CHAPTER IX

STANDING WITHIN the ring of light cast by our small fire, with Loralie crouching fearfully at my feet, I fitted an arrow to my bowstring. I drew it back to the head, took careful aim between the two glowing eyes that were advancing from the dark interior of the cave, and let fly.

Immediately after the twang of the bow there came a deep bellow of rage from the interior of the cave. As I fitted a second arrow in place, there was a terrific roar behind me. Turning, I beheld the gleaming eyes of a marmelot not more than fifty feet distant. I let fly, and the arrow struck the huge feline just as the enraged cave creature came forth.

Prepared as I was for the appearance of one of the fierce creatures of the Zarovian jungle, a chill of horror ran down my spine when the grotesque tenant of the cave waddled out into the light. It was obviously a reptile-not an animal as I had supposed. Although its entire length was not more than six feet, fully two-thirds of that length was mouth-enormous jaws four feet long and a yard across, armed with row upon row of sharp, back-curved teeth. The other third was a round sack, or pouch, attached to the back of the head.

It walked on two short, thick legs growing from beneath its ears, each armed with three sharp talons. There were no forelegs. Both head and body bristled with a profusion of sharp spines like those of a horned toad.

"A kroger!" cried Loralie. "We are lost!"

As the thing charged toward us with enormous jaws distended, I heard the marmelot bounding through the brush from the opposite direction.

"Come," I cried, taking the girl's hand. Together we leaped across the fire and into the shadow of the bushes beyond. Scarcely had we gained this place of temporary safety ere the two formidable creatures, beast and reptile, met on the spot where we had been standing.

The marmelot, apparently surprised at being confronted by this strange anomaly, stopped, spat, and arched its back like a startled cat. But the kroger, undaunted at sight of the huge king of the jungles, which was easily twice its size, charged on. With a snap of its immense jaws, the reptile took in at one bite the head and neck of the mighty carnivore.

Like a cat caught in a salmon tin, the marmelot alternately shook its head, clawed at the scaly throat, or belly-I know not which to call it-and ran blindly about. Presently it rolled over on its back, and drawing the round body of the kroger toward it with its two front legs, literally scratched it to ribbons with its terrible hind claws. Yet the immense jaws held firmly, inexorably; in fact, they seemed to be clamping down tighter and tighter all the time, sinking more deeply into the flesh of the great feline with every move it made.

The struggles of the combatants presently grew weaker, but as the sounds of battle died down the noises in the fern brakes around us grew closer and more alarming. Evidently attracted by the sounds of battle or the smell of blood, the denizens of the hills drew nearer and nearer in an evernarrowing circle. The weird howling of the awoos, mingled with the grisly laughter of the hahoes and the cries of other night-roving beasts, produced a most uncanny effect.

If we did not find shelter soon, our bodies would go to appease the flesh-hunger of one or another of these hunters.

Warning Loralie to keep out of sight in the bushes, I dashed over to the fire, seized a burning brand and hurled it into the cave. As nothing charged out after me, I peered in. By the flickering light of the burning stick I could see that the cave 'vas small and apparently empty, except for a pile of dry fern fronds against the back wall.

Entering, I picked up the torch and investigated this. It proved to be a nest about four feet across, in the center of which was a round egg, covered with a membranous shell mottled green and yellow-the same color as the outer scales of the kroger.

Flurrying out of the cave once more, I softly called to my companion. "Carry the fuel into the cave at once, while I build our barricade."

While we both worked in frenzied haste, the sounds in the surrounding darkness grew ominously closer. The struggles of the marmelot and kroger had ceased altogether, and our fire was burning low. Perspiring from every pore with my strenuous labor, I presently got the cave mouth closed except for a narrow hole on one side barely large enough to admit the body of a man.

Loralie had meanwhile carried all of the fuel into the cave and was waiting for me in its dark interior. Seizing a flaming faggot from the remains of the fire, I squeezed through the narrow opening, then lifted into place the rock I had reserved for the purpose while the princess held the torch for me. Scarcely had I done this ere a half dozen lean gray forms bounded into the glow that was shed by the last few coals of our fire and began tearing at the two mighty carcasses which were locked in a death embrace beside it. As I watched through the interstices between the rocks, I saw that these were awoos. The more cowardly hahoes soon joined them, and there ensued a fierce medley of growling, snapping and snarling as the beasts fought over their bloody feast.

Because there was no way of ventilating our cave, I disliked building a fire inside; but I felt constrained to do so when a huge hahoe came sniffing up to our rock barrier, then threw back its head and gave vent to the horrid cry which gives it its name. I piled a few faggots against the barricade and lighted them with the flaming brand I still held. It was well I did so, for the cry of the first brute quickly brought a half dozen others and they began sniffing and scratching at the loosely piled rocks.

The smoke nearly strangled us at first, and got in our eyes, making tears stream down our cheeks. But as it billowed out between the crevices in the barrier the besieging beasts sneezed and backed away. When the moisture had burned out of the fuel it smoked less, and I found that by feeding the fire gradually I could cut its smoking down to a minimum which, though still disagreeable, was bearable. Glancing across the fire at my companion, I was about to speak to her when I saw that, in spite of her fear, exhaustion had claimed her, and she slept. She lay on her side, her tousled head pillowed on one white arm, her seductive curves outlined in the flickering firelight against the smoky background of the cave's interior.

Despite the tremendous din outside the cave, I presently felt myself growing drowsy. Twice I caught myself wearily nodding, only being able to rouse with an effort at thought of what might happen if our watch fire should go out.

Taking a three-foot length of fern frond, I thrust one end into the fire and laid my hand over the other. At the rate these fronds burned I should catch ten minutes or more of sleep before the flames should reach my hand and awaken me.

I awakened with a start. Daylight was streaming through the crevices in our rock barrier. The fire had ceased to smolder, and the frond on which I had counted to awaken me had gone out more than a foot from my hand. Loralie was still sleeping quietly across from me.

Near the dead embers of our outdoor fire lay the bones of the marmelot and the kroger, picked clean. The vegetation was torn, trampled and spotted with blood, but of the flesheaters that had threatened us the night before I saw no other sign.

Only a short distance away I saw a large clump of water ferns, and toward this I made my way in quest of food and drink. I found these useful shrubs heavily laden with spore pods and, after a refreshing drink, pulled up a number of fronds to take back with me.

As I was walking back toward the cave I caught sight of a small animal browsing on the steep hillside above me. Silently putting down my water-filled fronds, I extracted bow and arrow from my quiver, took careful aim at the animal, and loosed a shaft. Struck just behind the shoulder and pierced clear through, it gave a piteous bleat, sank to its knees, then rolled over and came tumbling down the hillside to fall dead at my feet.

It was a wild frella, one of the hairless, sheeplike creatures which are such highly prized food animals on Venus. I had already tasted the flesh of the domestic variety in the Black Tower. After returning to the cave mouth with the spoils of my brief excursion, I kindled a new fire on the dead embers of the old one outside, and soon the appetizing aroma of grilling frella steak filled the morning air. Stepping into the semidarkness of the interior I saw that Loralie was already awake and intently watching the large nest in the rear. "I heard something move back there," she whispered, "and I'm afraid." Club in hand, I advanced toward the nest. As I did so I heard a peculiar scratching sound which seemed to come from the center where the round egg lay. Yet I could detect no sign of any movement. Reassured by my presence, the princess came up beside me and peered into the nest. "What can it be?" Before I could reply, her question was answered from the nest itself. The egg split open and a tiny kroger-like the one slain by the marmelot in every respect except size-rolled out, got unsteadily to its feet, and blinked inquiringly up at us, cocking its head to one side.

I swung my club aloft, bent on quickly dispatching this miniature monstrosity, but the princess caught my arm. "Don't you dare hurt that poor little thing."

The kroger toddled toward her, balanced itself on the edge of the nest, and uttered a rasping, mournful croak.

