair staining her face. 'Have\nI not suffered enough? Is there any humiliation, pain or degradation you\nhave not heaped on me? How long must my torment last?'\n\n'As long as I find pleasure in your whimperings, your pleas, tears and\nwrithings,' he answered with a smile that would have seemed gentle to a\nstranger. 'You are strangely virile, Olivia. I wonder if I shall ever\nweary of you, as I have always wearied of women before. You are ever\nfresh and unsullied, in spite of me. Each new day with you brings a new\ndelight.\n\n'But come--let us return to Akif, where the people are still feting the\nconqueror of the miserable _kozaki_; while he, the conqueror, is engaged\nin recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!'\n\n'No!' She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely among the\nreeds.\n\n'Yes!' His flash of open anger was like a spark struck from flint. With\na quickness her tender limbs could not approximate, he caught her wrist,\ntwisting it in pure wanton cruelty until she screamed and sank to her\nknees.\n\n'Slut! I should drag you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be\nmerciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall\nhumbly thank me, while--'\n\nHe released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashing\nout, as a terrible apparition burst from the reedy jungle sounding an\ninarticulate cry of hate.\n\nOlivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a\nsavage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly\nmenace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loincloth,\nwhich was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane\nwas matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood\non his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he\ngripped in his right hand. From under the tangle of his locks, bloodshot\neyes glared like coals of blue fire.\n\n'You Hyrkanian dog!' mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent. 'The\ndevils of vengeance have brought you here!'\n\n'_Kozak!_' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of\nyou escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars\nRiver.'\n\n'All but me, damn you!' cried the other. 'Oh, I've dreamed of such a\nmeeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or\nlay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire\nup to my mouth--I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh,\ngods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!'\n\nThe stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold. His jaws champed\nspasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips.\n\n'Keep back!' ordered Shah Amurath, watching him narrowly.\n\n'Ha!' It was like the bark of a timber wolf. 'Shah Amurath, the great\nLord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you--you, who fed my\ncomrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and\nmaimed and mutilated them--_ai_, you dog, you filthy dog!' His voice\nrose to a maddened scream, and he charged.\n\nIn spite of the terror of his wild appearance, Olivia looked to see him\nfall at the first crossing of the blades. Madman or savage, what could\nhe do, naked, against the mailed chief of Akif?\n\nThere was an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming barely\nto touch each other and leap apart; then the broadsword flashed past the\nsaber and descended terrifically on Shah Amurath's shoulder. Olivia\ncried out at the fury of that stroke. Above the crunch of the rending\nmail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder-bone. The Hyrkanian\nreeled back, suddenly ashen, blood spurting over the links of his\nhauberk; his saber slipped from his nerveless fingers.\n\n'Quarter!' he gasped.\n\n'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice.\n'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'\n\nOlivia closed her eyes. This was no longer battle, but butchery,\nfrantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which\nculminated the sufferings of battle, massacre, torture, and fear-ridden,\nthirst-maddened, hunger-haunted flight. Though Olivia knew that Shah\nAmurath deserved no mercy or pity from any living creature, yet she\nclosed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the\nsight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a\nbutcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased.\n\nShe opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away from a gory\ntravesty that only vaguely resembled a human being. The man's breast\nheaved with exhaustion or passion; his brow was beaded with sweat; his\nright hand was splashed with blood.\n\nHe did not speak to her, or even glance toward her. She saw him stride\nthrough the reeds that grew at the water's edge, stoop, and tug at\nsomething. A boat wallowed out of its hiding-place among the stalks.\nThen she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action.\n\n'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him. 'Do not\nleave me! Take me with you!'\n\nHe wheeled and stared at her. There was a difference in his bearing. His\nbloodshot eyes were sane. It was as if the blood he had just shed had\nquenched the fire of his frenzy.\n\n'Who are you?' he demanded.\n\n'I am called Olivia. I was _his_ captive. I ran away. He followed me.\nThat's why he came here. Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not\nfar behind him. They will find his corpse--they will find me near\nit--oh!' She moaned in her terror and wrung her white hands.\n\nHe stared at her in perplexity.\n\n'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded. 'I am a barbarian, and I\nknow from your looks that you fear me.'\n\n'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble. 'My flesh\ncrawls at the horror of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh,\nlet me go with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me\nbeside their dead lord.'\n\n'Come, then.' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat,\nshrinking from contact with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he\nstepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle,\nworked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out\ninto open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great,\nsmooth, even strokes, the heavy muscles of arms and shoulders and back\nrippling in rhythm to his exertions.\n\nThere was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man\ntugging at the oars. She watched him with timorous fascination. It was\nevident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the\nHyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the\nbarbarian. His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle\nand his hiding in the marshes, reflected that same untamed wildness, but\nthey were neither evil nor degenerate.\n\n'Who are you?' she asked. 'Shah Amurath called you a _kozak_; were you\nof that band?'\n\n'I am Conan, of Cimmeria,' he grunted. 'I was with the _kozaki_, as the\nHyrkanian dogs called us.'\n\nShe knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond\nthe farthest boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.\n\n'I am a daughter of the King of Ophir,' she said. 'My father sold me to\na Shemite chief, because I would not marry a prince of Koth.'\n\nThe Cimmerian grunted in surprize.\n\nHer lips twisted in a bitter smile. 'Aye, civilized men sell their\nchildren as slaves to savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric,\nConan of Cimmeria.'\n\n'We do not sell our children,' he growled, his chin jutting truculently.\n\n'Well--I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to\nbuy the good will of Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought\nto Akif of the purple gardens. Then--' She shuddered and hid her face in\nher hands.\n\n'I should be lost to all shame,' she said presently. 'Yet each memory\nstings me like a slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until\nsome weeks agone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of\ninvaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned\nin triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness\nand rejoicing, I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a\nstolen horse. I had thought to escape--but he followed, and about midday\ncame up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then\nyou came.'\n\n'I was lying hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian. 'I was one of\nthose dissolute rogues, the Free Companions, who burned and looted along\nthe borders. There were five thousand of us, from a score of races and\ntribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern\nKoth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we\nwere out of employment; so we took to plundering the outlying dominions\nof Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago Shah Amurath trapped\nus near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies\nwere black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of\nfighting, some tried to break through to the north, some to the west. I\ndoubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with horsemen riding down\nthe fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the\nmarshes that border this part of Vilayet.\n\n'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before\nyesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for\njust such fugitives as I. I've squirmed and burrowed and hidden like a\nsnake, feasting on musk-rats I caught and ate raw, for lack of fire to\ncook them. This dawn I found this boat hidden among the reeds. I hadn't\nintended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah\nAmurath, I knew his mailed dogs would be close at hand.'\n\n'And what now?'\n\n'We shall doubtless be pursued. If they fail to see the marks left by\nthe boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that\nwe took to sea, after they fail to find us among the marshes. But we\nhave a start, and I'm going to haul at these oars until we reach a safe\nplace.'\n\n'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly. 'Vilayet is an\nHyrkanian pond.'\n\n'Some folk don't think so,' grinned Conan grimly; 'notably the slaves\nthat have escaped from galleys and become pirates.'\n\n'But what are your plans?'\n\n'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles.\nWe still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern\nboundaries. I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them.\nThen we'll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the\nuninhabited steppes.'\n\n'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked. 'And we shall starve\non the steppes.'\n\n'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me.'\n\n'I am sorry.' She bowed her shapely dark head. 'Pirates, storms,\nstarvation--they are all kinder than the people of Turan.'\n\n'Aye.' His dark face grew somber. 'I haven't done with them yet. Be at\nease, girl. Storms are rare on Vilayet at this time of year. If we make\nthe steppes, we shall not starve. I was reared in a naked land. It was\nthose cursed marshes, with their stench and stinging flies, that nigh\nunmanned me. I am at home in the high lands. As for pirates--' He\ngrinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars.\n\nThe sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire. The\nblue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft\ndark velvet, clustered with stars and the mirrors of stars. Olivia\nreclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and\nunreal. She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair,\nstars beneath her as well as above. Her silent companion was etched\nvaguely against the softer darkness. There was no break or falter in the\nrhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her\nacross the dark lake of Death. But the edge of her fear was dulled, and,\nlulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.\n\nDawn was in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger. It\nwas a change in the motion of the boat that had roused her; Conan was\nresting on his oars, gazing beyond her. She realized that he had rowed\nall night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance. She\ntwisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and\nshrubbery rising from the water's edge and sweeping away in a wide\ncurve, enclosing a small bay whose waters lay still as blue glass.\n\n'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan.\n'They are supposed to be uninhabited. I've heard the Hyrkanians seldom\nvisit them. Besides, they generally hug the shores in their galleys, and\nwe have come a long way. Before sunset we were out of sight of the\nmainland.'\n\nWith a few strokes he brought the boat in to shore and made the painter\nfast to the arching root of a tree which rose from the water's edge.\nStepping ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia. She took it,\nwincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the\ndynamic strength that lurked in the barbarian's thews.\n\nA dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay. Then\nsomewhere, far back among the trees, a bird lifted its morning song. A\nbreeze whispered through the leaves, and set them to murmuring. Olivia\nfound herself listening intently for something, she knew not what. What\nmight be lurking amid those nameless woodlands?\n\nAs she peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, something\nswept into the sunlight with a swift whirl of wings: a great parrot\nwhich dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming image\nof jade and crimson. It turned its crested head sidewise and regarded\nthe invaders with glittering eyes of jet.\n\n'Crom!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Here is the grandfather of all parrots.\nHe must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdom of his eyes.\nWhat mysteries do you guard, Wise Devil?'\n\nAbruptly the bird spread its flaming wings and, soaring from its perch,\ncried out harshly: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' and with a wild\nscreech of horribly human laughter, rushed away through the trees to\nvanish in the opalescent shadows.\n\nOlivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of nameless foreboding\ntouch her supple spine.\n\n'What did it say?' she whispered.\n\n'Human words, I'll swear,' answered Conan; 'but in what tongue I can't\nsay.'\n\n'Nor I,' returned the girl. 'Yet it must have learned them from human\nlips. Human, or--' she gazed into the leafy fastness and shuddered\nslightly, without knowing why.\n\n'Crom, I'm hungry!' grunted the Cimmerian. 'I could eat a whole buffalo.\nWe'll look for fruit; but first I'm going to cleanse myself of this\ndried mud and blood. Hiding in marshes is foul business.'\n\nSo saying, he laid aside his sword, and wading out shoulder-deep into\nthe blue water, went about his ablutions. When he emerged, his clean-cut\nbronze limbs shone, his streaming black mane was no longer matted. His\nblue eyes, though they smoldered with unquenchable fire, were no longer\nmurky or bloodshot. But the tigerish suppleness of limb and the\ndangerous aspect of feature were not altered.\n\nStrapping on his sword once more, he motioned the girl to follow him,\nand they left the shore, passing under the leafy arches of the great\nbranches. Underfoot lay a short green sward which cushioned their tread.\nBetween the trunks of the trees they caught glimpses of faery-like\nvistas.\n\nPresently Conan grunted in pleasure at the sight of golden and russet\nglobes hanging in clusters among the leaves. Indicating that the girl\nshould seat herself on a fallen tree, he filled her lap with the exotic\ndelicacies, and then himself fell to with unconcealed gusto.\n\n'Ishtar!' said he, between mouthfuls. 'Since Ilbars I have lived on\nrats, and roots I dug out of the stinking mud. This is sweet to the\npalate, though not very filling. Still, it will serve if we eat enough.'\n\nOlivia was too busy to reply. The sharp edge of the Cimmerian's hunger\nblunted, he began to gaze at his fair companion with more interest than\npreviously, noting the lustrous clusters of her dark hair, the\npeach-bloom tints of her dainty skin, and the rounded contours of her\nlithe figure which the scanty silk tunic displayed to full advantage.\n\nFinishing her meal, the object of his scrutiny looked up, and meeting\nhis burning, slit-eyed gaze, she changed color and the remnants of the\nfruit slipped from her fingers.\n\nWithout comment, he indicated with a gesture that they should continue\ntheir explorations, and rising, she followed him out of the trees and\ninto a glade, the farther end of which was bounded by a dense thicket.\nAs they stepped into the open there was a ripping crash in this thicket,\nand Conan, bounding aside and carrying the girl with him, narrowly saved\nthem from something that rushed through the air and struck a tree-trunk\nwith a thunderous impact.\n\nWhipping out his sword, Conan bounded across the glade and plunged into\nthe thicket. Silence ensued, while Olivia crouched on the sward,\nterrified and bewildered. Presently Conan emerged, a puzzled scowl on\nhis face.\n\n'Nothing in that thicket,' he growled. 'But there was something--'\n\nHe studied the missile that had so narrowly missed them, and grunted\nincredulously, as if unable to credit his own senses. It was a huge\nblock of greenish stone which lay on the sward at the foot of the tree,\nwhose wood its impact had splintered.\n\n'A strange stone to find on an uninhabited island,' growled Conan.\n\nOlivia's lovely eyes dilated in wonder. The stone was a symmetrical\nblock, indisputably cut and shaped by human hands. And it was\nastonishingly massive. The Cimmerian grasped it with both hands, and\nwith legs braced and the muscles standing out on his arms and back in\nstraining knots, he heaved it above his head and cast it from him,\nexerting every ounce of nerve and sinew. It fell a few feet in front of\nhim. Conan swore.\n\n'No man living could throw that rock across this glade. It's a task for\nsiege engines. Yet here there are no mangonels or ballistas.'\n\n'Perhaps it was thrown by some such engine from afar,' she suggested.\n\nHe shook his head. 'It didn't fall from above. It came from yonder\nthicket. See how the twigs are broken? It was thrown as a man might\nthrow a pebble. But who? What? Come!'\n\nShe hesitantly followed him into the thicket. Inside the outer ring of\nleafy brush, the undergrowth was less dense. Utter silence brooded over\nall. The springy sward gave no sign of footprint. Yet from this\nmysterious thicket had hurtled that boulder, swift and deadly. Conan\nbent closer to the sward, where the grass was crushed down here and\nthere. He shook his head angrily. Even to his keen eyes it gave no clue\nas to what had stood or trodden there. His gaze roved to the green roof\nabove their heads, a solid ceiling of thick leaves and interwoven\narches. And he froze suddenly.\n\nThen rising, sword in hand, he began to back away, thrusting Olivia\nbehind him.\n\n'Out of here, quick!' he urged in a whisper that congealed the girl's\nblood.\n\n'What is it? What do you see?'\n\n'Nothing,' he answered guardedly, not halting his wary retreat.\n\n'But what is it, then? What lurks in this thicket?'\n\n'Death!' he answered, his gaze still fixed on the brooding jade arches\nthat shut out the sky.