CHAPTER XI THE TEMPLE OF BEL To the Temple of Bel! To that ebon dark structure, where in its mighty enclosure crouched the figure of the unclean god. It was the one chance--the one remaining hope of a full success in his venture, and Jason knew it. "To Avron--up and remain with him," he cried to Naia. "Nay, Jason--nay, my beloved," she denied him, gasping. "With thee. Keep me in this at thy side." "Come, then." He tightened the arm about her yielding waist and crushed her to him. There was scant time to argue. Already the guard were forming--massing a wall of their bodies about them. And there was a thing that demanded his attention. Swiftly he drew his signal-lamp and pointed it to the skies. "To the Temple of Bel! Descend above it!" He sent a message with a hand that, despite his stern control, was not wholly steady. "To the Temple of Bel," he repeated, and lowered his eyes to find Helmor's eyes upon him. "I but signed the airships to follow us to the temple," he voiced an explanation, lest the man misunderstand him, and found himself wondering if the huge craft would be able to identify and find it--decided there was naught he could do to aid them, that the carrying out of the order lay wholly in the hands of Robur. And Helmor seemed to understand, though he made no answer, speaking instead to Helmon. "Remain and guard the machine. Let no one approach it." "To the temple!" Once more the voice of the crowd--a seething mass now of jostling, pressing bodies--of white faces and lifted arms in the flickering light of the firelight. Helmor answered the rising ululation, "Aye, to the temple. Forward, guard!" Croft lifted Naia of Aphur, holding her terror-shaken figure before him, cradling it in his arms against his metaled breast. Side by side he went forward with Helmor as the guard advanced across the square, breaking a pathway through the mass of the people with their spears. Slowly at first, and then with a quickened rhythm beat their feet. Their moving mass gathered momentum as their captain lifted his voice and called a rising cadence. The light of the blazing buildings shone sharp upon the spearheads--shimmered and flashed on their glinting harness as they charged toward the shadowy mouth of a street. To the temple--the temple! The thud and clank of their feet, striking in a measured rhythm, seemed to beat the words into Jason's ears. To the temple--the temple! Naia of Aphur was praying. As he raced inside the cordon of other racing bodies, Croft caught the whisper of her pale lips beneath his own set, straining face. "Ga--Azil--Ga, eternal mother--Azil--angel of life--have mercy--spread thy wings in shelter above him--"