"The darling!" exclaimed Loralie. "I believe it likes me. Isn't it cute?"

"Cute! It's hideous. I could choke it-if it had a throat"

"Brute! How could you do such a thing?"

"I'm brute enough to be thoroughly hungry," I answered, "and the royal butler is about to serve breakfast. Will you join me or stay here and play with this walking nightmare?"

She held out her hand to the kroger, which instantly opened its enormous mouth to full capacity, and gave vent to a series of high-pitched croaks. "Poor little orphan, it's hungry. I couldn't think of eating a morsel without feeding it. Help it to get down, won't you?"

I extended the flat of my club, intending to shove it beneath the creature's belly, or throat, whichever it might be, and lift it down to the floor. But it sidled away from the weapon-then hopped down by itself and toddled toward the princess. With a little scream of alarm she turned and darted out of the cave, the kroger waddling after her.

I squeezed through the opening as quickly as I could, getting out just in time to see her snatch one of the deliciously grilled frella steaks which I had prepared and toss it into the cavernous maw of the young reptile. It instantly clamped its jaws shut, and dropping the grayish film of its eyelids, settled down beside the princess with its chin between its feet to sleep.

"I told you the little thing was hungry," she said as we sat down to breakfast. When we had eaten, Loralie insisted that I make her a bow, arrows and quiver. After I had cut a number of reeds into the correct length for arrows I set her to feathering the shafts with bits of fern leaf while I manufactured a number of crude sharp flint slivers for the heads.

After I had a sufficient quantity of these rough tips made, I showed her how to bind them to the shafts, while I scraped, dried, and rubbed with hot fat a section of frella hide for the quiver. While it was hanging by the fire I made a bow.

This work occupied several hours, during which time the kroger slept contentedly beside the princess. When everything was completed and we were ready to resume our journey, the hideous baby reptile promptly woke up and followed us.

As we did not care to run the risk of another attack by the slimy swamp dwellers we planned to follow the mountain range which gradually curved toward the southeast, thus avoiding the marsh and eventually coming out on the coast of the Ropok Ocean. Here we might meet the rescue party of Prince Gadrimel, or failing in this, could try to follow the coast northward to Adonijar.

After about five hours of travel, during which time the princess had been practicing with her new weapons and keeping me busy retrieving arrows, we decided to stop in a small clump of water ferns for food and rest. I had just unslung the haunch of frella meat which I carried and hung it on a fern frond so the young kroger couldn't get it, preparatory to building a fire, when I heard a terrific roar come from over the brow of the hill, followed by the shouting of men, the crashing of underbrush, and intermittent snarls and growls.

I hurried to the hilltop to investigate, the princess running after me and the kroger waddling behind her as fast as its short legs would carry it.

Taking cover behind the bushy fronds of a cycad, I peered down at the scene of strife below. A party of men, about fifty in number, was engaged in a battle with an enormous ramph. The huge, hairless, bear-like creature reared up on its hind feet from time to time, towering above the men around it like a giant among pygmies.

Half a dozen of the men already lay motionless on the ground, yet the others, swarming about the fierce beast, seemed absolutely fearless. They were armed with knives and long, straight-bladed, two-edged swords, and were naked except for their sword-belts, which appeared to be of metal links, and their gleaming, conical helmets or casques.

They were a white-skinned race-too white, I thought, as if they spent nearly all their time indoors. And they wore no beards-an unusual thing on Zarovia, where a beard, cut off square below the chin, was a mark of fashionable manhood.

As I watched, a man darted in to deliver a thrust with his sword. Before he could do so the ramph whipped out with a huge paw and stretched him, crushed and still, on the ground a full twenty feet away. Another man who succeeded in pricking the creature beneath the right shoulder met a like fate. Instinctively I reached for bow and arrow, but remembered that at that range an arrow could not possibly do more than add to the fury of the beast. Then a scheme came to my mind which I instantly put into execution. Removing an ammunition clip marked Tork Projectiles, Deadly, from the belt I had taken from Taliboz, I extracted one of the needlelike missiles and with a bit of cord, bound it to the head of my arrow.

After replacing the clip in my belt, I took careful aim and released the shaft. It struck the ramph in the shoulder and the deadly virus acted almost instantly; in a few seconds it keeled over, to fight no more. Apparently mystified at what had killed the great beast, the men clustered curiously about the fallen brute, examining it intently. One pulled the arrow from its shoulder and was instantly surrounded by a group of his comrades, all eager to see and handle it.

"Shall we make ourselves known to them?" I asked the princess, who was peering over my shoulder.

"As you will," she replied. "They seem to be soldiers of a civilized nation, but one I do not recognize. No doubt they will be glad to help us when they know who we are."

I stepped from behind the cycad and shouted the universal Zarovian word for peace-"Dua!" The entire armed band whirled toward me, and I was horrified at the unhuman quality of their gaze-as if they were more, or less, than men.

CHAPTER X

THE LEADER of the hunters called out "Dua" and Princess Loralie stepped from her hiding place to my side. Together we walked toward them.

"I am Pangar," said their leader, according us the royal salute in deference to the scarlet we wore. He himself, although not clothed, had a purple band on his metallic helmet and touches of purple on his accouterments which marked him as a member of the nobility.

"I am Zinlo of Olba," I replied, acknowledging his salute, "and this is the Torrogina Loralie of Tyrhana."

"In the name of my royal master, Tandor of Doravia, I bid Your Highness welcome," he said. "Will you accompany me to the palace and permit my emperor the pleasure of greeting you in person?"

"We'll be delighted."

"Your indulgence for a moment, then, while I see if any of my men can be salvaged."

"Salvaged!" I was struck by the peculiarity of the term when applied to men. It brought home to me that there was something extremely odd about these people. The motions of many of them seemed to be quite stiff and awkward-mechanical, that was it-like the motions of marionettes. Their armor-accouterments and weapons, too-were not made of ordinary metal, as I had first thought, but were constructed from a material which greatly resembled glass. The blades of the swords and daggers were quite transparent. The hilts resembled colored glass.

The helmets were also transparent, except for the colored band at the base of each denoting the status of the wearer. The chain belts and shoulder straps were of the same material, but lined with ramph leather, evidently to prevent their contact with the body.

Pangar bent over one of the fallen men. "Think you can make it?" he asked. The stricken one spoke weakly. "Power unit is low. Was shorted for a time, but I have it back in place now. If someone can spare some power..."

"Who can spare power?" asked Pangar.

A man stepped up. "I can spare five xads."

"Good." From a hook on his belt, Pangar took two coiled tubes that resembled insulated wires with metal sockets at each end. He inserted an end of each wire in each ear of the fallen man and handed the other two ends to the man standing. The latter instantly inserted an end in each ear, meanwhile watching an indicator which was strapped to his wrist. Presently he jerked a tube from one ear, then the other. The fallen man arose, apparently restored to strength, and returned the wires to Pangar. I noticed the next man. His entire breast had been torn away by the claws of the ramph. There was a set expression on his features, as of death or deep hypnotic sleep. But around the jagged wound was no sign of blood. The flesh, if it was flesh, was a peculiar grayish-red shade. And where the viscera would have been exposed in a normal human being, I saw a conglomeration of coils, tubes, wheels and wires, tangled and broken.

Pangar passed him by with but a single glance. "No use to try to save this one." He rapidly examined the other fallen men. Two were picked up and slung over the shoulders of comrades. The rest were stripped of their weapons and helmets and left lying on the ground. A half dozen men, using their keen knives, had already skinned the ramph. It seemed that they wanted the hide only, not the flesh, for the great red carcass was left lying near the broken figures of the fallen men when we went.

Men or machines-which? I pondered the matter as Loralie and I walked beside the courteous and seemingly human Pangar, while the kroger waddled at our heels.