\n\nOnce out of the thicket, he took her hand and led her swiftly through\nthe thinning trees, until they mounted a grassy slope, sparsely treed,\nand emerged upon a low plateau, where the grass grew taller and the\ntrees were few and scattered. And in the midst of that plateau rose a\nlong broad structure of crumbling greenish stone.\n\nThey gazed in wonder. No legends named such a building on any island of\nVilayet. They approached it warily, seeing that moss and lichen crawled\nover the stones, and the broken roof gaped to the sky. On all sides lay\nbits and shards of masonry, half hidden in the waving grass, giving the\nimpression that once many buildings rose there, perhaps a whole town.\nBut now only the long hall-like structure rose against the sky, and its\nwalls leaned drunkenly among the crawling vines.\n\nWhatever doors had once guarded its portals had long rotted away. Conan\nand his companion stood in the broad entrance and stared inside.\nSunlight streamed in through gaps in the walls and roof, making the\ninterior a dim weave of light and shadow. Grasping his sword firmly,\nConan entered, with the slouching gait of a hunting panther, sunken head\nand noiseless feet. Olivia tiptoed after him.\n\nOnce within, Conan grunted in surprize, and Olivia stifled a scream.\n\n'Look! Oh, look!'\n\n'I see,' he answered. 'Nothing to fear. They are statues.'\n\n'But how life-like--and how evil!' she whispered, drawing close to him.\n\nThey stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered\nwith dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines,\ngrowing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat\nand undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the\nsides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a\nstrange figure.\n\nThey were statues, apparently of iron, black and shining as if\ncontinually polished. They were life-sized, depicting tall, lithely\npowerful men, with cruel hawk-like faces. They were naked, and every\nswell, depression and contour of joint and sinew was represented with\nincredible realism. But the most life-like feature was their proud,\nintolerant faces. These features were not cast in the same mold. Each\nface possessed its own individual characteristics, though there was a\ntribal likeness between them all. There was none of the monotonous\nuniformity of decorative art, in the faces at least.\n\n'They seem to be listening--and waiting!' whispered the girl uneasily.\n\nConan rang his hilt against one of the images.\n\n'Iron,' he pronounced. 'But Crom! In what molds were they cast?'\n\nHe shook his head and shrugged his massive shoulders in puzzlement.\n\nOlivia glanced timidly about the great silent hall. Only the ivy-grown\nstones, the tendril-clasped pillars, with the dark figures brooding\nbetween them, met her gaze. She shifted uneasily and wished to be gone,\nbut the images held a strange fascination for her companion. He examined\nthem in detail, and barbarian-like, tried to break off their limbs. But\ntheir material resisted his best efforts. He could neither disfigure nor\ndislodge from its niche a single image. At last he desisted, swearing in\nhis wonder.\n\n'What manner of men were these copied from?' he inquired of the world at\nlarge. 'These figures are black, yet they are not like negroes. I have\nnever seen their like.'\n\n'Let us go into the sunlight,' urged Olivia, and he nodded, with a\nbaffled glance at the brooding shapes along the walls.\n\nSo they passed out of the dusky hall into the clear blaze of the summer\nsun. She was surprized to note its position in the sky; they had spent\nmore time in the ruins than she had guessed.\n\n'Let us take to the boat again,' she suggested. 'I am afraid here. It is\na strange evil place. We do not know when we may be attacked by whatever\ncast the rock.'\n\n'I think we're safe as long as we're not under the trees,' he answered.\n'Come.'\n\nThe plateau, whose sides fell away toward the wooded shores on the east,\nwest and south, sloped upward toward the north to abut on a tangle of\nrocky cliffs, the highest point of the island. Thither Conan took his\nway, suiting his long stride to his companion's gait. From time to time\nhis glance rested inscrutably upon her, and she was aware of it.\n\nThey reached the northern extremity of the plateau, and stood gazing up\nthe steep pitch of the cliffs. Trees grew thickly along the rim of the\nplateau east and west of the cliffs, and clung to the precipitous\nincline. Conan glanced at these trees suspiciously, but he began the\nascent, helping his companion on the climb. The slope was not sheer, and\nwas broken by ledges and boulders. The Cimmerian, born in a hill\ncountry, could have run up it like a cat, but Olivia found the going\ndifficult. Again and again she felt herself lifted lightly off her feet\nand over some obstacle that would have taxed her strength to surmount,\nand her wonder grew at the sheer physical power of the man. She no\nlonger found his touch repugnant. There was a promise of protection in\nhis iron clasp.\n\nAt last they stood on the ultimate pinnacle, their hair stirring in the\nsea wind. From their feet the cliffs fell away sheerly three or four\nhundred feet to a narrow tangle of woodlands bordering the beach.\nLooking southward they saw the whole island lying like a great oval\nmirror, its bevelled edges sloping down swiftly into a rim of green,\nexcept where it broke in the pitch of the cliffs. As far as they could\nsee, on all sides stretched the blue waters, still, placid, fading into\ndreamy hazes of distance.\n\n'The sea is still,' sighed Olivia. 'Why should we not take up our\njourney again?'\n\nConan, poised like a bronze statue on the cliffs, pointed northward.\nStraining her eyes, Olivia saw a white fleck that seemed to hang\nsuspended in the aching haze.\n\n'What is it?'\n\n'A sail.'\n\n'Hyrkanians?'\n\n'Who can tell, at this distance?'\n\n'They will anchor here--search the island for us!' she cried in quick\npanic.\n\n'I doubt it. They come from the north, so they can not be searching for\nus. They may stop for some other reason, in which case we'll have to\nhide as best we can. But I believe it's either pirate, or an Hyrkanian\ngalley returning from some northern raid. In the latter case they are\nnot likely to anchor here. But we can't put to sea until they've gone\nout of sight, for they're coming from the direction in which we must go.\nDoubtless they'll pass the island tonight, and at dawn we can go on our\nway.'\n\n'Then we must spend the night here?' she shivered.\n\n'It's safest.'\n\n'Then let us sleep here, on the crags,' she urged.\n\nHe shook his head, glancing at the stunted trees, at the marching woods\nbelow, a green mass which seemed to send out tendrils straggling up the\nsides of the cliffs.\n\n'Here are too many trees. We'll sleep in the ruins.'\n\nShe cried out in protest.\n\n'Nothing will harm you there,' he soothed. 'Whatever threw the stone at\nus did not follow us out of the woods. There was nothing to show that\nany wild thing lairs in the ruins. Besides, you are soft-skinned, and\nused to shelter and dainties. I could sleep naked in the snow and feel\nno discomfort, but the dew would give you cramps, were we to sleep in\nthe open.'\n\nOlivia helplessly acquiesced, and they descended the cliffs, crossed the\nplateau and once more approached the gloomy, age-haunted ruins. By this\ntime the sun was sinking below the plateau rim. They had found fruit in\nthe trees near the cliffs, and these formed their supper, both food and\ndrink.\n\nThe southern night swept down quickly, littering the dark blue sky with\ngreat white stars, and Conan entered the shadowy ruins, drawing the\nreluctant Olivia after him. She shivered at the sight of those tense\nblack shadows in their niches along the walls. In the darkness that the\nstarlight only faintly touched, she could not make out their outlines;\nshe could only sense their attitude of waiting--waiting as they had\nwaited for untold centuries.\n\nConan had brought a great armful of tender branches, well leafed. These\nhe heaped to make a couch for her, and she lay upon it, with a curious\nsensation as of one lying down to sleep in a serpent's lair.\n\nWhatever her forebodings, Conan did not share them. The Cimmerian sat\ndown near her, his back against a pillar, his sword across his knees.\nHis eyes gleamed like a panther's in the dusk.\n\n'Sleep, girl,' said he. 'My slumber is light as a wolf's. Nothing can\nenter this hall without awaking me.'\n\nOlivia did not reply. From her bed of leaves she watched the immobile\nfigure, indistinct in the soft darkness. How strange, to move in\nfellowship with a barbarian, to be cared for and protected by one of a\nrace, tales of which had frightened her as a child! He came of a people\nbloody, grim and ferocious. His kinship to the wild was apparent in his\nevery action; it burned in his smoldering eyes. Yet he had not harmed\nher, and her worst oppressor had been a man the world called civilized.\nAs a delicious languor stole over her relaxing limbs and she sank into\nfoamy billows of slumber, her last waking thought was a drowsy\nrecollection of the firm touch of Conan's fingers on her soft flesh.\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nOlivia dreamed, and through her dreams crawled a suggestion of lurking\nevil, like a black serpent writhing through flower gardens. Her dreams\nwere fragmentary and colorful, exotic shards of a broken, unknown\npattern, until they crystalized into a scene of horror and madness,\netched against a background of cyclopean stones and pillars.\n\nShe saw a great hall, whose lofty ceiling was upheld by stone columns\nmarching in even rows along the massive walls. Among these pillars\nfluttered great green and scarlet parrots, and the hall was thronged\nwith black-skinned, hawk-faced warriors. They were not negroes. Neither\nthey nor their garments nor weapons resembled anything of the world the\ndreamer knew.\n\nThey were pressing about one bound to a pillar: a slender white-skinned\nyouth, with a cluster of golden curls about his alabaster brow. His\nbeauty was not altogether human--like the dream of a god, chiseled out\nof living marble.\n\nThe black warriors laughed at him, jeered and taunted in a strange\ntongue. The lithe naked form writhed beneath their cruel hands. Blood\ntrickled down the ivory thighs to spatter on the polished floor. The\nscreams of the victim echoed through the hall; then lifting his head\ntoward the ceiling and the skies beyond, he cried out a name in an awful\nvoice. A dagger in an ebon hand cut short his cry, and the golden head\nrolled on the ivory breast.\n\nAs if in answer to that desperate cry, there was a rolling thunder as of\ncelestial chariot-wheels, and a figure stood before the slayers, as if\nmaterialized out of empty air. The form was of a man, but no mortal man\never wore such an aspect of inhuman beauty. There was an unmistakable\nresemblance between him and the youth who dropped lifeless in his\nchains, but the alloy of humanity that softened the godliness of the\nyouth was lacking in the features of the stranger, awful and immobile in\ntheir beauty.\n\nThe blacks shrank back before him, their eyes slits of fire. Lifting a\nhand, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent halls in deep\nrich waves of sound. Like men in a trance the black warriors fell back\nuntil they were ranged along the walls in regular lines. Then from the\nstranger's chiseled lips rang a terrible invocation and command:\n'_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_'\n\nAt the blast of that awful cry, the black figures stiffened and froze.\nOver their limbs crept a curious rigidity, an unnatural petrification.\nThe stranger touched the limp body of the youth, and the chains fell\naway from it. He lifted the corpse in his arms; then ere he turned away,\nhis tranquil gaze swept again over the silent rows of ebony figures, and\nhe pointed to the moon, which gleamed in through the casements. And they\nunderstood, those tense, waiting statues that had been men....\n\nOlivia awoke, starting up on her couch of branches, a cold sweat beading\nher skin. Her heart pounded loud in the silence. She glanced wildly\nabout. Conan slept against his pillar, his head fallen upon his massive\nbreast. The silvery radiance of the late moon crept through the gaping\nroof, throwing long white lines along the dusty floor. She could see the\nimages dimly, black, tense--waiting. Fighting down a rising hysteria,\nshe saw the moonbeams rest lightly on the pillars and the shapes\nbetween.\n\nWhat was that? A tremor among the shadows where the moonlight fell. A\nparalysis of horror gripped her, for where there should have been the\nimmobility of death, there was movement: a slow twitching, a flexing and\nwrithing of ebon limbs--an awful scream burst from her lips as she broke\nthe bonds that held her mute and motionless. At her shriek Conan shot\nerect, teeth gleaming, sword lifted.\n\n'The statues! The statues!--_Oh my God, the statues are coming to\nlife!_'\n\nAnd with the cry she sprang through a crevice in the wall, burst madly\nthrough the hindering vines, and ran, ran, ran--blind, screaming,\nwitless--until a grasp on her arm brought her up short and she shrieked\nand fought against the arms that caught her, until a familiar voice\npenetrated the mists of her terror, and she saw Conan's face, a mask of\nbewilderment in the moonlight.\n\n'What in Crom's name, girl? Did you have a nightmare?' His voice sounded\nstrange and far away. With a sobbing gasp she threw her arms about his\nthick neck and clung to him convulsively, crying in panting catches.\n\n'Where are they? Did they follow us?'\n\n'Nobody followed us,' he answered.\n\nShe sat up, still clinging to him, and looked fearfully about. Her blind\nflight had carried her to the southern edge of the plateau. Just below\nthem was the slope, its foot masked in the thick shadows of the woods.\nBehind them she saw the ruins looming in the high-swinging moon.\n\n'Did you not see them?--The statues, moving, lifting their hands, their\neyes glaring in the shadows?'\n\n'I saw nothing,' answered the barbarian uneasily. 'I slept more soundly\nthan usual, because it has been so long since I have slumbered the night\nthrough; yet I don't think anything could have entered the hall without\nwaking me.'\n\n'Nothing entered,' a laugh of hysteria escaped her. 'It was something\nthere already. Ah, Mitra, we lay down to sleep among them, like sheep\nmaking their bed in the shambles!'\n\n'What are you talking about?' he demanded. 'I woke at your cry, but\nbefore I had time to look about me, I saw you rush out through the crack\nin the wall. I pursued you, lest you come to harm. I thought you had a\nnightmare.'\n\n'So I did!' she shivered. 'But the reality was more grisly than the\ndream. Listen!' And she narrated all that she had dreamed and thought\nto see.\n\nConan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated\nman was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and\nnecromancers. After she had finished, he sat silent, absently toying\nwith his sword.\n\n'The youth they tortured was like the tall man who came?' he asked at\nlast.\n\n'As like as son to father,' she answered, and hesitantly: 'If the mind\ncould conceive of the offspring of a union of divinity with humanity, it\nwould picture that youth. The gods of old times mated sometimes with\nmortal women, our legends tell us.'\n\n'What gods?' he muttered.\n\n'The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the\nstill waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs\nbeyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.'\n\n'But if these shapes were men, blasted into iron images by some god or\ndevil, how can they come to life?'\n\n'There is witchcraft in the moon,' she shuddered. '_He_ pointed at the\nmoon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe.'\n\n'But we were not pursued,' muttered Conan, glancing toward the brooding\nruins. 'You might have dreamed they moved. I am of a mind to return and\nsee.'\n\n'No, no!' she cried, clutching him desperately. 'Perhaps the spell upon\nthem holds them in the hall. Do not go back! They will rend you limb\nfrom limb! Oh, Conan, let us go into our boat and flee this awful\nisland! Surely the Hyrkanian ship has passed us now! Let us go!'\n\nSo frantic was her pleading that Conan was impressed. His curiosity in\nregard to the images was balanced by his superstition. Foes of flesh and\nblood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the\nsupernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the\nheritage of the barbarian.\n\nHe took the girl's hand and they went down the slope and plunged into\nthe dense woods, where the leaves whispered, and nameless night-birds\nmurmured drowsily. Under the trees the shadows clustered thick, and\nConan swerved to avoid the denser patches. His eyes roved continuously\nfrom side to side, and often flitted into the branches above them. He\nwent quickly yet warily, his arm girdling the girl's waist so strongly\nthat she felt as if she were being carried rather than guided. Neither\nspoke. The only sound was the girl's quick nervous panting, the rustle\nof her small feet in the grass. So they came through the trees to the\nedge of the water, shimmering like molten silver in the moonlight.\n\n'We should have brought fruit for food,' muttered Conan; 'but doubtless\nwe'll find other islands. As well leave now as later; it's but a few\nhours till dawn--'\n\nHis voice trailed away. The painter was still made fast to the looping\nroot. But at the other end was only a smashed and shattered ruin, half\nsubmerged in the shallow water.\n\nA stifled cry escaped Olivia. Conan wheeled and faced the dense shadows,\na crouching image of menace. The noise of the night-birds was suddenly\nsilent. A brooding stillness reigned over the woods. No breeze moved the\nbranches, yet somewhere the leaves stirred faintly.\n\nQuick as a great cat Conan caught up Olivia and ran. Through the shadows\nhe raced like a phantom, while somewhere above and behind them sounded a\ncurious rushing among the leaves, that implacably drew closer and\ncloser. Then the moonlight burst full upon their faces, and they were\nspeeding up the slope of the plateau.\n\nAt the crest Conan laid Olivia down, and turned to glare back at the\ngulf of shadows they had just quitted. The leaves shook in a sudden\nbreeze; that was all. He shook his mane with an angry growl. Olivia\ncrept to his feet like a frightened child. Her eyes looked up at him,\ndark wells of horror.\n\n'What are we to do, Conan?' she whispered.\n\nHe looked at the ruins, stared again into the woods below.\n\n'We'll go to the cliffs,' he declared, lifting her to her feet.\n'Tomorrow I'll make a raft, and we'll trust our luck to the sea again.'\n\n'It was not--not _they_ that destroyed our boat?' It was half question,\nhalf assertion.\n\nHe shook his head, grimly taciturn.\n\nEvery step of the way across that moon-haunted plateau was a sweating\nterror for Olivia, but no black shapes stole subtly from the looming\nruins, and at last they reached the foot of the crags, which rose stark\nand gloomily majestic above them. There Conan halted in some\nuncertainty, at last selecting a place sheltered by a broad ledge,\nnowhere near any trees.