The Argives on their part got their men in fighting order within the
wall, and there was a deadly struggle between them.
Once in the valley their progress was rapid, so that it was still light when they halted before the towering
walls of the ancient city.
The rising moon, just topping the eastern cliffs, cast its bright rays upon the long stretch of open garden beneath the
wall. And, too, it picked out in clear relief for any curious eyes that chanced to be cast in that direction, the figure of the giant ape-man moving across the clearing.
Against this
wall stood a large discarded scene from the ROI DE LAHORE.
A locked door barred his way at its end, but a door upon his right opened and he stepped into a dimly-lighted chamber, about the
walls of which were three other doors, each of which he tried in turn.
In the center of the chamber was a long table, and before it sat a little, pop-eyed old man counting his money; but, plainest of all, I saw upon the
wall a great switch with a small magnet inlaid within the surface of its black handle.
After first untwisting the strings from the hooks, Hester rose, and held the candle so as to light the cavity in the
wall. Two more pieces of the fine string were seen here, resting loose upon the uneven surface which marked the lower boundary of the hollowed space.
Then there came a time when the grey cub no longer saw his father appearing and disappearing in the
wall nor lying down asleep in the entrance.
They found the ladder so heavy they could not pull it up, so the Scarecrow fell off the
wall and the others jumped down upon him so that the hard floor would not hurt their feet.
The child (a little boy, apparently about five years old) scrambled up to the top of the
wall, and called again and again; but finding this of no avail, apparently made up his mind, like Mahomet, to go to the mountain, since the mountain would not come to him, and attempted to get over; but a crabbed old cherry-tree, that grew hard by, caught him by the frock in one of its crooked scraggy arms that stretched over the
wall.
Its
walls were loosely constructed, and had lately been plastered throughout with a rough plaster, which the dampness of the atmosphere had prevented from hardening.
But let us suppose that this latter circumstance determined, as it probably often does determine, the numbers of a humble-bee which could exist in a country; and let us further suppose that the community lived throughout the winter, and consequently required a store of honey: there can in this case be no doubt that it would be an advantage to our humble-bee, if a slight modification of her instinct led her to make her waxen cells near together, so as to intersect a little; for a
wall in common even to two adjoining cells, would save some little wax.