After a walk of about two hours we reached the summit of the mountain range and halted there for a few moments of rest while Pangar pointed with pride to the various features of the fertile valley of Doravia which was spread before us. It was oval in form, about twenty-five miles in length, tapering down to points at both ends where the inclosing mountain ranges ran together.

At the northwestern end of the valley a tremendous water fall, over a mile in height and fully a half mile in width, tumbled into a spray-veiled lake. From this flowed a river that wound through the center of the valley, to emerge at the southeast end. According to Pangar, it emptied into the Ropok. At each side of the falls a conical, hive-shaped structure of immense size towered for some distance above the upper water level. These two enormous buildings were connected by an arched span that was fully a half mile above the lower water level. Their bases were hidden by the mists that arose from the bottom of the cataract.

The banks of the river, as it wound through the valley, were dotted at regular intervals by smaller twin towers of similar construction. The surfaces of all these buildings glistened with mirrorlike brightness. In the very center of the valley, on an island of considerable size around which the river flowed in two nearly equally divided streams, was the largest structure of all. Cone-shaped like the others, but much larger than any of them, it reared its pointed, gleaming top to a height of fully two miles.

"The imperial palace of Tandor of Doravia," explained Pangar as he saw me looking at it. "A wonderful building. We will be there in a short time now."

"But it's fully five kants from here," I said. Then I noticed something which had previously escaped my observation. A thin cable stretching beside a long narrow platform a short distance below us extended out toward the tower, though it soon dwindled into invisibility. It was composed of the same peculiar glistening material.

"I have signaled for a car," said Pangar. "It will be here soon." As I watched, a tiny gleaming speck became visible far out over the valley. Its apparent size grew larger with amazing rapidity, and in a few seconds I saw that it was a long, octagonal vehicle, pointed at each end, and constructed of the shimmering, transparent material.

It came to a stop beside the narrow landing platform without any perceptible jar or sound, and we all hurried down to meet it. When we reached the platform I found that round doors, hinged above, had been thrown open along the entire length of the vehicle.

Into one of these the princess and I were ushered by Pangar. The small kroger had kept close at our heels. We had no more than taken the comfortable springy seats when the doors clamped shut; the kroger was left alone on the platform, and we never saw it again-to my relief. The car then started smoothly out over the valley. In a moment it was speeding so rapidly that the landscape, though far below us, became a mere blur.

It seemed that only a few seconds elapsed before the car slowed down once more and we were entering an octagonal opening in the enormous central tower I had previously noticed. Before we entered I had a brief view of hundreds of other similar openings in the tower from which slender, transparent cables radiated in all directions.

The door snapped open, and as we stepped out on the landing floor Pangar said, "I will conduct you immediately to our Torrogo, as he wishes to greet you in person."

"How do you know that?" I asked, puzzled.

"His majesty instantly communicates his wishes by thought-transference to any of his subjects."

"Then you communicate with each other here by telepathy?"

"Not with each other," he replied, "except through our Torrogo or a member of the Committee of Twelve-kings who are thought-censors for the emperor. If I wish to communicate with a distant comrade, I send my thought to the member of the committee whose duty it is to watch over my mind. He receives the message and, if he approves, transfers it to my comrade or to the Torrogo." As he talked, Pangar led us through a maze of hallways, the decorated floors, walls and ceilings of which were all of the same glasslike substance, but opalescent, so that, with light coming from all directions, we moved without casting shadows. It gave me a queer sense of unreality-as if I were moving in a dream from which I should presently awaken.

But when we were suddenly ushered into a huge and magnificent throne room, the many octagonal doors of which were guarded by warriors with drawn swords, the ceiling of which was fully a mile above our heads reaching to the very peak of the hive-shaped building, and my eyes beheld for the first time the grandeur of the Imperial Court of Doravia, I felt positive that only in a dream could such splendor have existence. I pinched myself repeatedly to make sure that I was awake.

My illusion of unreality, however, was instantly dispelled as we were led before the throne. Seated on its scarlet cushions was a powerful and commanding figure of a man. His high forehead and heavy eyebrows, joined at the center, reminded me of Dr. Morgan, but there the resemblance ceased. The nose was Grecian rather than Roman in type, and the clean-cut features had the pale beauty of chiseled marble. It was a face which showed remarkable intellectual power and, at the same time, an utter lack of all sentiment or human sympathy. Although every other man belonging to this strange race was beardless, the ruling monarch wore, at the end of his chin, a narrow, sickle-shaped beard which curved outward and upward, ending in a sharp point.

Flanking each side of the throne was a row of six lesser thrones, on each of which sat a scarlet-decked individual whose insignia proclaimed the rank of rogo, or king. These rogos, I judged, must comprise the Committee of Twelve referred to by Pangar. On still lower thrones sat the purple-decked nobles of the land, while lining the walls on either side stood the blue-decked plebeians. Beyond these, on the outskirts of the throne, as it were, were massed a few of the gray-decked slaves.

Tandor stood up as we were brought before his throne-a deference due visiting royalty-and smiled, his black eyes boring into mine as we exchanged salutations. Although his smile was friendly, there was something about the look of his eyes which was not quite human. They appeared snakelike, with a sinister, hypnotic quality that was far from reassuring.

"You find me in the midst of my multifarious court duties," said Tandor, still smiling, "but I shall terminate them as soon as possible. Meanwhile, permit me to offer you rest and refreshment. Pangar will show you to the quarters provided for your entertainment. I shall join you presently." When we were outside the throne room, Pangar issued instructions to a page, who hurried away, to meet us again down the corridor with a girl who wore the scarlet insignia of royalty, followed by the others whose purple ornaments proclaimed them daughters of the nobility. The six girls were shapely and quite pretty, but their mistress was beautiful. With a superb figure, glossy black hair and big black eyes, half veiled with long dark lashes, she rivaled the beauty of Loralie herself.

Yet, on comparing the two I was struck by a marked contrast between them. While the Princess of Tyrhana was the spiritual type of beauty, her every lineament suggesting purity and strength of character, this royal girl of Doravia appeared voluptuous, sensuous and apparently with great strength of purpose-like an exalted odalisque, or perhaps a fallen houri.

According us the royal salute, to which we responded in kind, she spoke softly with a low musical voice that, while it betokened culture and refinement, yet had about it a certain husky undertone which was puzzling. Her black eyes, too, I thought had something of that reptilian quality which had shone forth from the orbs of Tandor.

"I am Xunia of Doravia," she said. "It is the wish of my brother, Torrogo Tandor, that Loralie of Tyrhana be entertained in my apartments until such time as suitable quarters can be prepared for her." She held out her hand to Loralie, who took it without hesitation, and the two moved off down a transverse corridor followed by the six handmaidens. Pangar then conducted me to a luxurious suite, whose glasslike furniture was upholstered with chlorophyl green ramph hide tanned to a softness that was almost velvety.

After a bath and a shave I felt greatly refreshed.

"His majesty is now ready to receive you in his private dining room," Pangar then told me. A short walk down the corridor brought me to a doorway, octagonal in form, before which two guards stood, sword in hand. At a sign from Pangar they drew back two scarlet curtains, and I entered the room. As the curtains dropped into place behind me I beheld my royal host seated at an octagonal-topped table of translucent scarlet material in a high-backed golden chair upholstered with ramph hide, which was also stained a brilliant scarlet. He arose as I entered and tendered me the royal salute, which I returned. Then I took a chair at his right which an unobtrusive servant placed for me.

"I trust that you will pardon the slimness and coarseness of the fare which I am about to place before you," said Tandor after I had taken my seat, "but, with the exception of the slaves, we of Doravia do not eat or drink as you do in the outer world."

A slave set a crystal bowl before each of us. Mine was filled with steaming kova, but that which was placed before the Torrogo contained a heavier liquid which seemed to fume rather than to steam. It had an acrid smell which reminded me of the odor of a corrosive acid.