\n\n'Lie down and sleep if you can, Olivia,' he said. 'I'll keep watch.'\n\nBut no sleep came to Olivia, and she lay watching the distant ruins and\nthe wooded rim until the stars paled, the east whitened, and dawn in\nrose and gold struck fire from the dew on the grass-blades.\n\nShe rose stiffly, her mind reverting to all the happenings of the night.\nIn the morning light some of its terrors seemed like figments of an\noverwrought imagination. Conan strode over to her, and his words\nelectrified her.\n\n'Just before dawn I heard the creak of timbers and the rasp and clack of\ncordage and oars. A ship has put in and anchored at the beach not far\naway--probably the ship whose sail we saw yesterday. We'll go up the\ncliffs and spy on her.'\n\nUp they went, and lying on their bellies among the boulders, saw a\npainted mast jutting up beyond the trees to the west.\n\n'An Hyrkanian craft, from the cut of her rigging,' muttered Conan. 'I\nwonder if the crew--'\n\nA distant medley of voices reached their ears, and creeping to the\nsouthern edge of the cliffs, they saw a motley horde emerge from the\nfringe of trees along the western rim of the plateau, and stand there a\nspace in debate. There was much flourishing of arms, brandishing of\nswords, and loud rough argument. Then the whole band started across the\nplateau toward the ruins, at a slant that would take them close by the\nfoot of the cliffs.\n\n'Pirates!' whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. 'It's an\nHyrkanian galley they've captured. Here--crawl among these rocks.\n\n'Don't show yourself unless I call to you,' he instructed, having\nsecreted her to his satisfaction among a tangle of boulders along the\ncrest of the cliffs. 'I'm going to meet these dogs. If I succeed in my\nplan, all will be well, and we'll sail away with them. If I don't\nsucceed--well, hide yourself in the rocks until they're gone, for no\ndevils on this island are as cruel as these sea-wolves.'\n\nAnd tearing himself from her reluctant grasp, he swung quickly down the\ncliffs.\n\nLooking fearfully from her eyrie, Olivia saw the band had neared the\nfoot of the cliffs. Even as she looked, Conan stepped out from among the\nboulders and faced them, sword in hand. They gave back with yells of\nmenace and surprize; then halted uncertainly to glare at this figure\nwhich had appeared so suddenly from the rocks. There were some seventy\nof them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians,\nZamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected\nthe wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the\nbranding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets,\nstumps of wrists--marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most\nof them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine;\ngold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained\nwith tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver-chased armor. Jewels\nglittered in nose-rings and ear-rings, and in the hilts of their\ndaggers.\n\nOver against this bizarre mob stood the tall Cimmerian in strong\ncontrast with his hard bronzed limbs and clean-cut vital features.\n\n'Who are you?' they roared.\n\n'Conan the Cimmerian!' His voice was like the deep challenge of a lion.\n'One of the Free Companions. I mean to try my luck with the Red\nBrotherhood. Who's your chief?'\n\n'I, by Ishtar!' bellowed a bull-like voice, as a huge figure swaggered\nforward: a giant, naked to the waist, where his capacious belly was\ngirdled by a wide sash that upheld voluminous silken pantaloons. His\nhead was shaven except for a scalp-lock, his mustaches dropped over a\nrat-trap mouth. Green Shemitish slippers with upturned toes were on his\nfeet, a long straight sword in his hand.\n\nConan stared and glared.\n\n'Sergius of Khrosha, by Crom!'\n\n'Aye, by Ishtar!' boomed the giant, his small black eyes glittering with\nhate. 'Did you think I had forgot? Ha! Sergius never forgets an enemy.\nNow I'll hang you up by the heels and skin you alive. At him, lads!'\n\n'Aye, send your dogs at me, big-belly,' sneered Conan with bitter scorn.\n'You were always a coward, you Kothic cur.'\n\n'Coward! To me?' The broad face turned black with passion. 'On guard,\nyou northern dog! I'll cut out your heart!'\n\nIn an instant the pirates had formed a circle about the rivals, their\neyes blazing, their breath sucking between their teeth in bloodthirsty\nenjoyment. High up among the crags Olivia watched, sinking her nails\ninto her palms in her painful excitement.\n\nWithout formality the combatants engaged, Sergius coming in with a rush,\nquick on his feet as a giant cat, for all his bulk. Curses hissed\nbetween his clenched teeth as he lustily swung and parried. Conan fought\nin silence, his eyes slits of blue bale-fire.\n\nThe Kothian ceased his oaths to save his breath. The only sounds were\nthe quick scuff of feet on the sward, the panting of the pirate, the\nring and clash of steel. The swords flashed like white fire in the early\nsun, wheeling and circling. They seemed to recoil from each other's\ncontact, then leap together again instantly. Sergius was giving back;\nonly his superlative skill had saved him thus far from the blinding\nspeed of the Cimmerian's onslaught. A louder clash of steel, a sliding\nrasp, a choking cry--from the pirate horde a fierce yell split the\nmorning as Conan's sword plunged through their captain's massive body.\nThe point quivered an instant from between Sergius's shoulders, a hand's\nbreadth of white fire in the sunlight; then the Cimmerian wrenched back\nhis steel and the pirate chief fell heavily, face down, and lay in a\nwidening pool of blood, his broad hands twitching for an instant.\n\nConan wheeled toward the gaping corsairs.\n\n'Well, you dogs!' he roared. 'I've sent your chief to hell. What says\nthe law of the Red Brotherhood?'\n\nBefore any could answer, a rat-faced Brythunian, standing behind his\nfellows, whirled a sling swiftly and deadly. Straight as an arrow sped\nthe stone to its mark, and Conan reeled and fell as a tall tree falls to\nthe woodsman's ax. Up on the cliff Olivia caught at the boulders for\nsupport. The scene swam dizzily before her eyes; all she could see was\nthe Cimmerian lying limply on the sward, blood oozing from his head.\n\nThe rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man,\nbut a lean Corinthian thrust him back.\n\n'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'\n\n'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.\n\n'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just\nrights our captain!'\n\n'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had\nnot been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him\ncaptain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'\n\n'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'\n\nAt that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the\nCorinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were\npassed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.\n\nAt last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a\ndead man?'\n\n'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the\nprostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'\n\nAt that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man\nand Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and\nsundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that\nthe Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently\nthese men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost\nbetween them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and\ntake him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.\n\nThe Cimmerian, who was beginning to regain consciousness, was bound with\nleather girdles, and then four pirates lifted him, and with many\ncomplaints and curses, carried him along with the band, which took up\nits journey across the plateau once more. The body of Sergius was left\nwhere it had fallen; a sprawling, unlovely shape on the sun-washed\nsward.\n\nUp among the rocks, Olivia lay stunned by the disaster. She was\nincapable of speech or action, and could only lie there and stare with\nhorrified eyes as the brutal horde dragged her protector away.\n\nHow long she lay there, she did not know. Across the plateau she saw the\npirates reach the ruins and enter, dragging their captive. She saw them\nswarming in and out of the doors and crevices, prodding into the heaps\nof debris, and clambering about the walls. After awhile a score of them\ncame back across the plateau and vanished among the trees on the western\nrim, dragging the body of Sergius after them, presumably to cast into\nthe sea. About the ruins the others were cutting down trees and securing\nmaterial for a fire. Olivia heard their shouts, unintelligible in the\ndistance, and she heard the voices of those who had gone into the woods,\nechoing among the trees. Presently they came back into sight, bearing\ncasks of liquor and leathern sacks of food. They headed for the ruins,\ncursing lustily under their burdens.\n\nOf all this Olivia was but mechanically cognizant. Her overwrought brain\nwas almost ready to collapse. Left alone and unprotected, she realized\nhow much the protection of the Cimmerian had meant to her. There\nintruded vaguely a wonderment at the mad pranks of Fate, that could make\nthe daughter of a king the companion of a red-handed barbarian. With it\ncame a revulsion toward her own kind. Her father, and Shah Amurath, they\nwere civilized men. And from them she had had only suffering. She had\nnever encountered any civilized man who treated her with kindness unless\nthere was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Conan had shielded her,\nprotected her, and--so far--demanded nothing in return. Laying her head\nin her rounded arms she wept, until distant shouts of ribald revelry\nroused her to her own danger.\n\nShe glanced from the dark ruins about which the fantastic figures, small\nin the distance, weaved and staggered, to the dusky depths of the green\nforest. Even if her terrors in the ruins the night before had been only\ndreams, the menace that lurked in those green leafy depths below was no\nfigment of nightmare. Were Conan slain or carried away captive, her only\nchoice would lie between giving herself up to the human wolves of the\nsea, or remaining alone on that devil-haunted island.\n\nAs the full horror of her situation swept over her, she fell forward in\na swoon.\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nThe sun was hanging low when Olivia regained her senses. A faint wind\nwafted to her ears distant shouts and snatches of ribald song. Rising\ncautiously, she looked out across the plateau. She saw the pirates\nclustered about a great fire outside the ruins, and her heart leaped as\na group emerged from the interior dragging some object she knew was\nConan. They propped him against the wall, still evidently bound fast,\nand there ensued a long discussion, with much brandishing of weapons. At\nlast they dragged him back into the hall, and took up anew the business\nof ale-guzzling. Olivia sighed; at least she knew that the Cimmerian\nstill lived. Fresh determination steeled her. As soon as night fell, she\nwould steal to those grim ruins and free him or be taken herself in the\nattempt. And she knew it was not selfish interest alone which prompted\nher decision.\n\nWith this in mind she ventured to creep from her refuge to pluck and eat\nnuts which grew sparsely near at hand. She had not eaten since the day\nbefore. It was while so occupied that she was troubled by a sensation of\nbeing watched. She scanned the rocks nervously, then, with a shuddering\nsuspicion, crept to the north edge of the cliff and gazed down into the\nwaving green mass below, already dusky with the sunset. She saw nothing;\nit was impossible that she could be seen, when not on the cliff's edge,\nby anything lurking in those woods. Yet she distinctly felt the glare of\nhidden eyes, and felt that _something_ animate and sentient was aware of\nher presence and her hiding-place.\n\nStealing back to her rocky eyrie, she lay watching the distant ruins\nuntil the dusk of night masked them, and she marked their position by\nthe flickering flames about which black figures leaped and cavorted\ngroggily.\n\nThen she rose. It was time to make her attempt. But first she stole back\nto the northern edge of the cliffs, and looked down into the woods that\nbordered the beach. And as she strained her eyes in the dim starlight,\nshe stiffened, and an icy hand touched her heart.\n\nFar below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached\nitself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer\nface of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. Panic\ncaught Olivia by the throat, and she struggled with the scream that\ntugged at her lips. Turning, she fled down the southern slope.\n\nThat flight down the shadowed cliffs was a nightmare in which she slid\nand scrambled, catching at jagged rocks with cold fingers. As she tore\nher tender skin and bruised her soft limbs on the rugged boulders over\nwhich Conan had so lightly lifted her, she realized again her dependence\non the iron-thewed barbarian. But this thought was but one in a\nfluttering maelstrom of dizzy fright.\n\nThe descent seemed endless, but at last her feet struck the grassy\nlevels, and in a very frenzy of eagerness she sped away toward the fire\nthat burned like the red heart of night. Behind her, as she fled, she\nheard a shower of stones rattle down the steep slope, and the sound lent\nwings to her heels. What grisly climber dislodged those stones she dared\nnot try to think.\n\nStrenuous physical action dissipated her blind terror somewhat and\nbefore she had reached the ruin, her mind was clear, her reasoning\nfaculties alert, though her limbs trembled from her efforts.\n\nShe dropped to the sward and wriggled along on her belly until, from\nbehind a small tree that had escaped the axes of the pirates, she\nwatched her enemies. They had completed their supper, but were still\ndrinking, dipping pewter mugs or jewelled goblets into the broken heads\nof the wine-casks. Some were already snoring drunkenly on the grass,\nwhile others had staggered into the ruins. Of Conan she saw nothing. She\nlay there, while the dew formed on the grass about her and the leaves\noverhead, and the men about the fire cursed, gambled and argued. There\nwere only a few about the fire; most of them had gone into the ruins to\nsleep.\n\nShe lay watching them, her nerves taut with the strain of waiting, the\nflesh crawling between her shoulders at the thought of what might be\nwatching her in turn--of what might be stealing up behind her. Time\ndragged on leaden feet. One by one the revellers sank down in drunken\nslumber, until all were stretched senseless beside the dying fire.\n\nOlivia hesitated--then was galvanized by a distant glow rising through\nthe trees. The moon was rising!\n\nWith a gasp she rose and hurried toward the ruins. Her flesh crawled as\nshe tiptoed among the drunken shapes that sprawled beside the gaping\nportal. Inside were many more; they shifted and mumbled in their\nbesotted dreams, but none awakened as she glided among them. A sob of\njoy rose to her lips as she saw Conan. The Cimmerian was wide awake,\nbound upright to a pillar, his eyes gleaming in the faint reflection of\nthe waning fire outside.\n\nPicking her way among the sleepers, she approached him. Lightly as she\nhad come, he had heard her; had seen her when first framed in the\nportal. A faint grin touched his hard lips.\n\nShe reached him and clung to him an instant. He felt the quick beating\nof her heart against his breast. Through a broad crevice in the wall\nstole a beam of moonlight, and the air was instantly supercharged with\nsubtle tension. Conan felt it and stiffened. Olivia felt it and gasped.\nThe sleepers snored on. Bending quickly, she drew a dagger from its\nsenseless owner's belt, and set to work on Conan's bonds. They were sail\ncords, thick and heavy, and tied with the craft of a sailor. She toiled\ndesperately, while the tide of moonlight crept slowly across the floor\ntoward the feet of the crouching black figures between the pillars.\n\nHer breath came in gasps; Conan's wrists were free, but his elbows and\nlegs were still bound fast. She glanced fleetingly at the figures along\nthe walls--waiting, waiting. They seemed to watch her with the awful\npatience of the undead. The drunkards beneath her feet began to stir and\ngroan in their sleep. The moonlight crept down the hall, touching the\nblack feet. The cords fell from Conan's arms, and taking the dagger\nfrom her, he ripped the bonds from his legs with a single quick slash.\nHe stepped out from the pillar, flexing his limbs, stoically enduring\nthe agony of returning circulation. Olivia crouched against him, shaking\nlike a leaf. Was it some trick of the moonlight that touched the eyes of\nthe black figures with fire, so that they glimmered redly in the\nshadows?\n\nConan moved with the abruptness of a jungle cat. Catching up his sword\nfrom where it lay in a stack of weapons near by, he lifted Olivia\nlightly from her feet and glided through an opening that gaped in the\nivy-grown wall.\n\nNo word passed between them. Lifting her in his arms he set off swiftly\nacross the moon-bathed sward. Her arms about his iron neck, the Ophirean\nclosed her eyes, cradling her dark curly head against his massive\nshoulder. A delicious sense of security stole over her.\n\nIn spite of his burden, the Cimmerian crossed the plateau swiftly, and\nOlivia, opening her eyes, saw that they were passing under the shadow of\nthe cliffs.\n\n'Something climbed the cliffs,' she whispered. 'I heard it scrambling\nbehind me as I came down.'\n\n'We'll have to chance it,' he grunted.\n\n'I am not afraid--now,' she sighed.\n\n'You were not afraid when you came to free me, either,' he answered.\n'Crom, what a day it has been! Such haggling and wrangling I never\nheard. I'm nearly deaf. Aratus wished to cut out my heart, and Ivanos\nrefused, to spite Aratus, whom he hates. All day long they snarled and\nspat at one another, and the crew quickly grew too drunk to vote either\nway--'\n\nHe halted suddenly, an image of bronze in the moonlight. With a quick\ngesture he tossed the girl lightly to one side and behind him. Rising to\nher knees on the soft sward, she screamed at what she saw.\n\nOut of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk--an\nanthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation.\n\nIn general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the\nbright moonlight, was bestial, with close-set ears, flaring nostrils,\nand a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs.\nIt was covered with shaggy grayish hair, shot with silver which shone in\nthe moonlight, and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth.\nIts bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its\nbullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the\nhairy breast and giant shoulders was breathtaking; the huge arms were\nlike knotted trees.