The Lost Continent | Page 7

had I known how vigorously the supplanting would trouble you."
"We are alone here," I said, "away from the formalities of formal
assemblies, and a man may give vent to his natural self without fear of
tarnishing a ceremony. Your coming was something of the suddenest.
Till an hour ago, when you demanded audience, I had thought to rule
on longer; and even now I do not know for what cause I am deposed."
"The proclamation said: 'We relieve our well-beloved Deucalion of his
present service, because we have great need of his powers at home in
our kingdom of Atlantis.'"
"A mere formality."

Tatho looked uneasily round the hangings of the chamber, and drew me
with him to its centre, and lowered his voice.
"I do not think so," he whispered. "I believe she has need of you. There
are troublous times on hand, and Phorenice wants the ablest men in the
kingdom ready to her call."
"You may speak openly," I said, "and without fear of eavesdroppers.
We are in the heart of the pyramid here, built in every way by a man's
length of solid stone. Myself, I oversaw the laying of every course. And
besides, here in Yucatan, we have not the niceties of your old world
diplomacy, and do not listen, because we count it shame to do so."
Tatho shrugged his shoulders. "I acted only according to mine
education. At home, a loose tongue makes a loose head, and there are
those whose trade it is to carry tales. Still, what I say is this: The throne
shakes, and Phorenice sees the need of sturdy props. So she has sent
this proclamation."
"But why come to me? It is twenty years since I sailed to this colony,
and from that day I have not returned to Atlantis once. I know little of
the old country's politics. What small parcel of news drifts out to us
across the ocean, reads with slender interest here. Yucatan is another
world, my dear Tatho, as you in the course of your government will
learn, with new interests, new people, new everything. To us here,
Atlantis is only a figment, a shadow, far away across the waters. It is
for this new world of Yucatan that I have striven through all these
years."
"If Deucalion has small time to spare from his government for brooding
over his fatherland, Atlantis, at least, has found leisure to admire the
deeds of her brilliant son. Why, sir, over yonder at home, your name
carries magic with it. When you and I were lads together, it was the
custom in the colleges to teach that the men of the past were the
greatest this world has ever seen; but to-day this teaching is changed. It
is Deucalion who is held up as the model and example. Mothers name
their sons Deucalion, as the most valuable birth-gift they can make.
Deucalion is a household word. Indeed, there is only one name that is

near to it in familiarity."
"You trouble me," I said, frowning. "I have tried to do my duty for its
own sake, and for the country's sake, not for the pattings and fondlings
of the vulgar. And besides, if there are names to be in every one's
mouth, they should be the names of the Gods."
Tatho shrugged his shoulders. "The Gods? They occupy us very little
these latter years. With our modern science, we have grown past the
tether of the older Gods, and no new one has appeared. No, my Lord
Deucalion, if it were merely the Gods who were your competitors on
men's lips, your name would be a thousand times the better known."
"Of mere human names," I said, "the name of this new Empress should
come first in Atlantis, our lord the old King being now dead."
"She certainly would have it so," replied Tatho, and there was
something in his tone which made me see that more was meant behind
the words. I drew him to one of the marble seats, and bent myself
familiarly towards him. "I am speaking," I said, "not to the new
Viceroy of Yucatan, but to my old friend Tatho, a member of the
Priests' Clan, like myself, with whom I worked side by side in a score
of the smaller home governments, in hamlets, in villages, in smaller
towns, in greater towns, as we gained experience in war and knowledge
in the art of ruling people, and so tediously won our promotion. I am
speaking in Tatho's private abode, that was mine own not two hours
since, and I would have an answer with that plainness which we always
then used to one another."
The new Viceroy sighed whimsically. "I almost forget how to speak in
plain words now," he said.