"Let her whom they name the Lady Memene be sent to the Gateway, the bride of the great servant of the ancient god.
"Let the man Minos, who hath dared to lay his sacrilegious hand of violence on the sacred person of the mighty high priest Analos, let him be sent to the Gateway also, where he shall be scourged with whips and humiliated as seemeth best to the servants of the god!
"Thus and thus only may the doom be averted, thus the god appeased. Hephaistos hath spoken!"
Through the pause that followed his words broke the voice of Minos. The face of the king was smiling no longer, but fierce as a winter sea as he leaped down from his throne:
"This the answer of Minos to Analos. Had he dared to come here with such a message as he hath sent, Minos would have thus broken him in two!"
He caught from its place the black stone seat that had stood there for many a hundred years. It was of a weight that would have troubled two stout men to lift, but in his anger the king plucked it up and swung it aloft like a chair of wood. Then it crashed down on the marble floor and splintered to fragments.
"So would I treat thee also, Karthanon, but thou art old, and after all but the bearer of a message. Get thee back to the Gateway and tell thy master that a king still rules in Sardanes!"
The priest shuffled to the entrance at the side of the dais. In the doorway he turned and lifted his hands.
"On the people falleth the dread doom!" he cried.
Through the moments of these happenings not a man in the hall had stirred, save Minos and the priest. Now there was a surge forward toward the dais. Nearest the steps stood Istos, captain of the smiths. He sprang up on the platform.