\n\nThe moonlight scene swam, to Olivia's sight. This, then, was the end of\nthe trail--for what human being could withstand the fury of that hairy\nmountain of thews and ferocity? Yet as she stared in wide-eyed horror at\nthe bronzed figure facing the monster, she sensed a kinship in the\nantagonists that was almost appalling. This was less a struggle between\nman and beast than a conflict between two creatures of the wild, equally\nmerciless and ferocious. With a flash of white tusks, the monster\ncharged.\n\nThe mighty arms spread wide as the beast plunged, stupefyingly quick for\nall his vast bulk and stunted legs.\n\nConan's action was a blur of speed Olivia's eye could not follow. She\nonly saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like\na jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms\nbetween shoulder and elbow. A great spout of blood deluged the sward as\nthe severed member fell, twitching horribly, but even as the sword bit\nthrough, the other malformed hand locked in Conan's black mane.\n\nOnly the iron neck-muscles of the Cimmerian saved him from a broken neck\nthat instant. His left hand darted out to clamp on the beast's squat\nthroat, his left knee was jammed hard against the brute's hairy belly.\nThen began a terrific struggle, which lasted only seconds, but which\nseemed like ages to the paralyzed girl.\n\nThe ape maintained his grasp in Conan's hair, dragging him toward the\ntusks that glistened in the moonlight. The Cimmerian resisted this\neffort, with his left arm rigid as iron, while the sword in his right\nhand, wielded like a butcher-knife, sank again and again into the groin,\nbreast and belly of his captor. The beast took its punishment in awful\nsilence, apparently unweakened by the blood that gushed from its ghastly\nwounds. Swiftly the terrible strength of the anthropoid overcame the\nleverage of braced arm and knee. Inexorably Conan's arm bent under the\nstrain; nearer and nearer he was drawn to the slavering jaws that gaped\nfor his life. Now the blazing eyes of the barbarian glared into the\nbloodshot eyes of the ape. But as Conan tugged vainly at his sword,\nwedged deep in the hairy body, the frothing jaws snapped spasmodically\nshut, an inch from the Cimmerian's face, and he was hurled to the sward\nby the dying convulsions of the monster.\n\nOlivia, half fainting, saw the ape heaving, thrashing and writhing,\ngripping, man-like, the hilt that jutted from its body. A sickening\ninstant of this, then the great bulk quivered and lay still.\n\nConan rose and limped over to the corpse. The Cimmerian breathed\nheavily, and walked like a man whose joints and muscles have been\nwrenched and twisted almost to their limit of endurance. He felt his\nbloody scalp and swore at the sight of the long black red-stained\nstrands still grasped in the monster's shaggy hand.\n\n'Crom!' he panted. 'I feel as if I'd been racked! I'd rather fight a\ndozen men. Another instant and he'd have bitten off my head. Blast him,\nhe's torn a handful of my hair out by the roots.'\n\nGripping his hilt with both hands he tugged and worked it free. Olivia\nstole close to clasp his arm and stare down wide-eyed at the sprawling\nmonster.\n\n'What--what is it?' she whispered.\n\n'A gray man-ape,' he grunted. 'Dumb, and man-eating. They dwell in the\nhills that border the eastern shore of this sea. How this one got to\nthis island, I can't say. Maybe he floated here on driftwood, blown out\nfrom the mainland in a storm.'\n\n'And it was he that threw the stone?'\n\n'Yes; I suspected what it was when we stood in the thicket and I saw the\nboughs bending over our heads. These creatures always lurk in the\ndeepest woods they can find, and seldom emerge. What brought him into\nthe open, I can't say, but it was lucky for us; I'd have had no chance\nwith him among the trees.'\n\n'It followed me,' she shivered. 'I saw it climbing the cliffs.'\n\n'And following his instinct, he lurked in the shadow of the cliff,\ninstead of following you out across the plateau. His kind are creatures\nof darkness and the silent places, haters of sun and moon.'\n\n'Do you suppose there are others?'\n\n'No, else the pirates had been attacked when they went through the\nwoods. The gray ape is wary, for all his strength, as shown by his\nhesitancy in falling upon us in the thicket. His lust for you must have\nbeen great, to have driven him to attack us finally in the open. What--'\n\nHe started and wheeled back toward the way they had come. The night had\nbeen split by an awful scream. It came from the ruins.\n\nInstantly there followed a mad medley of yells, shrieks and cries of\nblasphemous agony. Though accompanied by a ringing of steel, the sounds\nwere of massacre rather than battle.\n\nConan stood frozen, the girl clinging to him in a frenzy of terror. The\nclamor rose to a crescendo of madness, and then the Cimmerian turned and\nwent swiftly toward the rim of the plateau, with its fringe of\nmoon-limned trees. Olivia's legs were trembling so that she could not\nwalk; so he carried her, and her heart calmed its frantic pounding as\nshe nestled into his cradling arms.\n\nThey passed under the shadowy forest, but the clusters of blackness held\nno terrors, the rifts of silver discovered no grisly shape. Night-birds\nmurmured slumberously. The yells of slaughter dwindled behind them,\nmasked in the distance to a confused jumble of sound. Somewhere a parrot\ncalled, like an eery echo: '_Yagkoolan yok tha, xuthalla!_' So they came\nto the tree-fringed water's edge and saw the galley lying at anchor,\nher sail shining white in the moonlight. Already the stars were paling\nfor dawn.\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nIn the ghastly whiteness of dawn a handful of tattered, blood-stained\nfigures staggered through the trees and out on to the narrow beach.\nThere were forty-four of them, and they were a cowed and demoralized\nband. With panting haste they plunged into the water and began to wade\ntoward the galley, when a stern challenge brought them up standing.\n\nEtched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Cimmerian standing\nin the bows, sword in hand, his black mane tossing in the dawn wind.\n\n'Stand!' he ordered. 'Come no nearer. What would you have, dogs?'\n\n'Let us come aboard!' croaked a hairy rogue fingering a bloody stump of\near. 'We'd be gone from this devil's island.'\n\n'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,'\npromised Conan.\n\nThey were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand. The fight had\nbeen hammered out of them.\n\n'Let us come aboard, good Conan,' whined a red-sashed Zamorian, glancing\nfearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods. 'We have been so\nmauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary from fighting and\nrunning, that not one of us can lift a sword.'\n\n'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan.\n\n'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us\nto pieces before we could awake--a dozen good rovers died in their\nsleep. The ruins were full of flame-eyed shadows, with tearing fangs and\nsharp talons.'\n\n'Aye!' put in another corsair. 'They were the demons of the isle, which\ntook the forms of molten images, to befool us. Ishtar! We lay down to\nsleep among them. We are no cowards. We fought them as long as mortal\nman may strive against the powers of darkness. Then we broke away and\nleft them tearing at the corpses like jackals. But surely they'll pursue\nus.'\n\n'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite. 'Let us come in\npeace, or we must come sword in hand, and though we be so weary you will\ndoubtless slay many of us, yet you can not prevail against us many.'\n\n'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan\ngrimly. A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced\nwith a lion-like roar.\n\n'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out my\nheart?'\n\n'Nay, nay!' they cried eagerly. 'Friends--friends, Conan. We are thy\ncomrades! We be all lusty rogues together. We hate the king of Turan,\nnot each other.'\n\nTheir gaze hung on his brown, frowning face.\n\n'Then if I am one of the Brotherhood,' he grunted, 'the laws of the\nTrade apply to me; and since I killed your chief in fair fight, then I\nam your captain!'\n\nThere was no dissent. The pirates were too cowed and battered to have\nany thought except a desire to get away from that island of fear.\nConan's gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.\n\n'How, Ivanos!' he challenged. 'You took my part, once. Will you uphold\nmy claims again?'\n\n'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to\ningratiate himself with the Cimmerian. 'He is right, lads; he is our\nlawful captain!'\n\nA medley of acquiescence rose, lacking enthusiasm perhaps, but with\nsincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind them which\nmight mask creeping ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons.\n\n'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded.\n\nForty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices\nblended in the corsair's oath of allegiance.\n\nConan grinned and sheathed his sword. 'Come aboard, my bold\nswashbucklers, and take the oars.'\n\nHe turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, from where she had crouched\nshielded by the gunwales.\n\n'And what of me, sir?' she asked.\n\n'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly.\n\n'To go with you, wherever your path may lie!' she cried, throwing her\nwhite arms about his bronzed neck.\n\nThe pirates, clambering over the rail, gasped in amazement.\n\n'To sail a road of blood and slaughter?' he questioned. 'This keel will\nstain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows.'\n\n'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately.\n'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people. We are\nboth pariahs, wanderers of earth. Oh, take me with you!'\n\nWith a gusty laugh he lifted her to his fierce lips.\n\n'I'll make you Queen of the Blue Sea! Cast off there, dogs! We'll scorch\nKing Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard\n\n END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOWS IN THE MOONLIGHT \n\n** This file should be named 42188.txt or 42188.zip *\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/8/42188/\n\nProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. 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The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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The replaced older file is renamed.\n_Versions_ based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving\nnew filenames and etext numbers.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenbergâ¢, including how\nto make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation,\nhow to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email\nnewsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFINIS*\n\f" }	{ "text": "What discriminations need to be addressed?", "tokens": [ "What", "discriminations", "need", "to", "be", "addressed", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Race, gender and religion", "tokens": [ "Race", ",", "gender", "and", "religion" ] }, { "text": "race, gender, and religious beliefs", "tokens": [ "race", ",", "gender", ",", "and", "religious", "beliefs" ] } ]
{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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The replaced older file is renamed.\n_Versions_ based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving\nnew filenames and etext numbers.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenbergâ¢, including how\nto make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation,\nhow to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email\nnewsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFINIS*\n\f" }	{ "text": "Why does interpretive error harm religious faith?", "tokens": [ "Why", "does", "interpretive", "error", "harm", "religious", "faith", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Errors separate faith from reason.", "tokens": [ "Errors", "separate", "faith", "from", "reason", "." ] }, { "text": "It separates faith from reason.", "tokens": [ "It", "separates", "faith", "from", "reason", "." ] } ]
{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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The replaced older file is renamed.\n_Versions_ based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving\nnew filenames and etext numbers.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenbergâ¢, including how\nto make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation,\nhow to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email\nnewsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFINIS*\n\f" }	{ "text": "How does the Universal House of Justice describe mankind?", "tokens": [ "How", "does", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "describe", "mankind", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Mankind is one human family.", "tokens": [ "Mankind", "is", "one", "human", "family", "." ] }, { "text": "intrinsically hostile and aggressive ", "tokens": [ "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive" ] } ]
{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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The replaced older file is renamed.\n_Versions_ based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving\nnew filenames and etext numbers.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenbergâ¢, including how\nto make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation,\nhow to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email\nnewsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFINIS*\n\f" }	{ "text": "A contrary argument states human beings are fundamentally what?", "tokens": [ "A", "contrary", "argument", "states", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "what", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Spiritual", "tokens": [ "Spiritual" ] }, { "text": "Spiritual in nature ", "tokens": [ "Spiritual", "in", "nature" ] } ]
{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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The replaced older file is renamed.\n_Versions_ based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving\nnew filenames and etext numbers.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenbergâ¢, including how\nto make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation,\nhow to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email\nnewsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFINIS*\n\f" }	{ "text": "What has separated faith from reason and science from religion?", "tokens": [ "What", "has", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Erroneous interpretations", "tokens": [ "Erroneous", "interpretations" ] }, { "text": "Interpretations. ", "tokens": [ "Interpretations", "." ] } ]
{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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The replaced older file is renamed.\n_Versions_ based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving\nnew filenames and etext numbers.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenbergâ¢, including how\nto make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation,\nhow to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email\nnewsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFINIS*\n\f" }	{ "text": "There is an inordinate disparity between the rich and the?", "tokens": [ "There", "is", "an", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Poor", "tokens": [ "Poor" ] }, { "text": "poor", "tokens": [ "poor" ] } ]
{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenbergâ¢\nconcept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared with\nanyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project Gutenbergâ¢\neBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.\n\nProject Gutenbergâ¢ eBooks are often created from several printed editions,\nall of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. unless a copyright\nnotice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily keep eBooks in compliance\nwith any particular paper edition.\n\nEach eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBookâs eBook\nnumber, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, compressed\n(zipped), HTML and others.\n\nCorrected _editions_ of our eBooks replace the old file and take over the\nold filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed.\n_Versions_ based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving\nnew filenames and etext numbers.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org\n\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenbergâ¢, including how\nto make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation,\nhow to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email\nnewsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFINIS*\n\f" }	{ "text": "There is a fundamental lack of what between people?", "tokens": [ "There", "is", "a", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "what", "between", "people", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Communication", "tokens": [ "Communication" ] }, { "text": "Communication.", "tokens": [ "Communication", "." ] } ]
