Part 28 (2/2)

Here he found where Mog and Alurna had started their tortuous descent

Here, too, were signs of the passage of other Neanderthals, and those of Vulcar's searching party

Before descending the cliff, Tharn turned back to the plain in search of food Not long after, he had completed a successful stalk of Narjok, the horned deer, and brought it doith a single arrow After devouring a generous quantity of raw flank- and came back to the brink of the precipice

Tharn went down that vertical cliffside as though it were a broad staircase At the base he found a tangle of overlapping footsteps leading straight toward a gale

Toward its iant; and so confident was he that Alurna had been carried along this path that only by chance did he keep fronard neared the trees, the undergrowth parted with a slight rustle, and Gubo, the hyena, slunk deeper into the forest

At the first sound of disturbed brush, Tharn had pivoted about and with unthinkable quickness unslung his bow and fitted an arrow into place At sight of cowardly Gubo he smiled and relaxed; but before he turned back to the trail, he saw signs of a recent struggle in theto do with the business at hand--and, again, it ave hione down beneath Sadu; a few paces aere the broken grasses where Alurna had been tossed He kneithout troubling to look, that Mog's bones were bleaching behind yonder wall of verdure

Well, the Hairy One was dead; it would save Tharn the task of killing hihtened girl at the place where she had plunged blindly into the dark waste of jungle She could not have gotten far; and, except for the unlikely chance that one of the big cats had pulled her down, hisno longer, Tharn took up the trail of the princess, forging rapidly ahead and folloith ease the evidence of her hurried flight

Soon he ca in which Alurna had spent the previous night Circling about, he quickly picked up her trail out of the glade, went on across a short stretch of jungle and out onto the banks of a little stream

Here he found traces of small sandals in the soft mud That these had not been even partially obliterated by prowling beasts was evidence of the spoor's freshness

By this ti enough to slake his thirst, then set out along the sa before

A half hour later he wasto coirl at any moment

Suddenly he came to a full stop, head thrown back, sensitive nostrils searching the light breeze And then heof leaves marked where he had entered the trees overhead

CHAPTER XV

Treachery

In the apartment of Pryak, far beneath the terouped about a long table At its head sat the high priest, Pryak; at his right wasobr, second in command The balance of the stools were occupied by six under-priests, all stern, silent hteousness which appears to be the hallmark of their kind

Pryak, his close-set eyes of watery blue blazing with an inner fire, rose fro his words carefully, ”the loyal servants of the God-Whose-Name-May-Not-Be-Spoken have been forced to bow to the unjust commands of a hated oppressor Now the time is at hand to end this oppression The way has been shown to me by our God; listen closely, for the future of the priesthood in Sephar depends on how faithfully my orders are carried out

”This is h priest spoke without interruption His cold, crisp sentences seerizzled fro years of service for his God, half rose fro on his lips But each tiave hih-priest had concluded, he watched the faces of his audience, waiting for his words to sink home Much depended upon their reaction