Page:Weird Tales volume 33 number 04.djvu/79

 rode up onto the hillock first. An Arab emir and a Sioux war-chief in full regalia followed. And last, on foot, tramped a stalwart Northman, a heavy-faced Spartan officer, and a cruel-eyed, black-bearded Assyrian captain.

"What manner of men are you and how dare you work your magic upon a Roman legion?" demanded the Roman commander in hard, clipped Latin.

"What world is this?" the French colonel was exclaiming bewilderedly. "Dieu, but a few minutes ago my regiment was marching through Saxony, and now"

And a babble of voices in different tongues broke loose upon Ethan. Only the Mongols and Spartans and Sioux waited, grimly silent.

"You have been drawn far into the ages to be," Ethan answered, raising his voice and repeating each sentence in the different tongues he had used. "Not magic, but the skill of yon old man has snatched you from your own times. And we have brought you into this far age, to fight!

"Yes, we desire you to follow us to the attack of a mighty city which lies but a few hours' march from here. It is a city in which demonic tyrants oppress men of Earth. Only by destroying those tyrants can bewitched people who serve them and fight for them be freed from bondage."

"And if we refuse?" demanded the mailed Crusader harshly.

"Then we shall refuse to send you back to your own ages!" Ethan told them all. "But if you follow us to this battle and conquer, after it is over we will return you once more to your own times and lands."

There followed a taut silence, after Ptah and Swain and the trapper had repeated Ethan's proposal in the tongues spoken by the others.

"I agree, for my legion," the Roman commander said finally, breaking the silence. "For it seems that only by so doing can we win back to our own land."

"Though it goes ill for us to fight side by side with infidels," declared the Arab emir finally, "we shall do so in this case."

The Mongol captain had a contemptuous sneer on his swart, flat face as he told Ethan in stumbling Arabic: "We men of the great Khan are more accustomed to killing Moslems than to righting as their allies. But we agree also."

The others, one by one, also agreed, some slowly, others, like the Northmen, fired by prospect of battle.

Ethan turned finally to Hank Martin, who had been exchanging harsh syllables with the Sioux war-chief.

"What about those Indians?" he asked.

The trapper grinned. "This chief says it's plain that we've got great medicine, an' he an' his braves will follow us anywhere, so long as thar's scalps to be taken."

"Go back and get your men ready to march at once," Ethan told the assembled captains. And he briefly indicated the plan of formation he desired.

As the leaders hurried back to their respective forces, Kim Idim clutched Ethan's arm.

"Ethan, the sun is already high! We must hasten, if we are to reach Luun before noon—before the mysterious Feast of Life."

Ethan's heart sank as he perceived how far the sun had climbed into the heavens.

"We've lost too much time," he said, his voice raw with anxiety. "Come on!"

He and the four comrades and the old scientist mounted quickly. And they