{ "id": "01aa10d75658840a478ede17631dba875651c370", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19286/19286-0.txt", "file_size": 66344, "word_count": 11296, "start": "The Promise of", "end": "eBooks . *FINIS", "summary": { "text": " In the document, the Universal House of Justice asserts that world peace is possible and is now within reach for the first time in human history. It states, however, that the current international system of governance is flawed and is unable to eradicate the threats of war, terrorism, anarchy and economic instability. Adding to the problem is the widespread belief that human beings are intrinsically hostile and aggressive, and that these flaws make long-term global peace and stability unsustainable.\nThe Statement presents a contrary argument that the human race has been developing and maturing through its history, that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in nature and are the creation of God. As a result, they are capable of building civilization and creating a peaceful world if they decide to do so. The Universal House of Justice asserts that peace cannot occur without religion and quotes Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.”\nIt is the Universal House of Justice’s contention that source of religious strife does not lie with the different religions themselves, but rather with the negligence of humanity and the, “imposition of erroneous interpretations\". These interpretations have separated faith from reason and science from religion. Having rejected religion as irrelevant, societies around the world have adopted a wide number of ideologies that have failed to serve and support the interests of humanity as a whole.\nPeace cannot be achieved simply by banning particular weapons, resolving specific conflicts or by signing new treaties. It requires a whole new level of commitment. The statement asserts that a new framework must be adopted based on several overarching principles and a genuine interest in creating a peaceful and just world. The underlying problems that must be addressed include:\nRacism and discrimination based on race, gender and religious belief\nThe inordinate disparity between the rich and the poor\nUnbridled Nationalism\nReligious strife\nThe inequality between men and women\nThe lack of educational opportunity for many around the world\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples\nThe Universal House of Justice goes on to say that peace must be founded on the understanding that mankind is essentially one human family. It then calls for the leaders of the world to gather and deliberate on the problem, for the full support of the United Nations and the willing assent of all people for that process of deliberation.", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "document", ",", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "world", "peace", "is", "possible", "and", "is", "now", "within", "reach", "for", "the", "first", "time", "in", "human", "history", ".", "It", "states", ",", "however", ",", "that", "the", "current", "international", "system", "of", "governance", "is", "flawed", "and", "is", "unable", "to", "eradicate", "the", "threats", "of", "war", ",", "terrorism", ",", "anarchy", "and", "economic", "instability", ".", "Adding", "to", "the", "problem", "is", "the", "widespread", "belief", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "intrinsically", "hostile", "and", "aggressive", ",", "and", "that", "these", "flaws", "make", "long-term", "global", "peace", "and", "stability", "unsustainable", ".", "The", "Statement", "presents", "a", "contrary", "argument", "that", "the", "human", "race", "has", "been", "developing", "and", "maturing", "through", "its", "history", ",", "that", "human", "beings", "are", "fundamentally", "spiritual", "in", "nature", "and", "are", "the", "creation", "of", "God", ".", "As", "a", "result", ",", "they", "are", "capable", "of", "building", "civilization", "and", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "world", "if", "they", "decide", "to", "do", "so", ".", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "asserts", "that", "peace", "can", "not", "occur", "without", "religion", "and", "quotes", "Baha’u’llah", ",", "the", "founder", "of", "the", "Baha’i", "Faith", ".", "Religion", "is", "the", "greatest", "of", "all", "means", "for", "the", "establishment", "of", "order", "in", "the", "world", "and", "the", "peaceful", "contentment", "of", "all", "that", "dwell", "therein.", "It", "is", "the", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice’s", "contention", "that", "source", "of", "religious", "strife", "does", "not", "lie", "with", "the", "different", "religions", "themselves", ",", "but", "rather", "with", "the", "negligence", "of", "humanity", "and", "the", ",", "imposition", "of", "erroneous", "interpretations", ".", "These", "interpretations", "have", "separated", "faith", "from", "reason", "and", "science", "from", "religion", ".", "Having", "rejected", "religion", "as", "irrelevant", ",", "societies", "around", "the", "world", "have", "adopted", "a", "wide", "number", "of", "ideologies", "that", "have", "failed", "to", "serve", "and", "support", "the", "interests", "of", "humanity", "as", "a", "whole", ".", "Peace", "can", "not", "be", "achieved", "simply", "by", "banning", "particular", "weapons", ",", "resolving", "specific", "conflicts", "or", "by", "signing", "new", "treaties", ".", "It", "requires", "a", "whole", "new", "level", "of", "commitment", ".", "The", "statement", "asserts", "that", "a", "new", "framework", "must", "be", "adopted", "based", "on", "several", "overarching", "principles", "and", "a", "genuine", "interest", "in", "creating", "a", "peaceful", "and", "just", "world", ".", "The", "underlying", "problems", "that", "must", "be", "addressed", "include", ":", "Racism", "and", "discrimination", "based", "on", "race", ",", "gender", "and", "religious", "belief", "The", "inordinate", "disparity", "between", "the", "rich", "and", "the", "poor", "Unbridled", "Nationalism", "Religious", "strife", "The", "inequality", "between", "men", "and", "women", "The", "lack", "of", "educational", "opportunity", "for", "many", "around", "the", "world", "A", "fundamental", "lack", "of", "communication", "between", "peoples", "The", "Universal", "House", "of", "Justice", "goes", "on", "to", "say", "that", "peace", "must", "be", "founded", "on", "the", "understanding", "that", "mankind", "is", "essentially", "one", "human", "family", ".", "It", "then", "calls", "for", "the", "leaders", "of", "the", "world", "to", "gather", "and", "deliberate", "on", "the", "problem", ",", "for", "the", "full", "support", "of", "the", "United", "Nations", "and", "the", "willing", "assent", "of", "all", "people", "for", "that", "process", "of", "deliberation", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_of_World_Peace", "title": "The Promise of World Peace" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Promise of World Peace by Universal\nHouse of Justice\n\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no\nrestrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under\nthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or\nonline at http://www.gutenberg.org/license\n\nThis is a _copyrighted_ Project Gutenberg eBook, details below. Please\nfollow the copyright guidelines in this file.\n\n\n\nTitle: The Promise of World Peace\n\nAuthor: Universal House of Justice\n\nRelease Date: September 2006 [Ebook #19286]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\n\n\nSTART OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Promise of World Peace\n\n\nby Universal House of Justice\n\n\n\n\nEdition 1, (September 2006)\n\n\n\n\n\n BAHAâI TERMS OF USE\n\n\nYou have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any\nother information (\"Content\") available on this Site including printing,\nemailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading,\ntransmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the\nfollowing:\n\n1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the\nContent;\n\n2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change\nthe font or appearance;\n\n3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose.\n\nAlthough this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely\nsuch that no special permission is required, the BahÃ¡âÃ International\nCommunity retains full copyright protection for all Content included at\nthis Site under all applicable national and international laws.\n\nFor permission to publish, transmit, display or otherwise use the Content\nfor any commercial purpose, please contact us\n(http://reference.bahai.org/en/contact.html).\n\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\nBahaâi Terms of Use\nI\nII\nIII\nIV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\nOctober 1985\n\nTo the Peoples of the World:\n\nThe Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries\nhave inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless\ngenerations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the\nsacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at\nlong last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history\nit is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad\ndiversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible\nbut inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planetâin\nthe words of one great thinker, âthe planetization of mankindâ.\n\nWhether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors\nprecipitated by humanityâs stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour,\nor is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice\nbefore all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the\nintractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common\nconcern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and\ndisorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.\n\nAmong the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps\ntowards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in\nthe creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based\nUnited Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of\nindependence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the\ncompletion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these\nfledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the\nconsequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and\nantagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the\nscientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in\nrecent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian\norganizations; the spread of womenâs and youth movements calling for an\nend to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary\npeople seeking understanding through personal communication.\n\nThe scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually\nblessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of\nthe planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of\nhumanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the\nadministration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers\npersist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow\nself-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.\n\nIt is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled\nat this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating\ninsights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century\nago by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, Founder of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, of which we are the\nTrustees.\n\nâThe winds of despairâ, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote, âare, alas, blowing from every\ndirection, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is\ndaily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be\ndiscerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably\ndefective.â This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the\ncommon experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are\nconspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United\nNations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the\ninternational economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the\nintense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to\nincreasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to\ncharacterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have\nsuccumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and\ntherefore ineradicable.\n\nWith the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has\ndeveloped in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations\nproclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony,\nfor an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On\nthe other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings\nare incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a\nsocial system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a\nsystem giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based\non co-operation and reciprocity.\n\nAs the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,\nwhich hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions\nupon which the commonly held view of mankindâs historical predicament is\nbased. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct,\nfar from expressing manâs true self, represents a distortion of the human\nspirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion\nconstructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human\nnature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and\nconflict.\n\nTo choose such a course is not to deny humanityâs past but to understand\nit. The BahÃ¡âÃ Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous\ncondition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process\nleading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race\nin a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The\nhuman race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary\nstages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of\nits individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its\nturbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.\n\nA candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been\nthe expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that\nthe human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks\nits collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a\nprerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a\npeaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary\nconstructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be\nerected, is the theme we urge you to examine.\n\nWhatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,\nhowever dark the immediate circumstances, the BahÃ¡âÃ community believes\nthat humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its\nultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the\nconvulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly\nimpelled will serve to release the âpotentialities inherent in the station\nof manâ and reveal âthe full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate\nexcellence of his realityâ.\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of\nlife are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its\nessential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build\ncivilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone\nhave never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it\ntowards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the\nultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The\nreligions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have\nbeen the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have\ngalvanized and refined mankindâs capacity to achieve spiritual success\ntogether with social progress.\n\nNo serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace,\ncan ignore religion. Manâs perception and practice of it are largely the\nstuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a âfaculty of\nhuman natureâ. That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much\nof the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals\ncan hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount\nthe preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions\nof civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has\nrepeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.\n\nWriting of religion as a social force, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h said: âReligion is the\ngreatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for\nthe peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.â Referring to the\neclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: âShould the lamp of religion\nbe obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,\nof justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.â In an enumeration\nof such consequences the BahÃ¡âÃ writings point out that the âperversion of\nhuman nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and\ndissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such\ncircumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character\nis debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,\nthe voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame\nis obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and\nloyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of\nhope is gradually extinguished.â\n\nIf, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must\nlook to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has\nlistened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion\nperpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and\nselfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their\nvotaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements\nof the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusionâa\nconfusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and\nreason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the\nactual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the\nsocial milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,\nthere is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the\nreligious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.\n\nThe teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be\ntreated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends\nforce to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up\nthe moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these\nreligions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies\nan aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in\nits disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.\n\nHad humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true\ncharacter, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have\nreaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their\nsuccessive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.\n\nThe resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands\ncannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the\nviolent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the\nspiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and\nsaddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the\nextent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual\nvalues which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique\nmoral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.\n\nHowever vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and\nhowever dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,\nreligion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by\nincreasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the\nmodern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic\npursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made\nideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which\nit groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing\nthe concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of\nconcord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to\nsubordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt\nto suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously\nabandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all\ntoo clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while\nenabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely\ndreamed of by our forebears.\n\nHow tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of\nour age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations\nwho have been taught to worship at their altars can be read historyâs\nirreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have\nproduced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power\nby those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social\nand economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing\nyears of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions\nis the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass\nof the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts\nof deprived and anguished millions.