"May your years be as many as the stars," pledged Tandor as he raised his bowl to his lips.

"And may yours be as numerous as the rain drops that fall on all Zarovia," I replied, tossing off a draught of kova.

"Your arrival, O Prince," said Tandor, setting down his bowl, "was timed most opportunely, as you will realize from what I am about to relate to you. For the past two thousand years I have been planning a great experiment-one which if successful will revolutionize the lives both of my kind and yours."

"That is indeed interesting," I replied as a platter of chopped mushrooms and grilled ramph steak was set before me. "But-two thousand years?"

A disk-shaped vessel, black in color, was set before Tandor. Coiled about the handles on each side of the vessel were two insulated wires with electrodes on the ends. Uncoiling them, he inserted an electrode in each ear.

"I was born five thousand years ago in your country of Olba," he said, "the second son of the Torrogo. I did not covet the throne, preferring scientific research in chemistry, physics and psychology. When I had learned everything the greatest scientists of my time could teach me about these subjects, I began to combine my knowledge of the three with a view to realizing a dream of mine which is perhaps the universal dream of mankind-immortality.

"As I look-back on my earlier efforts I realize how exceedingly crude they were, but alter countless experiments and untiring efforts, they worked." "No doubt you have noticed the great difference between yourself and my people-between my sister Xunia and Princess Loralie."

"I saw the chest of one of your men, which had been torn open by a ramph," I replied, "and he was evidently no ordinary human being. I also heard talk of depleted power units, and I have noticed that you drink a beverage which smells and looks like fuming acid and that your food is evidently transmitted to you in the form of fluid power."

"In other words," said Tandor, "you have deduced that we are a race of automatons-machine men. You are right, but I do not believe that there exists anywhere else on any world a race of man-created beings with souls. Nearly five thousand years have elapsed since I cast off forever the frail shell with which nature endowed me to take up my existence in a more enduring body of my own creation.

"You are of course familiar with the phenomena of personality exchange and telekinesis. You are aware that two men can permanently or temporarily exchange their physical bodies.

"My problem, then, was to construct a duplicate material body into which my personality could enter, and which would respond to the direction of my will by amplifying the power of telekinesis. The first body which I succeeded in so entering collapsed because of faulty construction, and I barely got back to my own body in time to save it from dissolution and myself from being projected into the great unknown. But I made many others, and when they were at last perfected, I published my discovery in the Empire of Olba.

"My father had been received into the mercy of Thorth in the meantime, and my brother had succeeded him to the throne. I called on him to join me in immortality, and offered to make every person in the empire an immortal. To my great surprise and disappointment, my offer not only met with rebuff, but a systematized persecution against me and my followers was begun by the more religious of the Thorthans.

"Influenced by the religious leaders, my brother presently ordered the banishment of myself and my followers, who remained faithful to me. With less than a thousand of these I came to these shores and subsequent explorations revealed this valley."

I murmured my astonishment at all this.

"The only member of my family to accompany me," he went on, "was my sister, Xunia, who had been in sympathy with my plans from the first. As rapidly as I could, I prepared duplicate bodies for my followers, it being necessary to give each body the outward semblance of the body and brain which was to be quitted, else the personality would not enter it.

"I have always kept many bodies in reserve for myself and for my sister, so we were prepared for almost any emergency. In case the body I occupied broke down I could instantly enter another. If that one broke down or was destroyed, I could enter still another, and so on.

"The slaves were the only class which was never completely immortalized. Today, immortalization of a slave is a reward for faithful service. You may readily see, therefore, why the food and drink for which I am forced to apologize are of the cruder sort. I am compelled, for the moment, to offer you but the fare of slaves."

"It is excellent," I replied, "and quite good enough for any king's son."

"I will find the means to improve it, however, as I expect you to remain here permanently. I have planned a great honor for you."

"Indeed?"

"I will explain. As you probably have surmised, there has been no such thing as propagation of the race among my immortals. This did not bother me in a material way. When I lost a follower-which was rarely, as every one has at least one extra body and most of them several-I could immediately replace him from the ranks of my slaves. But there was no love; and after about three thousand years had passed, the defect bothered me emotionally.

"I knew that the problem which confronted me was considerably more difficult than any on which I had previously worked, but undaunted, I plunged into my studies. Two thousand years of anatomical, histological, embryological, biological, biochemical and psychological research have brought their reward, so that, although today I differ from you physically as much as ever, I have built into my newest bodies and into those of my sister the sexual characteristics of ordinary human beings.

"Pangar was sent forth today with the object of bringing me two human beings suitable for marriage with royalty. His journey ended almost as soon as it began when he found you and the princess. I therefore offer you the hand of my beloved sister in marriage, and will likewise offer the half of my throne to the Princess Loralie."

"But if we should decline the honor?"

"It is unthinkable. Even if you were to decline, either of you, I have means at hand which, I am sure, will cause you to reconsider gladly."

Removing the electrodes from his ears and draining his bowl, he arose and summoned two pages. To the first, he said, "Instruct the Princess Loralie to prepare for my coming." As the messenger sped away he said to the other, "You will conduct His Highness Torrogi Zinlo of Olba to the apartments of Her Highness Xunia, Torrogina of Doravia."

As the little page conducted me to the apartments of Princess Xunia I turned over in my mind Tandor's strange story and its revolting sequel. I was going to the apartments of a girl who had been dead five thousand years, but whose soul was bound in a machine. Beautifully and cleverly constructed as it was, it was yet a mere mechanical contrivance-a thing of wheels and cogs, levers and shafts, a thing that fed on electrical energy and drank fuming acid.

And I was expected-commanded with a none-too-veiled threat-to make love to this travesty on life. But Loralie! Somehow I must contrive to live in order to save her.

The page stopped before an ornate doorway, two guards saluted and opened massive doors. Then a pair of scarlet curtains were drawn back, revealing a luxurious boudoir. "His Highness, Zinlo of Olba," announced the page as I entered the room.

The curtains fell in place behind me. I heard the guards close the heavy doors. As I looked at the beauteous dead-alive creature that reclined on a luxuriously cushioned divan in a scarlet and gold decked recess, a feeling of revulsion swept over me; yet, paradoxically enough, this was combined with admiration. I was revolted at thought of the nearness of this living dead thing, but could not but admire the consummate art that had created so glorious an imitation of the human form. I realized that if I would live to be of assistance to Loralie I had a part to play. Xunia smiled languidly, seductively, as I stood before the raised divan just outside the niche it occupied. With feline grace she extended a slender, dimpled hand. Shuddering inwardly, I took it, expecting to feel the cold clamminess of death. But it was as warm as my own and as natural-from its white back in which a delicate tracery of blue veins showed, to the pink-tipped, tapering fingers. I raised it to my lips and released it, but she clung to my fingers for a moment, pulling me to a seat on a low ottoman just in front of her.

"Long have I awaited your coming, prince of my heart," she said. "Be not afraid to come near to me, for it is my desire and my command."

"To be prince of your heart were indeed an honor," I replied, "yet you name me this, having only seen me today."

"The moment I saw you I knew it was so. Fear not, beloved, that there have been others before you. I am, and have ever been, virgin in mind as in body. Once I thought I loved, yes, but it was long ago, and then I was but a child."

"You make me very jealous, nevertheless," I said, remembering the part I had to play.

"I did not really love him, I swear it, dearest." She ran her fingers through my hair in a gentle caress so natural, so womanly, that I found it well-nigh impossible to believe her other than a real princess of flesh and blood. Then, before I realized what she was about, she twined her arms about my neck and kissed me full upon my lips.

The kiss did not taste of acid, as I had imagined it would, but was like that of a normal, healthy girl, though it aroused in me a feeling of revulsion which I was at some pains to conceal.

