A murmur of surprise arose in the hall, and then was silenced, for Glorian arose to speak. "Zinds of my people," she said in her clear, low voice, "to the weight of this man's words add that of Glorian's. He comes, this man, from a land where there are no kings. He is willing to fight for you--to die with you. What he promises will fulfil the prophecy by which we hold. It is a noble choice that he has made. It is my rede that you accept it--mine and that of Oleric the Learned, to whom you sometimes have looked for counsel." As she reseated herself, the red captain stood forth and said simply: "My brother has chosen well. I stand with him. Should you not agree, I still stand with him, and he and I and such as are faithful to us will break the Kimbrian Wall and perish on the road to Adlaz." For a short time the zinds took counsel among themselves. When they had done, an aged man--he was Atra, the ruler of Zele-omaz--stood out from among them. "We are agreed, O goddess," he said. "We will have this man as king until the prophecy is fulfilled and for so long afterward as he will, until the babe be grown to manhood. He is a true man. We are content, and perhaps"--here Atra smiled--"with the passing of the years he may change his mind." They brought the crown of Ruthar--a heavy torque of gold set with fire-opals--and led Polaris to the ivory throne, and set him beside the Goddess Glorian and crowned him. And he put his hands in the hands of the zinds and swore the oath of kingship. "Yonder in Adlaz is a larger palace and a wider throne," said Glorian. "Aye, lady," he answered. "To-morrow I shall go to seek it." A great feast followed the coronation. When it was done, all night long through the streets of Zele-omaz and across the bridges of Illia, sounded the rumbling of chariot-wheels and the tramp of marching feet. Ruthar was on the march at last, and the destination was the Kimbrian Wall. So it fell out that the ambition of Minos of Sardanes had not been so vain of attainment. He had won a kingdom for "the king that was to come." * * * * * As near as they dared, Everson's army of workmen had pushed the completion of their broad highway to the Kimbrian Wall, clearing and building up the old, disused road. Trees had been felled and removed where it was necessary, and rocks had been dragged away with much labor--and all with as little noise as possible, so that the men of Atlo who garrisoned the wall might know nothing of the work, and that when the time should come, Maeronica could be taken unawares. To do that the road-makers had been forced to halt their work two hundred yards from the wall, where a belt of thick forest was left standing across the way which effectually screened their operations.