\n\nThe time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether\nof the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give\naccount of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is\nthe ânew worldâ promised by these ideologies? Where is the international\npeace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the\nbreakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the\naggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why\nis the vast majority of the worldâs peoples sinking ever deeper into\nhunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the\nPharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth\ncentury is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?\n\nMost particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at\nonce the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we\nfind the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are\nincorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be\ncleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.\n\nThat materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to\nsatisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a\nfresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing\nproblems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society\nbespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite\nrather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common\nremedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of\nattitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn\nconcepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of\nideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a\nunited search for appropriate solutions?\n\nThose who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this\nadvice. âIf long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if\ncertain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote\nthe welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to\nthe needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and\nrelegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should\nthese, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be\nexempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human\ninstitution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are\nsolely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not\nhumanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any\nparticular law or doctrine.â\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nBanning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing\ngerm warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important\nsuch practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,\nthey are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.\nPeoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to\nuse food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and\nterrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and\ndominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of\nhumanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or\ndisagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be\nadopted.\n\nCertainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the\nworld-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting\nissues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies\nand solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as\nby agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance\nas to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a\nparalysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and\nresolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a\ndeep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which\nhas led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating\nnational self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an\nunwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of\nestablishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the\nincapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their\ndesire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and\nprosperity with all humanity.\n\nThe tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II,\ngive hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to\nformalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of\nmutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this\nparalysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean\nCommunity and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the\nCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the\nLeague of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization\nof American States, the South Pacific Forumâall the joint endeavours\nrepresented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.\n\nThe increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted\nproblems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious\nshortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations\nand conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have\nnot been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a\nsense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\nthe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,\nand the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of\ndiscrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the\nrights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to\ntorture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and\ntechnological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of\nmankindâall such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will\nadvance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to\ndominate international relations. There is no need to stress the\nsignificance of the issues addressed by these declarations and\nconventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate\nrelevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.\n\nRacism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier\nto peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the\ndignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism\nretards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,\ncorrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the\noneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be\nuniversally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.\n\nThe inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute\nsuffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the\nbrink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation.\nThe solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and\npractical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing\nconsultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of\neconomic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly\naffected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that\nis bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth\nand poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of\nwhich can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is\nitself a major part of the solution.\n\nUnbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate\npatriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a\nwhole. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs statement is: âThe earth is but one country, and\nmankind its citizens.â The concept of world citizenship is a direct result\nof the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through\nscientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations.\nLove of all the worldâs peoples does not exclude love of oneâs country.\nThe advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting\nthe advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various\nfields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among\npeoples need greatly to be increased.\n\nReligious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable\nwars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly\nabhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all\nreligions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife\nraises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between\nthem to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing\nthe religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled\nwith the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of\nhumanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before\ntheir Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great\nspirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for\nthe advancement of human understanding and peace.\n\nThe emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the\nsexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged\nprerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an\ninjustice against one half of the worldâs population and promotes in men\nharmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the\nworkplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.\nThere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such\ndenial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership\nin all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate\nbe created in which international peace can emerge.\n\nThe cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its\nservice an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves\nthe utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For\nignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of\npeoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success\nunless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits\nthe ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain\nordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do\nwell to consider giving first priority to the education of women and\ngirls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge\ncan be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In\nkeeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be\ngiven to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard\neducation of every child.\n\nA fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines\nefforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language\nwould go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent\nattention.\n\nTwo points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition\nof war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a\ncomplex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not\ncustomarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political\nagreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other\npoint is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to\nraise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure\npragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by\na spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude\nthat the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.\n\nThere are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which\nsolutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned\ngroup can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,\nbut good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The\nessential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a\nperspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,\nit also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which\nfacilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders\nof governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts\nto solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles\ninvolved and then be guided by them.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its\nentrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and\nco-operation will prevail.\n\nWorld order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the\noneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences\nconfirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human\nspecies, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.\nRecognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudiceâprejudice of\nevery kindârace, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material\ncivilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves\nsuperior to others.\n\nAcceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite\nfor reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the\nhome of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is\nessential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should\ntherefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly\nasserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the\nstructure of society which it implies.\n\nIn the BahÃ¡âÃ view, recognition of the oneness of mankind âcalls for no\nless than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole\ncivilized worldâa world organically unified in all the essential aspects\nof its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade\nand finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of\nthe national characteristics of its federated units.â\n\nElaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,\nthe Guardian of the BahÃ¡âÃ Faith, commented in 1931 that: âFar from aiming\nat the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to\nbroaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with\nthe needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate\nallegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is\nneither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in menâs\nhearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the\nevils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,\nnor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of\nclimate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that\ndifferentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider\nloyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human\nrace. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests\nto the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive\ncentralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on\nthe other. Its watchword is unity in diversityâ.\n\nThe achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of\nnational political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of\nclearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles\nregulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the\nUnited Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them\nhave unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative\neffects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves\nincapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since\nthe end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.\n\nThe predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the\nnineteenth century when BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h first advanced his proposals for the\nestablishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was\npropounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.\nShoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: âWhat else could these weighty\nwords signify,â he wrote, âif they did not point to the inevitable\ncurtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable\npreliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations\nof the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in\nwhose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every\nclaim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to\nmaintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order\nwithin their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include\nwithin its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme\nand unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the\ncommonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the\npeople in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed\nby their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement\nwill have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned\ndid not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.\n\nâA world community in which all economic barriers will have been\npermanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour\ndefinitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and\nstrife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial\nanimosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of\ninternational lawâthe product of the considered judgement of the worldâs\nfederated representativesâshall have as its sanction the instant and\ncoercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and\nfinally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant\nnationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of\nworld citizenshipâsuch indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order\nanticipated by BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the\nfairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.â\n\nThe implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThe time must come when the imperative necessity for the\nholding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally\nrealized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,\nparticipating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as\nwill lay the foundations of the worldâs Great Peace amongst men.â\n\nThe courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one\npeople for anotherâall the spiritual and moral qualities required for\neffecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to\nact. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest\nconsideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To\nunderstand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the\nsocial necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid,\ndispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of\nthis process. BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h insistently drew attention to the virtues and\nindispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said:\nâConsultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into\ncertitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and\nguides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of\nperfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made\nmanifest through consultation.â The very attempt to achieve peace through\nthe consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit\namong the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final,\ntriumphal outcome.\n\nConcerning the proceedings for this world gathering, âAbduâl-BahÃ¡, the son\nof BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these\ninsights: âThey must make the Cause of Peace the object of general\nconsultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union\nof the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and\nestablish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable\nand definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the\nsanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertakingâthe\nreal source of the peace and well-being of all the worldâshould be\nregarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity\nmust be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most\nGreat Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of\neach and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying\nthe relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and\nall international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner,\nthe size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,\nfor if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation\nshould be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.