"I go now, beloved, to prepare for your marriage," she said. "Await me here." As I stood up, she took my hand and arose gracefully. The time for action had arrived. Yet, as I looked down at the slender, beautiful figure, the long-lashed eyes gazing trustfully up into mine, I hesitated to carry out the plan which I had been contemplating as I sat there on the ottoman before her-a plan with which I hoped to accomplish a double purpose-to rid myself of this machine-monster and to get her brother away from Loralie, for she would probably summon him telepathically, if in no other way. I was trying to think of her as a dead thing in a machine, yet it seemed impossible that she was other than human, so natural was she, and so beautiful. But the thought of Loralie and the danger she was in steeled me to the task.

Seizing Xunia by her long black hair, I whipped out my stone knife and slashed the artificial muscles of the slim white throat. She gave one startled scream, which ended at the second slash of my knife, and went limp as I jerked the head backward, cracking the metallic structure which took the place of cervical vertebrae. Instead of blood, there spurted from the severed neck a tiny stream of clear fuming liquid, a few drops of which fell on my hand, burning it like molten metal.

Dropping the sagging body, I turned and was about to part the curtains which led out into the hall to see if the coast was clear, when I heard a stealthy sound behind me. Swiftly turning, I saw Xunia, apparently unharmed. In her right hand was a long, straight-bladed sword drawn back for a thrust. Behind her lay the body I had just destroyed.

I leaped back just in time to avoid her vicious lunge. Then, jerking my spiked club from my belt, I dealt her a blow which crushed her skull like an egg-shell. But scarcely had this body sunk to the floor ere a panel opened in the wall behind it and a third, armed like the second, stepped out to attack me.

"Fool," mouthed the advancing figure. "Think you that you can slay one of the immortals?" This time she swung the sword with both hands with the evident intention of decapitating me, but I struck the weapon from her hands. Then I crushed the skull of this third body.

I leaped through the opened panel, where four more bodies, identical with the other three, lay on scarlet couches. The one nearest me was just sitting up, when I smashed the skull with my club. I quickly disposed of the next two in the same manner before they showed any signs of life, but the last rolled from the couch and, dodging beneath my arm, rushed out into the room from which I had just come.

"Brother!" she screamed. "Brother-he would destroy me!" As I stopped the screeching of this last figure with a blow of my club, the entire wall toward which I was facing rolled up like a curtain. On the other side of it was a room like the one in which I stood, and in that room were Loralie and Tandor.

The long hair of my princess was disheveled and her eyes were flashing with anger as she tried to pull away from the monarch, who gripped her slender wrists.

Taking in the situation at a glance, Tandor suddenly released Loralie, who fell to the floor. Then he whipped out his sword and advanced on me.

Forgetting that I held only a wooden club, I bounded forward to meet him. A sneer crossed his cold, statuesque features, as with a deft slash he cut my club in two near the handle.

"Die, upstart," he snarled, raising his weapon for the blow that was to end my existence. I barely succeeded in avoiding death by leaping back, then caught up one of the swords which Xunia had dropped.

But as I attacked he came on guard and countered with a skill which spoke of expert training and thousands of years of practice.

"In your ignorant folly," he said, cutting, thrusting and parrying with a deft precision which amazed me,

"you believe you have sent my sister into the unknown, and that with your skill as a swordsman you can do likewise for me. Know, then, witless one, who would try conclusions with the immortals, that in one of the great twin towers which flank the falls under constant guard, my sister has twelve more bodies in reserve.

"Should you succeed in destroying the six bodies I have here in the palace-which you will not be able to do-I also have twelve more under guard in the opposite tower."

"I care not if you have a hundred, you monster," I retorted. "Bring them one by one within reach of my blade and I'll eventually send you down the unmarked trail you should have taken five thousand years ago."

"You are, I perceive, a braggart as well as a dullard," said Tandor. "You realize, of course, that I can call the guard and have you slain at any moment I choose to do so. Yet to make things more interesting I'll make a wager with you. If you succeed in besting me and destroying the six bodies I have here in the palace, I'll promise not to alarm the guard until I return from the tower in one of my reserve bodies. If I force you to surrender, you are to become my slave for life, body and soul, to do with as I see fit. Is it agreed?"

"It is a wager," I replied between clenched teeth as I desperately sought for an opening in this, the most marvelous guard I had ever encountered.

Tandor laughed as I tried, one after another, the many tricks I had learned in my fencing on three planets.

"You are a good swordsman, youth, better than any mortal I have ever encountered; yet I, with five thousand years of training, am merely playing with you. See, I can touch you at will." And with that, he pinked my left shoulder.

The moment he extended his weapon he left the opening for which I had been waiting. Not knowing on what part of his anatomy I could use my point effectively, I dealt him a swift neck cut with its keen edge. The head flew from his shoulders and bounded to the floor, but the body did not fall. Instead, it stooped, and catching up the head, tucked it under its left arm and resumed the contest. Here, indeed, was a super-mind, which could control, at the same time, severed head and body.

"A pretty counter," mocked the head, while our blades clashed as vigorously as before, "but perhaps not as effective as you expected. I will tire you out presently. Then will I slice you down, inch by inch, until you will be glad to yield."

"Not with this body," I replied as I got inside his guard for a swift downward cut on his forearm. Cleanly severed, it fell to the floor, the hand still gripping the sword. An instant later the body dropped the head and fell. Then a panel slid up behind it, and Tandor, another sword in hand, emerged, smiling sardonically. "You are more clever than I thought, princeling, but that trick will not work again."

"It is not the only one I know," 'I replied and, catching his blade on mine, disarmed him, much to his consternation. This time I not only split his head from crown to chin, but slashed off his right arm. Then I rushed through the panel opening in time to catch a third newly animated body just arising from its scarlet couch. I served it in like manner, but the fourth sprang up before I could strike and came on guard with appalling swiftness. Before Tandor could attack in this body I struck two swift blows, splitting the heads of the two recumbent forms.

I stepped to one side barely in time to avoid a powerful downward cut that would have divided my own head had it landed, and before he could recover I severed the sword arm of my attacker and split his head.

Rushing back into the room where I had left Loralie, I found her plucking a sword and dagger from one of Tandor's bodies.

"We must get out of here at once," I said. "In a few moments Tandor will be back here in one of his swift vehicles. Then, the terms of the wager fulfilled, he can quickly have us captured."

"But where can we go? How can we possibly escape?"

"I do not know, but we most certainly can't get away by remaining here. Come."

CHAPTER XI

CAUTIOUSLY PARTING the scarlet drapes which hid the doorway, I saw that the heavy doors had been bolted. Tandor had evidently intended that he should not be disturbed. I expected that there would be guards in the corridor, and therefore decided that a bold front would serve our purpose the best. I appropriated one of Tandor's magnificent belts with ornate sword and dagger, and outfitted Loralie likewise with one of Xunia's belts which contained lighter weapons. Then we walked quietly to the doors, which I unbolted and swung back. The guards saluted stiffly and closed them after us as we passed out.

"It is the command of his majesty," I said, "that he be not disturbed by messengers or others."

"To hear is to obey," replied both guards in unison as we strolled away down the corridor. I only knew my way to one part of the building-the landing floor. After threading so many hallways, passageways and ramps that I had begun to think I had lost my way, we came out on the central landing platform, from which radiated the cables that carried the swift-moving octagonal cars to the various power houses of Doravia.

Glancing in the direction of the twin towers, I saw a car swiftly approaching from each and surmised that Xunia and Tandor were already on the way to the palace.

