"Tell me, ancient one," he said, "not of thy loves but of thyself.Who are you? What do you here in the pits of O-Tar?""I might ask you the same, young man," replied the other."Few there are who visit the pits other than the dead, except my pupils--ey! That is it--you are new pupils! Good! But never before have they sent a woman to learn the great art from the greatest artist.But times have changed.Now, in my day the women did no work--they were just for kissing and loving.Ey, those were the women.I mind the one we captured in the south--ey! she was a devil, but how she could love.She had breasts of marble and a heart of fire.Why, she --""Yes, yes," interrupted Turan; "we are pupils, and we are anxious to get to work.Lead on and we will follow.""Ey, yes! Ey, yes! Come! All is rush and hurry as though there were not another countless myriad of ages ahead.Ey, yes! as many as lie behind.Two thousand years have passed since I broke my shell and always rush, rush, rush, yet I cannot see that aught has been accomplished.Manator is the same today as it was then--except the girls.We had the girls then.There was one that I gained upon The Fields of Jetan.Ey, but you should have seen --""Lead on!" cried Turan."After we are at work you shall tell us of her.""Ey, yes," said the old fellow and shuffled off down a dimlylighted passage."Follow me!""You are going with him?" asked Tara.
"Why not?" replied Turan."We know not where we are, or the way from these pits; for I know not east from west; but he doubtless knows and if we are shrewd we may learn from him that which we would know.At least we cannot afford to arouse his suspicions";and so they followed him--followed along winding corridors and through many chambers, until they came at last to a room in which there were several marble slabs raised upon pedestals some three feet above the floor and upon each slab lay a human corpse.
"Here we are," exclaimed the old man."These are fresh and we shall have to get to work upon them soon.I am working now on one for The Gate of Enemies.He slew many of our warriors.Truly is he entitled to a place in The Gate.Come, you shall see him."He led them to an adjoining apartment.Upon the floor were many fresh, human bones and upon a marble slab a mass of shapeless flesh.
"You will learn this later," announced the old man; "but it will not harm you to watch me now, for there are not many thus prepared, and it may be long before you will have the opportunity to see another prepared for The Gate of Enemies.First, you see, I remove all the bones, carefully that the skin may be damaged as little as possible.The skull is the most difficult, but it can be removed by a skilful artist.You see, I have made but a single opening.This I now sew up, and that done, the body is hung so,"and he fastened a piece of rope to the hair of the corpse and swung the horrid thing to a ring in the ceiling.Directly below it was a circular manhole in the floor from which he removed the cover revealing a well partially filled with a reddish liquid.
"Now we lower it into this, the formula for which you shall learn in due time.We fasten it thus to the bottom of the cover, which we now replace.In a year it will be ready; but it must be examined often in the meantime and the liquid kept above the level of its crown.It will be a very beautiful piece, this one, when it is ready.
"And you are fortunate again, for there is one to come out today." He crossed to the opposite side of the room and raised another cover, reached in and dragged a grotesque looking figure from the hole.It was a human body, shrunk by the action of the chemical in which it had been immersed, to a little figure scarce a foot high.
"Ey! is it not fine?" cried the little old man."Tomorrow it will take its place in The Gate of Enemies." He dried it off with cloths and packed it away carefully in a basket."Perhaps you would like to see some of my life work," he suggested, and without waiting for their assent led them to another apartment, a large chamber in which were forty or fifty people.All were sitting or standing quietly about the walls, with the exception of one huge warrior who bestrode a great thoat in the very center of the room, and all were motionless.Instantly there sprang to the minds of Tara and Turan the rows of silent people upon the balconies that lined the avenues of the city, and the noble array of mounted warriors in The Hall of Chiefs, and the same explanation came to both but neither dared voice the question that was in his mind, for fear of revealing by his ignorance the fact that they were strangers in Manator and therefore impostors in the guise of pupils.