\nThe fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed\nthat if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the\ngovernments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay\nthe human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its\ndisposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies\nbe applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from\nits ills and will remain eternally safe and secure.â\n\nThe holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.\n\nWith all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations\nto seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this\nworld meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this\nact which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.\n\nWill not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise\nto the high purposes of such a crowning event?\n\nLet men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal\nmerit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices\nin willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this\nglorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThe source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation\nof war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation.\nPermanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h\nasserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond\nthe initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear\nholocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by\nsuspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and\ncoexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these\nsteps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all\nthe peoples of the world in one universal family.\n\nDisunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no\nlonger endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too\nobvious to require any demonstration. âThe well-being of mankind,â\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h wrote more than a century ago, âits peace and security, are\nunattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.â In\nobserving that âmankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to\nterminate its age-long martyrdomâ, Shoghi Effendi further commented that:\nâUnification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which\nhuman society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of\ncity-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully\nestablished. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is\nstriving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in\nstate sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to\nmaturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of\nhuman relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can\nbest incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.â\n\nAll contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be\ndiscerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs\ntowards world peace in current international movements and developments.\nThe army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and\nnation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United\nNations, represent a planetary âcivil serviceâ whose impressive\naccomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be\nattained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a\nspiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless\ninternational congresses that bring together people from a vast array of\ndisciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving\nchildren and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable\nmovement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic\nreligions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together\nwith the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against\nwhich it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of\nthe dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing\nyears of the twentieth century.\n\nThe experience of the BahÃ¡âÃ community may be seen as an example of this\nenlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people\ndrawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide\nrange of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of\nthe peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative\nof the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a\nsystem of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing\nequally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its\nexistence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its\nFounderâs vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can\nlive as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age\nmay entail. If the BahÃ¡âÃ experience can contribute in whatever measure to\nreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it\nas a model for study.\n\nIn contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the\nentire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of\nthe divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity\nfrom the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with\nintellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the\nâunique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Himâ, a capacity\nthat âmust needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary\npurpose underlying the whole of creation.â\n\nWe hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created âto\ncarry forward an ever-advancing civilizationâ; that âto act like the\nbeasts of the field is unworthy of manâ; that the virtues that befit human\ndignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and\nloving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the\nâpotentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his\ndestiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be\nmanifested in this promised Day of God.â These are the motivations for our\nunshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards\nwhich humanity is striving.\n\nAt this writing, the expectant voices of BahÃ¡âÃs can be heard despite the\npersecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born.\nBy their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that\nthe imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue\nof the transforming effects of BahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡hâs revelation, invested with the\nforce of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in\nwords: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the\nanxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We\njoin with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end\nto conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and\nworld order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called\ninto being by an all-loving Creator.\n\nIn the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope\nand the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of\nBahÃ¡âuâllÃ¡h: âThese fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,\nand the âMost Great Peaceâ shall come.â\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEND OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE\n\n\n\nCREDITS\n\n\nJune 2006\n\n Converted from Microsoft Word document format to TEI master\n format.\n Joshua Hutchinson\n\n\n\nA WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG\n\n\nThis file should be named 19286-0.txt or 19286-0.zip.\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\n\n\n http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/2/8/19286/\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one â the old editions will be\nrenamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no one\nowns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and\nyou!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission\nand without paying copyright royalties. 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{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Which of Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit's children become the best at catching rats?", "tokens": [ "Which", "of", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "s", "children", "become", "the", "best", "at", "catching", "rats", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Moppet and Mittens.", "tokens": [ "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "." ] }, { "text": "Moppet and Mittens.", "tokens": [ "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "." ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What kind of food did the rats put on Tom Kitten?", "tokens": [ "What", "kind", "of", "food", "did", "the", "rats", "put", "on", "Tom", "Kitten", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Dough and butter.", "tokens": [ "Dough", "and", "butter", "." ] }, { "text": "They cover him with butter and dough.", "tokens": [ "They", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "." ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "How did Tom escape from the cupboard?", "tokens": [ "How", "did", "Tom", "escape", "from", "the", "cupboard", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "He climbed up the chimney. ", "tokens": [ "He", "climbed", "up", "the", "chimney", "." ] }, { "text": "Escapes up the chimney.", "tokens": [ "Escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", "." ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What were the names of the rats that captured Tom?", "tokens": [ "What", "were", "the", "names", "of", "the", "rats", "that", "captured", "Tom", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Mr. Samuel Whiskers and Anna Marie Whiskers. ", "tokens": [ "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Marie", "Whiskers", "." ] }, { "text": "Mr Samuel WHiskers and Anna Maria", "tokens": [ "Mr", "Samuel", "WHiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria" ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Who helped Mrs. Twitchit find Tom when he was lost?", "tokens": [ "Who", "helped", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "find", "Tom", "when", "he", "was", "lost", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Her cousin Ribby.", "tokens": [ "Her", "cousin", "Ribby", "." ] }, { "text": "Ribby", "tokens": [ "Ribby" ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Donations are accepted in a number of other\nways including including checks, online payments and credit card\ndonations. To donate, please visit:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.net/fundraising/donate\n\n\nSection 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic\nworks.\n\nProfessor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm\nconcept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared\nwith anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project\nGutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.\n\nProject Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed\neditions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.\nunless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Where did Tom become stuck after trying to escape?", "tokens": [ "Where", "did", "Tom", "become", "stuck", "after", "trying", "to", "escape", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "In the floorboards of the attic. ", "tokens": [ "In", "the", "floorboards", "of", "the", "attic", "." ] }, { "text": "Underneath the attic floorboards", "tokens": [ "Underneath", "the", "attic", "floorboards" ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Who is the carpenter that came to help get Tom out of the attic?", "tokens": [ "Who", "is", "the", "carpenter", "that", "came", "to", "help", "get", "Tom", "out", "of", "the", "attic", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "John Joiner.", "tokens": [ "John", "Joiner", "." ] }, { "text": "john joiner", "tokens": [ "john", "joiner" ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Donations are accepted in a number of other\nways including including checks, online payments and credit card\ndonations. To donate, please visit:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.net/fundraising/donate\n\n\nSection 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic\nworks.\n\nProfessor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm\nconcept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared\nwith anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project\nGutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.\n\nProject Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed\neditions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.\nunless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Why was the floor to the attic cut open?", "tokens": [ "Why", "was", "the", "floor", "to", "the", "attic", "cut", "open", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "To get Tom out. ", "tokens": [ "To", "get", "Tom", "out", "." ] }, { "text": "To resuce Tom", "tokens": [ "To", "resuce", "Tom" ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Where do the rats escape to after they are caught?", "tokens": [ "Where", "do", "the", "rats", "escape", "to", "after", "they", "are", "caught", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Farmer Potatoes barn. ", "tokens": [ "Farmer", "Potatoes", "barn", "." ] }, { "text": "farmer potatoes", "tokens": [ "farmer", "potatoes" ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Donations are accepted in a number of other\nways including including checks, online payments and credit card\ndonations. To donate, please visit:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.net/fundraising/donate\n\n\nSection 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic\nworks.\n\nProfessor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm\nconcept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared\nwith anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project\nGutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.\n\nProject Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed\neditions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.\nunless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What were the rats planning on doing to Tom?", "tokens": [ "What", "were", "the", "rats", "planning", "on", "doing", "to", "Tom", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Making him into a pudding so they could eat him. ", "tokens": [ "Making", "him", "into", "a", "pudding", "so", "they", "could", "eat", "him", "." ] }, { "text": "Eating him as a pudding", "tokens": [ "Eating", "him", "as", "a", "pudding" ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Who are Moppet and Mittens to Tom Kitten?", "tokens": [ "Who", "are", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "to", "Tom", "Kitten", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "His sisters.", "tokens": [ "His", "sisters", "." ] }, { "text": "his sisters", "tokens": [ "his", "sisters" ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Donations are accepted in a number of other\nways including including checks, online payments and credit card\ndonations. To donate, please visit:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.net/fundraising/donate\n\n\nSection 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic\nworks.\n\nProfessor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm\nconcept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared\nwith anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project\nGutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.\n\nProject Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed\neditions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.\nunless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Why did Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit put her children in the cupboard?", "tokens": [ "Why", "did", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "put", "her", "children", "in", "the", "cupboard", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Because they weren't following rules and being punished.", "tokens": [ "Because", "they", "were", "n't", "following", "rules", "and", "being", "punished", "." ] }, { "text": "To keep them under control as the house of overrun with rats", "tokens": [ "To", "keep", "them", "under", "control", "as", "the", "house", "of", "overrun", "with", "rats" ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Where did Tom Kittens end up after escaping through the chimney?", "tokens": [ "Where", "did", "Tom", "Kittens", "end", "up", "after", "escaping", "through", "the", "chimney", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "The attic.", "tokens": [ "The", "attic", "." ] }, { "text": "under the atic floor boards", "tokens": [ "under", "the", "atic", "floor", "boards" ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Who did Tom Kittens meet in the attic?", "tokens": [ "Who", "did", "Tom", "Kittens", "meet", "in", "the", "attic", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria.", "tokens": [ "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "." ] }, { "text": "The rats: Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria", "tokens": [ "The", "rats", ":", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria" ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "What did Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria want to do to Tom Kittens?", "tokens": [ "What", "did", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "want", "to", "do", "to", "Tom", "Kittens", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "They wanted to eat him.", "tokens": [ "They", "wanted", "to", "eat", "him", "." ] }, { "text": "eat him", "tokens": [ "eat", "him" ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Who rescued Tom Kittens?", "tokens": [ "Who", "rescued", "Tom", "Kittens", "?" ] }	[ { "text": " John Joiner.", "tokens": [ "John", "Joiner", "." ] }, { "text": "John Joiner", "tokens": [ "John", "Joiner" ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "How was Tom Kittens rescued?", "tokens": [ "How", "was", "Tom", "Kittens", "rescued", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Sawing through the floor of the attic.", "tokens": [ "Sawing", "through", "the", "floor", "of", "the", "attic", "." ] }, { "text": "The carpenter saws a hole in the floor to rescue him.", "tokens": [ "The", "carpenter", "saws", "a", "hole", "in", "the", "floor", "to", "rescue", "him", "." ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "Where did Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria escape to?", "tokens": [ "Where", "did", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "escape", "to", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Farmer Potatoes' barn.", "tokens": [ "Farmer", "Potatoes", "'", "barn", "." ] }, { "text": "Farmer Potatoes", "tokens": [ "Farmer", "Potatoes" ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "How was Tom Kittens affected by the incident with the rats?", "tokens": [ "How", "was", "Tom", "Kittens", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "with", "the", "rats", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "He is now afraid of anything bigger than mice.", "tokens": [ "He", "is", "now", "afraid", "of", "anything", "bigger", "than", "mice", "." ] }, { "text": "He is now afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "He", "is", "now", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\n\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n\n http://www.gutenberg.net\n\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n" }	{ "text": "How many children does Mrs. Twitchit have?", "tokens": [ "How", "many", "children", "does", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "have", "?" ] }	[ { "text": "Three.", "tokens": [ "Three", "." ] }, { "text": "3", "tokens": [ "3" ] } ]
