Part 12 (2/2)

In his haste he had dropped several garments upon the floor, and the telltale fur that had fallen partly within the corridor had proved theme to the very spot he would least have wished e of

It required but the matter of a few seconds to don the necessary orluk-skin clothing, with the heavy, fur-lined boots that are so essential a part of the garmenture of one ould successfully contend with the frozen trails and the icy winds of the bleak northland

Once more I stepped beyond the tunnel's mouth to find the fresh tracks of Thurid and Dejah Thoris in the new-fallen sno, at last, was h in the extreer vexed by doubts as to the direction I should follow, or harassed by darkness or hidden dangers

Through a snow-covered canyon the way led up toward the suain into another canyon, only to rise a quarter-mile farther on toward a pass which skirted the flank of a rocky hill

I could see by the signs of those who had gone before that when Dejah Thoris had walked she had been continually holding back, and that the blackher For other stretches only his foot-prints were visible, deep and close together in the heavy snow, and I knew frons that then he had been forced to carry her, and I could well iht him fiercely every step of the way

As I ca promontory of the hill's shoulder I saw that which quickened h, for within a tiny basin between the crest of this hill and the next stood four people before thesnow rested a flier which had evidently but just been dragged fro place

The four were Dejah Thoris, Phaidor, Thurid, and Matai Shang The two u, while the black scoffed at hied

As I crept toward theht co discovered, I saw that finally the men appeared to have reached some sort of a comproging the resisting Dejah Thoris to the flier's deck

Here they round to complete the preparations for departure Phaidor entered the small cabin upon the vessel's deck

I had co espiedhim around in my direction as he pointed to where I was now plainly visible, for the moment that I knew I had been perceived I cast aside every attempt at stealth and broke into a mad race for the flier

The two redoubled their efforts at the propeller at which they orking, and which very evidently was being replaced after having been re completed before I had covered half the distance that lay between -ladder

Thurid was the first to reach it, and with the agility of a monkey clambered swiftly to the boat's deck, where a touch of the button controlling the buoyancy tanks sent the craft slowly upward, though not with the speed that marks the well-conditioned flier

I was still sorasp

Back by the city of Kadabra lay a great fleet of hty fliers--the shi+ps of Helium and Ptarth that I had saved from destruction earlier in the day; but before ever I could reach theood his escape

As I ran I saw Matai Shang cla ladder toward the deck, while above hi rope from the vessel's stern put new hope in h above ain the deck by its slender aid

That there was so with the flier was evident froh Thurid had turned twice to the starting lever the boat still hungwith a low breeze frounwale A long, claw-like hand was reaching up to grasp the metal rail

Thurid leaned farther doard his co-conspirator

Suddenly a raised dagger glea hand of the black Down it drove toward the white face of the Father of Therns With a loud shriek of fear the Holy Hekkador grasped frantically at thatrope by now The craft was still rising slowly, the while it drifted fro th froround

With the blow upon my head came unconsciousness

It could not have been more than a few seconds that I lay senseless there upon the northern ice, while all that was dearest to me drifted farther from my reach in the clutches of that black fiend, for when I openedyet battled at the ladder's top, and the flier drifted but a hundred yards farther to the south--but the end of the trailing rope was now a good thirty feet above the ground

Goaded to madness by the cruel misfortune that had tripped rasp, I tore frantically across the intervening space, and just beneath the rope's dangling end I put hty, catlike bound I sprang upward toward that slender strand--the only avenue which yet re love

A foot above its lowest end , slipping through rasp I tried to raise my free hand to take a second hold above e of position that resulted caused me to slip more rapidly toward the end of the rope

Slowly I felt the tantalizing thing escaping ained would be lost--then ers reached a knot at the very end of the rope and slipped no ratitude upon my lips I scrambled upward toward the boat's deck I could not see Thurid and Matai Shang now, but I heard the sounds of conflict and thus knew that they still fought--the thern for his life and the black for the increased buoyancy that relief froive the craft

Should Matai Shang die before I reached the deckit would be slender indeed, for the black dator need but cut the rope above me to be freed from me forever, for the vessel had drifted across the brink of a chas depths my body would drop to be crushed to a shapeless pulp should Thurid reach the rope now

At last my hand closed upon the shi+p's rail and that very instant a horrid shriek rang out below me that sent my blood cold and turnedthing that shot doard into the awful chas, Holy Hekkador, Father of Therns, gone to his last accounting

Then er in hand, leaping toward me He was opposite the forward end of the cabin, while I was atte to clamber aboard near the vessel's stern But a few paces lay between us No power on earth could raise me to that deck before the infuriated black would be upon me

My end had come I knew it; but had there been a doubt in my mind the nasty leer of triumph upon that wicked face would have convinced me Beyond Thurid I could seeat her bonds That she should be forced to witness my awful death made my bitter fate seem doubly cruel

I ceased unwale Instead I took a firer

I should at least die as I had lived--fighting

As Thurid came opposite the cabin's doorway a new eleedy of the air that was being enacted upon the deck of Matai Shang's disabled flier

It was Phaidor

With flushed face and disheveled hair, and eyes that betrayed the recent presence of mortal tears--above which this proud Goddess had always held herself--she leaped to the deck directly before er I cast a last look upon , as men should who are about to die Then I turnedfor the blow

Never have I seen that beautiful face more beautiful than it was at that moment It seemed incredible that one so lovely could yet harbor within her fair bosom a heart so cruel and relentless, and today there was a new expression in her wondrous eyes that I never before had seen there--an unfa

Thurid was beside her now--pushi+ng past to reach me first, and then what happened happened so quickly that it was all over before I could realize the truth of it

Phaidor's slier wrist Her right hand went high with its glea!” she cried, and she buried her blade deep in the dator's breast ”That for the wrong you would have done Dejah Thoris!” and again the sharp steel sank into the bloody flesh