"Quick!" I said to Loralie. "We have not a moment to lose!" Hurrying her to the side of a car which hung on a cable that pointed toward the south, I helped her aboard-then spoke to the pilot. "It is the desire of his majesty the Torrogo that we inspect some of the buildings of Doravia. You will first take us to the power plant at the southernmost end of the valley." He saluted respectfully, then moved a control lever. The doors closed and we glided smoothly away from the platform. In a moment we were speeding swiftly southward at a dizzy height above the valley. One by one we sped past the towers which dotted the river bank, so swiftly that each Washed for but an instant in our range of vision. Yet it seemed to me that our pace was exasperatingly slow, for I knew that Tandor would surely reach the central tower before we arrived at our destination; if he made inquiry at the landing platform he would flash a message to the commander of the southern tower, and we would face arrest as soon as we arrived.

I accordingly loosened my blade in its scabbard and spoke softly to Loralie. "We must be ready to make a dash for it as soon as the doors open. Keep behind me, and I'll try to cut a way through." As we drew up to the landing platform I saw a score of guards lined up to meet us. In front of them stood a captain with drawn sword.

The doors opened and we stepped out.

"By order of His Majesty..." began the officer.

I did not wait for him to finish but whipped out my sword and beheaded him before he could say more. Then I sprang forward and cut my way through the line of surprised guardsmen with Loralie close behind me. She drew her own weapon, and used it with more skill than I had believed possible in a woman. As we dashed off down a corridor we met two more guards, but they were crude swordsmen and detained us but for a moment. On coming to a transverse corridor, we turned, hoping thus to elude our pursuers; but a moment later they rounded the turn, and at the same time I saw a large party of men closing in on us from the opposite direction.

"We're trapped," I said, "and this is a poor place to make a stand. We'll turn in at the next doorway we come to."

There were doors on both sides of the corridor at intervals of about fifty feet, and I accordingly stopped at the next and wrenched it open. Without looking to see what was within, I pushed my companion into the opening. Hearing a scream and a thud, I leaped in after her, but scarcely had I slammed the door ere my feet slipped from under me, and, half lying, half sitting, I found myself sliding down a steep spiral incline in total darkness at a terrific rate of speed.

For several minutes I continued my downward course uninterrupted. Then the incline grew less steep and I glided over a series of humps which retarded my progress. A moment later I shot out into the air and daylight, my feet struck a cushioned wall, and I fell on a thickly padded floor. Springing to my feet, I saw Loralie standing with drawn sword, facing a huge guard. A short distance behind him wavelets from the river lapped the edge of the floor on which a half-dozen narrow, pointed boats made from the transparent metal were moored.

As I dashed forward, the guard struck her sword from her hand and attempted to seize the princess, but ere he could do so I sprang between them and our blades met. Aside from Tandor himself, he was the cleverest swordsman I had encountered in Doravia.

Back and forth we fought on that moist, slippery floor, until I succeeded in forcing him to the water's edge. Binding his blade with my own, I pushed it upward, and leaping in close, struck him in the breast with my left fist. He toppled for a moment on the brink-then fell into the river behind and sank out of sight.

At this instant I heard the clank of arms in the chute behind us, followed by the thud of a body against the padded walls, then another and another.

Quickly flinging Loralie into one of the boats, I slid it to the water's edge, leaped in and shoved off. Four spadelike paddles lay in the bottom, and seizing one of these I managed to get several boat lengths from the shore before our pursuers reached the water's edge.

The first boatload was not long in putting off after us, and with four paddles working it gained on us rapidly. Behind it, another and another left the shore until five in all pursued us. Seeing that it would be only a few moments before we were overhauled, I strung my bow and shot an arrow at the foremost paddler. Although it pierced his breast it did not seem to discommode him in any way. He paddled forward as briskly as ever, pausing only to snap off the shaft and fling it into the water. I tried a second shot, this time aiming for his head, but the arrow glanced harmlessly off his glittering, transparent helmet.

Loralie, following my example, also strung her bow and tried a shot at the second paddler. It struck him in the arm, but he broke off the shaft and continued his paddling as if nothing had struck him.

"Save your arrows," I said as a plan suddenly occurred to me. Quickly unwinding a length of the cord I still had with me, I looped part of it and cut it in short pieces. Then I took from the ammunition belt of Talibot a clip marked "Tork Projectiles-Explosive." Extracting one, I bound it to the head of an arrow and discharged it at the first paddler. He grinned derisively as he saw me raise my bow, but his grin disappeared, together with most of the upper part of his mechanical anatomy when the missile exploded. Passing several projectiles and bits of string to Loralie, I quickly prepared another arrow and blew a second pursuer out of existence. By this time the first boat was less than thirty feet from us, and I knew I would not have time to prepare a third arrow, so I drew my sword and made ready for the attack of the two guardsmen who remained in this boat. But before they came alongside there was only one, as Loralie, having prepared one arrow, proceeded to blow the other to bits.

The last remaining guardsman leaped to his feet as the slender prow of his boat struck the rear of ours. Dropping my sword in the bottom of our boat, I quickly tipped his boat to one side. The fellow tried to maintain his balance by throwing his weight in the opposite direction but I had anticipated this, and as he did so I reversed the tilt of his boat, precipitating him into the water where he sank out of sight. So occupied had I been with our pursuers that I had not noticed whither the swift current was carrying us. My first intimation of danger from this source was a bump and a grinding noise as our keel struck and then slid over a submerged rock, nearly capsizing us. I seized a paddle and swung our craft parallel with the current just as we were precipitated into a seething, whirling rapids, from the foaming surface of which projected numerous jagged rocks.

I bent all my efforts to the task of avoiding the dangerous rocks which loomed ahead as we shot forward with alarming speed, now on the crest of a huge wave, now in a hollow so deep we could not see out of it. As we advanced the river became narrower, the rapids steeper, and the rocks more menacing. It appeared that the River of Life-for such Pangar had named it to me-might become, for us, the River of Death.

Try as I would, I could not keep our craft from repeatedly colliding with the rough boulders that now beset our path. The strength of its transparent metal sides astonished me. We were nearly through the rapids, and I was just breathing a sigh of relief, when the unexpected happened. Our prow struck a hidden point of rock, the boat swung broadside, and we turned over. I heard a scream from Loralie as I plunged into the water, head first. The metal paddle to which I had unconsciously clung as I fell quickly carried me to the jagged bottom. I let go and swam as rapidly as I could to the surface. Shaking the water from my eyes I looked around. The swift current had already taken me beyond the foot of the rapids into deeper water. I could see no sign of the princess, though I craned my neck in every direction.

Our overturned boat had drifted past me, and three more boats were swiftly descending the rapids, bottom up, but behind them came two more, in each of which sat four Doravian guardsmen. Filling my lungs, I dived for the spot where I thought Loralie might be, and swam under water for some distance.

Upon again coming to the surface, I saw her swimming for the shore about a hundred feet ahead of me. Our drifting boat had hidden her from my view.

I saw the first boatload of Doravians pass the bottom of the rapids unscathed as I struck out after the princess. But as soon as they reached calmer water they plied their paddles with such dexterity that I knew they would overtake me long before I could reach the shore.

Although I was greatly hampered by the weight of my weapons, I hesitated to part with them, since I could not possibly get to land ahead of that boat, even if I were stripped. Presently the boat came within fifteen feet of me. The foremost guardsman laid down his paddle and drew his sword. Raising the weapon above his head, he leaned out over the bow to dispatch me. At this instant I dived, and describing a loop under water, came up just under the stern of the boat. Seizing it in both hands, I capsized the craft, plunging my four assailants into the water. None of them reappeared. The metal men apparently could not swim.

By this time the last boat had negotiated the rapids and was paddling swiftly toward me. Again I struck out for land, this time with some hope of making it. Loralie, who had just reached the shore, called out to me, "Hurry. A silticum is coming this way."

I looked back, and my first view of a silticum was none too reassuring. It was an enormous reptile with a green lizardlike body, serpentine neck, and a head of immense proportions. I struck out desperately for the shore, and the paddlers increased their efforts. The noise they made attracted the attention of the reptile. Suddenly swerving, it made for the boat. As I was quite near the shore I lowered a foot, struck bottom, and waded out just as I stepped on the sloping beach, an exclamation from the princess made me turn.