{ "id": "02476285f0673b06c7754deed4517e54c50c42b5", "kind": "gutenberg", "url": "http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15575.txt.utf-8", "file_size": 36044, "word_count": 6522, "start": "E-text prepared by", "end": "new eBooks .", "summary": { "text": " The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. Her children being an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. They are seen by the two other Kittens who are hiding from their mother as they steal the dough, butter, and rolling-pin. However, when they proceed to settle the dough with a rolling-pin, the noise gets through the floorboards and attracts the attention of Tabitha Twitchit and her cousin Ribby who has been helping search for Tom. They quickly call for John Joiner, the carpenter, who saws open the floor and rescues Tom. He has the dough removed, is washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse.", "tokens": [ "The", "theme", "of", "the", "tale", "is", "the", "childhood", "sin", "of", "disobedience", ".", "Tom", "Kitten", "is", "a", "young", "cat", "who", "lives", "with", "his", "mother", ",", "Mrs.", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", ",", "and", "sisters", ",", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", ",", "in", "a", "house", "overrun", "with", "rats", ".", "Her", "children", "being", "an", "unruly", "bunch", ",", "Mrs.", "Twitchit", "puts", "Moppet", "and", "Mittens", "in", "a", "cupboard", "in", "order", "to", "keep", "them", "under", "control", ",", "but", "Tom", "Kitten", "escapes", "up", "the", "chimney", ".", "As", "he", "makes", "his", "way", "to", "the", "top", "of", "the", "house", ",", "he", "comes", "across", "a", "crack", "in", "the", "wall", "and", ",", "squeezing", "through", "it", ",", "finds", "himself", "under", "the", "attic", "s", "floorboards", ".", "There", "he", "meets", "the", "rats", ",", "Mr.", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "Anna", "Maria", ".", "They", "catch", "him", "and", "proceed", "to", "cover", "him", "with", "butter", "and", "dough", "they", "have", "stolen", "in", "order", "to", "eat", "him", "as", "a", "pudding", ".", "They", "are", "seen", "by", "the", "two", "other", "Kittens", "who", "are", "hiding", "from", "their", "mother", "as", "they", "steal", "the", "dough", ",", "butter", ",", "and", "rolling-pin", ".", "However", ",", "when", "they", "proceed", "to", "settle", "the", "dough", "with", "a", "rolling-pin", ",", "the", "noise", "gets", "through", "the", "floorboards", "and", "attracts", "the", "attention", "of", "Tabitha", "Twitchit", "and", "her", "cousin", "Ribby", "who", "has", "been", "helping", "search", "for", "Tom", ".", "They", "quickly", "call", "for", "John", "Joiner", ",", "the", "carpenter", ",", "who", "saws", "open", "the", "floor", "and", "rescues", "Tom", ".", "He", "has", "the", "dough", "removed", ",", "is", "washed", ",", "and", "the", "remains", "of", "the", "dumpling", "are", "eaten", "by", "the", "family", ".", "Whiskers", "and", "his", "wife", "escape", "to", "the", "barn", "of", "Farmer", "Potatoes", ",", "spreading", "their", "chaos", "to", "another", "location", ",", "though", "leaving", "the", "cat", "family", "residence", "in", "peace", ".", "Potter", "mentions", "herself", "as", "seeing", "Samuel", "Whiskers", "and", "Anna", "Maria", "making", "their", "escape", ",", "using", "a", "wheelbarrow", "that", "looks", "like", "her", "own", ".", "Tom", "is", "so", "affected", "by", "the", "incident", "that", "while", "his", "sisters", "become", "fine", "rat-catchers", "he", "is", "afraid", "of", "anything", "larger", "than", "a", "mouse", "." ], "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding", "title": "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding" }, "text": "ï»¿The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter\n\n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers\n The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\n\nAuthor: Beatrix Potter\n\nRelease Date: April 6, 2005 [eBook #15575]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)\n\n\n*START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\nE-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip:\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm)\n or\n (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\nOr, The Roly-Poly Pudding\n\nby\n\nBEATRIX POTTER\n\nAuthor of \"The Tale of Peter Rabbit\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nIN REMEMBRANCE OF\n\"SAMMY,\"\nTHE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE\nOF\nA PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE\nAN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND,\nAND MOST ACCOMPLISHED\nTHIEF\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nFREDERICK WARNE\n\nFirst published 1908\n(Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_)\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who\nwas an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and\nwhenever they were lost they were always in mischief!\n\nOn baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard.\n\nShe caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.\n\nMrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom\nKitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched\nthe best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She\nwent right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find\nhim anywhere.\n\nIt was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the\nwalls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside\nthem, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there\nwere odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared\nat night--especially cheese and bacon.\n\nMrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got\ninto mischief.\n\nThe cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before\nthe fire.\n\nThey patted it with their little soft paws--\"Shall we make dear little\nmuffins?\" said Mittens to Moppet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet\njumped into the flour barrel in a fright.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone\nshelf where the milk pans stand.\n\nThe visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some\nyeast.\n\nMrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--\"Come in, Cousin Ribby,\ncome in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,\" said\nTabitha, shedding tears. \"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the\nrats have got him.\" She wiped her eyes with her apron.\n\n\"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best\nbonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?\"\n\n\"All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to\nhave an unruly family!\" said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too!\nWhat is all that soot in the fender?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The chimney wants sweeping--Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now Moppet and\nMittens are gone!\"\n\n\"They have both got out of the cupboard!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again.\nThey poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in\ncupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest\nin one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard\na door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.\n\n\"Yes, it is infested with rats,\" said Tabitha tearfully. \"I caught seven\nyoung ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for\ndinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat--an enormous old\nrat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his\nyellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.\"\n\n\"The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,\" said Tabitha.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRibby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious\nroly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey returned to the kitchen. \"Here's one of your kittens at least,\"\nsaid Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.\n\nThey shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She\nseemed to be in a terrible fright.\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother,\" said Moppet, \"there's been an old woman rat in the\nkitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!\"\n\nThe two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks\nof little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!\n\n\"Which way did she go, Moppet?\"\n\nBut Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.\n\nRibby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while\nthey went on with their search.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding\nin an empty jar.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, Mother!\" said Mittens--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy--a\ndreadful 'normous big rat, mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and\nthe rolling-pin.\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha looked at one another.\n\n\"A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!\" exclaimed Tabitha,\nwringing her paws.\n\n\"A rolling-pin?\" said Ribby. \"Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the\nattic when we were looking into that chest?\"\n\nRibby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise\nwas still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,\" said Ribby. \"We must send for John\nJoiner at once, with a saw.\"\n\n * * * \n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very\nunwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does\nnot know his way, and where there are enormous rats.\n\nTom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that\nhis mother was going to bake, he determined to hide.\n\nHe looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the\nchimney.\n\nThe fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a\nwhite choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender\nand looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fire-place.\n\nThe chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk\nabout. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe jumped right up into the fire-place, balancing himself upon the iron\nbar where the kettle hangs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high\nup inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the\nsticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fire-place down below. He\nmade up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates,\nand try to catch sparrows.\n\n\"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my\nbeautiful tail and my little blue jacket.\"\n\nThe chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days\nwhen people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.\n\nThe chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and\nthe daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that\nkept out the rain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little\nsweep himself.\n\nIt was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into\nanother.\n\nThere was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost.\n\nHe scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to\na place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some\nmutton bones lying about--\n\n\"This seems funny,\" said Tom Kitten. \"Who has been gnawing bones up here\nin the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is\nsomething like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,\" said\nTom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a\nmost uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the\nskirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark in the\npicture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and\nlanded on a heap of very dirty rags.\n\nWhen Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him--he found himself\nin a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his\nlife in the house.\n\nIt was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and\ncobwebs, and lath and plaster.\n\nOpposite to him--as far away as he could sit--was an enormous rat.\n\n\"What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?\" said\nthe rat, chattering his teeth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Please sir, the chimney wants sweeping,\" said poor Tom Kitten.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!\" squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise\nand an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.\n\nAll in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was\nhappening--\n\nHis coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with\nstring in very hard knots.\n\nAnna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When\nshe had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.\n\n\"Anna Maria,\" said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel\nWhiskers),--\"Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\"It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,\" said Anna\nMaria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No,\" said Samuel Whiskers, \"make it properly, Anna Maria, with\nbreadcrumbs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nonsense! Butter and dough,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.\n\nSamuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down\nthe front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet\nanybody.\n\nHe made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of\nhim with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel.\n\nHe could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the\ncandle to look into the chest.\n\nThey did not see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter\nto the kitchen to steal the dough.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws.\n\nShe did not observe Moppet.\n\nWhile Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he\nwriggled about and tried to mew for help.\n\nBut his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such\nvery tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.\n\nExcept a spider, which came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined\nthe knots critically, from a safe distance.\n\nIt was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate\nblue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.\n\nTom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a\ndumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him\nin the dough.\n\n\"Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?\" inquired Samuel\nWhiskers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she\nwished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the\npastry. She laid hold of his ears.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin\nwent roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.\n\n\"His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.\"\n\n\"I fetched as much as I could carry,\" replied Anna Maria.\n\n\"I do not think\"--said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom\nKitten--\"I do _not_ think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.\"\n\nAnna Maria was about to argue the point, when all at once there began to\nbe other sounds up above--the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a\nlittle dog, scratching and yelping!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.\n\n\"We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our\nproperty--and other people's,--and depart at once.\"\n\n\"I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible,\nwhatever you may urge to the contrary.\"\n\n\"Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a\ncounterpane,\" said Anna Maria. \"I have got half a smoked ham hidden in\nthe chimney.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up--there\nwas nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a\nvery dirty dumpling!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of\nthe morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round\nand round with his head in the hole like a gimlet.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he nailed the plank down again and put his tools in his bag, and\ncame downstairs.\n\nThe cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner.\n\nThe dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a\nbag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts.\n\nThey had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the\nbutter off.\n\nJohn Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to\nstay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheel-barrow for\nMiss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.\n\nAnd when I was going to the post late in the afternoon--I looked up the\nlane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the\nrun, with big bundles on a little wheel-barrow, which looked very like\nmine.\n\nThey were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.\n\nSamuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still\narguing in shrill tones.\n\nShe seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of\nluggage.\n\nI am sure _I_ never gave her leave to borrow my wheel-barrow!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string\nto the top of the hay mow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha\nTwitchit's.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are\nrats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and\nsteal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags.\n\nAnd they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--children\nand grand-children and great great grand-children.\n\nThere is no end to them!\n\nMoppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers.\n\nThey go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of\nemployment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very\ncomfortably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many\nthey have caught--dozens and dozens of them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face\nanything that is bigger than--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Mouse.\n\n\n\n*END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS\n\n\n**** This file should be named 15575.txt or 15575.zip ***\n\n\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575\n\n\n\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\n\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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