Part 12 (1/2)
”This be as good as any place,” he said ”No one comes here Never have I been here before, so I know no more of the other chaain when I bring you food and drink O-Mai the Cruel occupied this portion of the palace during his reign, five thousand years before O-Tar In one of these apartments he was found dead, his face contorted in an expression of fear so horrible that it drove to madness those who looked upon it; yet there was no mark of violence upon him Since then the quarters of O-Mai have been shunned for the legends have it that the ghosts of Corphals pursue the spirit of the wicked Jeddak nightly through these chao But,” he added, as though to reassure his may not be countenanced by the culture of Gathol or Heliuhed ”And if all who looked upon him were driven mad, who then was there to perform the last rites or prepare the body of the Jeddak for them?”
”There was none,” replied Tasor ”Where they found hi bones lie hid in sootten chamber of this forbidden suite”
Tasor left the them that he would seek the first opportunity to speak with A-Kor, and upon the following day he would bring them food and drink
Those who have read John Carter's description of the Green Martians in A Princess of Mars will recall that these strange people could exist for considerable periods of tiree is the saone Tara turned to Gahan and approaching laid a hand upon his arnized you beneath your disguise,” she said, ”that I have had no opportunity to assure you of h esteem that your valor has won for you in e my indebtedness; and if prorave jeopardy, accept reat reward that awaits you at the hand of my father in Helium”
”I desire no reward,” he replied, ”other than the happiness of knowing that the woman I love is happy”
For an instant the eyes of Tara of Heliuht, and then they softened and her attitude relaxed as she shook her head sadly
”I have it not in reat your fault, for you have been an honorable and a loyal friend to Tara of Helium; but you must not say what my ears must not hear”
”You mean,” he asked, ”that the ears of a Princess must not listen to words of love from a panthan?”
”It is not that, Turan,” she replied; ”but rather that I may not in honor listen to words of love from another than him to whom I am betrothed--a fellow countryman, Djor Kantos”
”You mean, Tara of Helium,” he cried, ”that were it not for that you would--”
”Stop!” she coht else than my lips testify”
”The eyes are ofttimes more eloquent than the lips, Tara,” he replied; ”and in yours I have read that which is neither hatred nor contempt for Turan the panthan, and my heart tells er: 'I hate you!'”
”I do not hate you, Turan, nor yet irl, simply
”When I broke my way out froe of believing that you did hate me,” he said, ”for only hatred, it seeone withoutan effort to liberate ment told me that Tara of Heliuh I still anorance of the facts I know that it was beyond your power to aid irl ”Scarce had I-Gos fallen at the bite of er than I heard the approach of warriors I ran then to hide until they had passed, thinking to return and liberate you; but in seeking to elude the party I had heard I ran full into the arms of another They questioned one ahead and that I was following you and thus I led them from you”
”I kneas Gahan's only colad with elation, as a lover's must be who has heard from the lips of his divinity an avowal of interest and loyalty, however little tinged by a suggestion of warard it may be To be abused, even, by the nored
As the two conversed in the ill-lit chamber, the dim bulbs of which were encrusted with the accuure traversed slowly the glooh thick lenses at the signs of passage written upon the dusty floor
CHAPTER XIX
THE MENACE OF THE DEAD
THE night was still young when there came one to the entrance of the banquet hall where O-Tar of Manator dined with his chiefs, and brushi+ng past the guards entered the great rooed character, as in truth he was As he approached the head of the long board O-Tar took notice of his you out of your beloved and stinking burrow again this day We thought that the sight of the ames would drive you back to your corpses as quickly as you could go”
The cackling laugh of I-Gos acknowledged the royal sally ”Ey, ey, O-Tar,” squeaked the ancient one, ”I-Gos goes out not upon pleasure bound; but when one does ruthlessly desecrate the dead of I-Gos, vengeance must be had!”
”You refer to the act of the slave Turan?” demanded O-Tar
”Turan, yes, and the slave Tara, who slipped beneath my hide a murderous blade Another fraction of an inch, O-Tar, and I-Gos' ancient and wrinkled covering were even now in soain eluded us,” cried O-Tar ”Even in the palace of the great jeddak twice have they escaped the stupid knaves I call The Jeddak's Guard” O-Tar had risen and was angrily e his words with heavy blows upon the table, dealt with a golden goblet
”Ey, O-Tar, they elude thy guard but not the wise old calot, I-Gos”
”What mean you? Speak!” commanded O-Tar
”I knohere they are hid,” said the ancient taxidermist ”In the dust of unused corridors their feet have betrayed them”
”You followed them? You have seen them?” demanded the jeddak
”I followed the beyond a closed door,” replied I-Gos; ”but I did not see them”
”Where is that door?” cried O-Tar ”We will send at once and fetch theh to decide to whom he would entrust this duty A dozen warrior chiefs arose and laid their hands upon their swords
”To the chambers of O-Mai the Cruel I traced them,” squeaked I-Gos ”There you will find thehost of O-Mai; ey!” and he turned his eyes from O-Tar toward the warriors who had arisen, only to discover that, to atheir seats
The cackling laughter of I-Gos broke derisively the hush that had fallen on the room The warriors looked sheepishly at the food upon their plates of gold O-Tar snapped his fingers i the chiefs of Manator?” he cried ”Repeatedly have these presumptuous slaves flouted the o and fetch them?”
Slowly a chief arose and two others followed his exah with ill-concealed reluctance ”All, then, are not cowards,” commented O-Tar ”The duty is distasteful Therefore all three of you shall go, taking as many warriors as you wish”
”But do not ask for volunteers,” interrupted I-Gos, ”or you will go alone”
The three chiefs turned and left the banquet hall, walking slowly like doomed men to their fate
Gahan and Tara remained in the cha away the dust froht rest in co silks and furs too far gone to be of any service, cru any chance of ether, talking in low tones, of the adventures through which they already had passed and speculating upon the future; planning one They spoke of s--of Hastor, and Helium, and Ptarth, and finally the conversation reminded Tara of Gathol
”You have served there?” she asked
”Yes,” replied Turan
”I met Gahan the Jed of Gathol at my father's palace,” she said, ”the very day before the storm snatched nificently trapped in platinueous a harness as his, and you must well know, Turan, that the splendor of all Barsooh the court at Helium; but inthat jeweled sword in h a pretty picture of a ht Tara did not perceive the wry expression upon the half-averted face of her coht little then of the Jed of Gathol?” he asked
”Then or now,” she replied, and with a little laugh; ”hoould pique his vanity to know, if he ard of Tara of Heliuently upon his knee