With serpentine neck arched and mighty jaws distended, the huge saurian lunged downward, straight for the center of the boat. One of the occupants rammed his sword in that cavernous maw, and two others slashed at the scaly neck, but with no apparent effect on the reptile. It seized the boat in its immense jaws and lifting it high out of the water, shook it as a terrier shakes a rat. Hurtling through the air to the right and left, the bodies of the four Doravians fell into the river and disappeared.

"Come," said Loralie, tugging at me arm. "That creature is as swift on land as in the water. Let us get out of its sight before it takes a notion to follow us."

"With pleasure," I responded, and together we hurried up the bank and plunged into the fern forest. For some time we ran forward, side by side, sinking ankle-deep in the soft moss that carpeted the forest floor.

"I'm thirsty," said Loralie, "and hungry. Aren't you?"

"Ravenous. Nothing will satisfy me but a good big steak. Spore pods are all right for appetizers, but to satisfy hunger there is nothing like meat."

"I've lost my bow and arrows," she said, ruefully, "along with that clip of explosive projectiles you gave me. I dropped everything when the boat tipped over."

"Never mind. I still have my bow, plenty of arrows, and another clip of explosive projectiles. It's a man's place to bring in the game, anyway, while the woman looks after the home."

"The home? What do you mean?"

"Why-er-that is, I was just drawing a comparison between ourselves and primitive people. The man went hunting, you know, while his mate looked after the cave, or tree, or whatever they lived in."

"His mate? I fail to see the comparison."

"Well, you know we're leading a rather primitive existence just now, and...

"Prince Zinlo," she said, suddenly stopping and facing me, "will you cease talking generalities and tell me just what you mean?"

"Yes," I cried vehemently. "I'll tell you what I mean. I hadn't intended to, but it seems my words betray my thoughts. I love you, Loralie. I want you for my mate-my princess. But as you so plainly dislike me I shall probably go on desiring you until the destroyer of all desires puts an end to my existence."

"I was beginning to wonder," she said softly, "if I would ever get you to say it." Before I realized the purport of her words her arms were around my neck-her warm red lips upturned, inviting. I crushed her to me, and found her a new Loralie-tender, yielding, passionate.

"I've loved you since the very hour we met," she said, "when you tossed my presuming cousin into the shrubbery."

Her hand caressed my cheek, roving softly over my rugged face. But as I bent to claim the sweetness of her lips, I heard a twig crack behind me, and I whirled about, hand on hilt. To my amazement I beheld Prince Gadrimel, standing only a short distance from us. "A thousand pardons for this intrusion," he lisped. "By the beard of Thorth, I could not find the heart to disturb so pretty a love scene, were it not that darkness approaches and the camp is a considerable journey from here."

Too astonished to reply, I could only stare at him as he stood with a mocking smile on his effeminate features, toying with a jeweled pendant on his breast and ogling Loralie.

"No doubt you are glad to see me, fair cousin," he continued in his mincing patoa, grinning at the princess,

"so glad that the joy of my coming overwhelms you-renders you speechless. Come, haven't you at least a little cousinly kiss for your deliverer who has come so far to rescue you? You appear to lavish your caresses quite generously outside the family."

My blood boiled at his studied insolence, his air of proprietorship, yet I strove to control my feelings as I answered him. "The kisses of the Princess Loralie are her own to bestow. You will do well to remember that, Prince Gadrimel."

"And you, Prince Zinlo, will do well to speak only when spoken to." Gadrimel held out a hand to Loralie.

"Come, cousin, let us get to camp before darkness falls. By tomorrow we will be aboard my flagship and well on our way to my father's palace."

The princess drew closer to me and looked up into my face as she answered, "Prince Zinlo is my fiance. I'll go where he goes."

"This nonsense has gone far enough," said Gadrimel, sharply. "Ho, warriors!" Scarcely had he uttered his call ere there closed in on us from the surrounding fern brakes a full hundred armed men of Adonijar.

"Seize and bind this interloper," he commanded, pointing to me.

When this had been done, Gadrimel stationed a stalwart soldier at my side. "Remain here with the prisoner, until we have passed out of earshot. Then..." He stepped close to the soldier and whispered something to him. "For which," he concluded, as he stepped back, "you may have his weapons, accouterments and anything else of value he may have with him."

Loralie attempted to come to me as I stood there, bound hand and foot, but two soldiers prevented her.

"What are you going to do to him?" she cried.

"Now, now. Calm yourself, sweet cousin," said Gadrimel. "I am but sending him on a journey. I must insist that you hurry to camp with me at once, or darkness will overtake us on the way; the night-roving beasts will not be pleasant to meet in this forest."

In spite of her struggles he dragged her away. Behind them moved the entire company of warriors with the single exception of the one who had been instructed to remain with me. He stood immobile, listening until the sound of voices and the clank of weapons had died away in the distance. Then he turned to me.

"I have been commanded to kill you, Highness," he said, simply. "Never before have I slain a bound and helpless man, but I am a soldier of Adonijar and may not disobey the command of my prince. However, I was not instructed as to how I should kill you, and I bear you no malice. By what weapon do you choose to die?"

"The sword," I replied, "has ever been my favorite weapon. If I must die now, let it be by the sword."

"The sword?" he asked in puzzlement.

"That long straight-bladed weapon in the sheath at my feet," I answered. "Plunge it into my heart and get it over quickly."

Slowly he bent over and withdrew the sword from its sheath. He examined it curiously, testing the sharpness of its point with his palm and the keenness of its edge with his thumb.

"By the blood of Thorth!" he exclaimed. "This is a beautiful weapon. And it will be mine as soon as I have slain you. Make ready, now, to die."

CHAPTER XII

As I STOOD there in the fern forest bound hand and foot and helplessly awaiting the death blow at the hands of Prince Gadrimel's henchman, I was suddenly knocked flat by the drop of a huge, furry body from the limbs of the tree above me. Half dazed, I sat up just in time to see a female cave-ape crush the head of my would-be slayer with her sawedged club.

She turned, and as she did so, I recognized her features.

"Chixa!" I exclaimed.

"Long have the cave-apes sought their Rogo," she said, "and great will be their rejoicing when he returns."

With her flint knife she quickly cut my bonds, and I stood erect once more, stamping my feet and chafing my wrists to restore circulation, scarcely able, as yet, to understand that I was really alive.

"Do you cave-apes still consider me their king?"

"According to the custom you would lose your kingdom if you remained away for more than one endir. But you have been gone only a few days. As there is much judging to be done, we have been searching for you."

"Where are the other searchers?" I asked.

"Many of them are within call."

"Then call them, and let them call as many others as they can."

With marvelous agility for a creature of such great size, she scampered up to the leaf crown of a tall tree-fern. Then, cupping her paws, she gave utterance to a queer, trilling cry. It was answered, not once, but many times, from various points far and near.

Then she descended the tree and dropped into the glade beside me.

Presently there came swinging through the branches a great, yellow-tusked male who, as soon as he saw me, roared, "Hail, Zinlo!" and dropped to the ground near me. Another emerged from the fern brakes, repeating the salute of the first, and it was not long before I was surrounded by more than two score males and about half as many females.

As these shaggy man-beasts sat grouped around me, respectfully waiting for me to speak, their demeanor showed that they recognized me as their king without question.

"My subjects," I said, "I have work for you in which there is much danger and much fighting."

"Will there be food-men?"

"There will be many food-men."

"Good!" This answer was unanimous.

"We will start as soon as I have issued full instructions."

But the great, yellow-tusked male who had first responded to the summons of Chixa protested, "There is judging to be done. Will you not first do the judging, so we may go into the fight with our differences settled?"

"Who are you," I asked, "to question the edicts of your Rogo?"

