Urged by him, they began to advance, but Thoth eyed them with scorn, and, accustomed to obedience from their childhood, they paused. The monarch hissed with rage, and cried, “Advance! seize them!” Again Thoth said, “Revered king, listen to the voice of reason.” He was answered by a louder cry than before, as the multitude of those who had slept rose at last from their seats, and painfully and slowly began to advance. The king himself in a moment seemed to recover, and tried to seize Thoth. But Thoth easily eluded his feeble grasp, and saying— “Once more, wilt thou hear reason? for I, as well as thou, have will and wisdom. One step more, and I plunge all of you once more in sleep.” “Thou darest not—thou canst not,” cried the king; and, inspirited by his example, all advanced against Thoth and Daphne. “Thus,” said Thoth, “I dare and thus I do!”—and he dashed to the ground a vessel that at once broke in a thousand fragments. In an instant every one except Thoth and Daphne fell to the earth, speechless, senseless, motionless. Thoth seized Daphne by the hand. “All is over. Come.” They passed again through the corridors, and the doors clanged behind them. At last they reached the open air and sunlight. CHAPTER XIX. THE VICTORY OF LOVE. They passed in silence into the palace in which Daphne had lived since she came to the mysterious city. The pigmies hailed their arrival with their usual satisfaction, but Thoth dismissed them for the first time sternly. They entered the garden, in which the means for their flight had been placed. “We have no time to lose,” he said. “Very soon I must return and restore my kinsmen. Before nightfall the great king will be in full command of the resources of the city.” “And then?” Daphne asked. “And then,” he replied, “his vengeance will begin.” “Dost thou not think he will be convinced as thou wert?” “I have made an irreparable error,” said Thoth. “My ancestor is swayed by all the natural passions of man. He has slept unaffected by time. His first thought will be to give us over to the most cruel destruction. If thou still desirest to live a little longer, we must flee at once.” “I regret,” she said, “the failure of thy plans.” He looked at her passionately, and said, “Thou canst never now be queen of the world, but a little love is sufficient recompense for me.” “Dost thou love me so much?” she said. “Above everything,” he replied. Then she went close to him, and twined her arms about him, and kissed his eyes and lips, and said— “Dearest heart, thou art greater and more godlike than all thy dread ancestors. Why wilt thou sacrifice thyself and me to them? Why should they ever awake?” Thoth started back from her, and said, “It cannot be. I cannot destroy at one blow the men I have worshipped—and the generations of my race, and their work of hundreds of years. Far easier is it for me to perish alone.”