The Tower of the Elephant

"The shimmering shaft of the tower rose frostily in the stars. In the sunlight it shone so dazzlingly that few could bear its glare, and men said it was built of silver. It was round, a slim perfect cylinder, a hundred and fifty feet in height, and its rim glittered in the starlight with the great jewels which crusted it. The tower stood among the waving exotic trees of a garden raised high above the general level of the city. A high wall enclosed this garden, and outside the wall was a lower level, likewise enclosed by a wall. No lights shone forth; there seemed to be no windows in the tower -- at least not above the level of the inner wall. Only the gems high above sparkled frostily in the starlight."

An adaptation of the classic sword & sorcery tale by Robert E. Howard, first published in 1933.