"But even in those days they found this land, which is warmed strangely by the ocean currents, was inhabited. A free and fearless race of barbarians dwelt here, and them the warriors of Adlaz were never able to subdue. Great beasts dwelt here, also—beasts so mighty that the earth shook when they walked—and the Children of Ad found themselves beset by troubles in their new land. But they throve. Though they could not conquer the barbarians, they drove them from the north of the island. And though they could not slay the mighty beasts, they affrighted them with fire, burning whole forests, and forced them also to the south. At one point the land is narrow, scarcely sixty of your English miles across. There the Children of Ad builded them a wall so tall and thick that even the beasts might not push it down.
"On the other side of that wall—the Kimbrian Wall—lies Ruthar, a land of forests and hills and rivers, but a fair land. And there dwell the Rutharians and the beasts; and down through all the years to this day there has been war across the wall.
"Now to the meat of this tale of mine, which grows long. In Ruthar there is a prophecy, also, to match that of those who call themselves Maeronicans. It is that there shall come up from the sea a mighty man with yellow hair like unto gold, who shall break down the Kimbrian Wall and let the beasts pass through, and who shall lead the chiefs of Ruthar in a warfare that shall break the power of Adlaz, and cast down the hateful kings and the cruel religion of Shamar. For that man the Rutharian chieftains always wait, and with them waits the Goddess Glorian, who is more than any king or chief."
Oleric paused, and looked long and earnestly into the face of Polaris.
"That is my tale, my brother," he said. "And if you are not the man of the ancient prophecy of Ruthar, at least I believe that you will serve."
Breathlessly Zenas Wright had followed the course of the red captain's words. The scientist could contain himself no longer.
"Atlantis!" he cried. From face to face about the table he looked, with a shadow of awe in his eager eyes. "Just so surely as we are sitting here—if this man tells the truth, and I think that he does—we are among the descendants of the people of the lost continent of Atlantis. Word for word, his story fits in with that which the old Egyptian priest at Sais told to Solon, the Greek, and which Plato recorded. I have read it all in the compilation by Ignatius Donnelly, in which he gathered all the evidence which he could find in the world to prove that Atlantis was not a myth."
Zenas sat back with half-closed eyes. A long, low whistle passed his lips.
"What do you call the luminous metal with which your helmet and armor are decorated?" he asked of Oleric.
"It is called orichalcum," replied the captain.