"I am Griff, mighty warrior, mighty hunter," he replied, puffing out his broad, hairy chest. "But I do not question your edicts. I only ask that you hold the judging now."

Before I could answer him there came a sharp cry from a female who had perched herself in the branches above our heads in order that she might better observe everything that went on.

"Danger! Danger!" she shrieked. "A silticum!"

Every cave-ape instantly took to the trees, and I heard the crashing of a huge creature in the underbrush as it swiftly made its way through the forest. Evidently the silticum which had attacked the Doravian guards had seen us, even as Loralie had feared, and was now on our trail.

Quickly taking the last clip of explosive projectiles from my belt, I removed two of the needle-like missiles and bound each to the head of an arrow. Then I strung my bow and awaited the coming of the monster.

Chixa called to me from the leaf crown of a tall tree-fern. "Come up into the trees, Rogo. You cannot fight a silticum."

"Yes, climb before it is too late," called Griff. "No one has ever slain a silticum." Although I knew nothing of the ways of this saurian, I had seen its great size and knew that if it had intelligence enough to do so it could pull down any tree within my range of vision. In view of this fact, and also because I could not get about as swiftly as the cave-apes in the trees, I felt safer on the ground.

"Stay up in the trees if you like," I answered them. "I will show you how your king slays a silticum." In a few moments I saw the huge green head swaying on the snaky neck at a height of about twenty feet above the ground. It was looking this way and that, apparently searching for me. As it drew closer I saw that it was indeed the same monster that had attacked the machine men in the boat, for projecting through its lower jaw was the transparent sword blade where the Doravian guardsman had thrust it, and which the creature had been unable to dislodge.

I fitted an explosive arrow to my bowstring, and at this moment the monster spied me. With a hiss like steam escaping from a locomotive, it distended its enormous jaws and charged straight for me. Taking careful aim at the cavernous maw, I drew the arrow back to the head and let fly. The reptile turned slightly so my shaft did not strike the target squarely, but considering the terrific force of the tork projectile this did not greatly matter. For although the missile struck the monster in the corner of the mouth, the explosion tore off the whole side of its head.

I instantly fitted my second arrow to the bowstring, but instead of advancing the great saurian swerved to one side and began threshing about in a circle, striking this way and that with its huge, scaly tail which swept the fern trunks before it, knocking them over as if they had been mere reeds. As the tail now appeared to be the most formidable weapon Of the beast, I aimed my second shaft with a view to crippling this appendage, and let fly.

It struck the monster just above one of its thick hind legs, blasting a great hole in the flank and not only crippling the tail but both hind legs as well.

Upon seeing this, the cave-apes instantly descended on the 'stricken reptile with yells of triumph, and were soon hacking at its heaving sides with their saw-edged clubs and prying up huge scales with their flint knives in order to get at the quivering flesh underneath.

"Hail, Zinlo!" the shouted. "Mighty warrior, mighty hunter, mighty sorcerer! With his magic he slays even the silticum, the terror of stream and forest!"

As I watched the cave-apes at their bloody feast, I recalled that I, too, was hungry. Elbowing my way through the growling, snarling, milling mob, I carved a steak from the shoulder with my keen Doravian dagger. Then I made a small cooking fire and grilled my slab of meat. It proved tasty enough, although rather tougher than a gourmet would have relished. But with good teeth and an excellent appetite this bothered me not at all.

By the time I had finished, and swallowed a draught from a water fern, my hairy retainers had all gorged themselves.

I arose and called them together. They squatted expectantly around me in a semicircle. "You, Griff," I said. "Bring me that shiny club which sticks in the jaw of the silticum." After he had brought me the sword of the Doravian boatman, I continued, "You have asked that judging be done before we fight. I have no time for judging now, so I am going to let you do it. This shiny club will be your token of authority, by which you will do judging in my name. Go now, taking the shes with you, back to the caves. And be ware that your decisions are just ones, for I will hear of it, and will come and slay you with my magic if they are not."

"But Rogo," he protested, "I would like to go and fight the food-men with your others."

"You will do as you are bidden without further question. Throw away your old club and take this shiny one which slays with its point as well as its edges."

Silently, and rather sullenly, he removed his club from his belt string and tossed it away. Then he took the sword and lumbered away through the forest, followed by the females.

As soon as they had departed I called the others together and started off on the trail of Prince Gadrimel. But darkness overtook us before we had gone more than five miles, and we were forced to take to the trees to avoid the depredations of the night-roving carnivora.

Propped in a high leaf crown that swayed with each passing breeze I didn't get much sleep during that noisy night, oppressed by my constant fear for Loralie in the clutches of her unscrupulous cousin. It was with a sigh of relief that I greeted the dawn and made my way to the ground. Impatient to be off, I stopped only for a drink of water, then started down the well-marked trail with my small but formidable company. The spoor of Loralie's abductors continued to follow the winding course of the River of Life for about six miles to the remains of a large camp which had been completely surrounded by watch fires. Most of these were still smoldering as we came up.

Of the people of Prince Gadrimel we saw no sign, save tracks leading to the river where there were indentations made by the prows of small craft.

I led my ape-men at a trot along the flat, sandy beach for miles. The river bank gradually grew more rugged, and at last we climbed to a rocky eminence commanding a view of both sea and river. Anchored not more than an eighth of a mile off this point, and rocking in the gently rolling swell, I saw the five ships of Prince Gadrimel. Paddling swiftly toward them from the river mouth were a score of small boats, in the foremost of which were two scarlet-clad figures which I knew must be Gadrimel and Loralie.

Helplessly I watched while his henchmen bundled the princess aboard the flagship, boats were drawn up to their places on the decks, sails were hoisted, and anchors weighed.

So, with straining eyes, a great lump in my throat and a weight in my heart, I saw Gadrimel triumphantly sail away over the bounding, blue-gray Ropok with the only woman I have ever loved. As I stood there, absent-mindedly watching my subjects scurry through the forest in search of game, I pondered my predicament. The only thing left for me to do, I reasoned, was to follow the coast northward as Loralie and I had planned to do. In order to reach Olba I would pass through Adonijar, but single-handed I could do nothing against an entire nation.

Once in Olba I felt that I could persuade the Torrogo to let his supposed son have an air fleet for the purpose of avenging the attempted murder of the Crown Prince, and with this I could quickly persuade the ruler of Adonijar to give up the princess.

I dreamed thus futilely until a great splash of rain struck me in the face, followed by the patter of many more on the leaves around me. Brought to a sudden realization of my surroundings, I noticed that the gentle wash of the waves against the shore had changed to the booming roar of huge breakers, that the trees were bending before a considerable breeze, and that despite the fact that the day was not yet spent it was growing steadily darker.

A terrific peal of thunder, followed by a vivid flash of lightning, made every cave-ape drop the bone he was gnawing and look toward me as if for protection or guidance.

"Zog makes magic in the heavens, Rogo," said Borg, quaking with fear. "Zog is angry. Let us hide until he goes away. I noticed a great cave beneath the next cliff when I was hunting." Glancing around at the other beast-men, I saw that Borg was not the only one who had been frightened by the peal of thunder. Every cave-ape was shivering in abject terror.

"Lead the way to the cave, Borg," I said. "I do not fear Zog, but there is much rain and much wind coming from across the big water, and a cave will be more comfortable." The frightened cave-ape needed no urging, but hurried off at once, the others after him, while I brought up the rear at a more leisurely pace. Peal after peal of thunder sounded, the lightning flashed almost incessantly, and rain came down in torrents before I reached the cave mouth. Entering, I beheld my erstwhile fearless fighters huddled together like frightened frellas and shivering as if with the ague.

"Every one fears Zog," explained a young ape.

"Your Rogo does not fear him," I said, "and you should not. Come and help me pile stones in the doorway lest a silticum or some other monster get in tonight."

"We are afraid to go to the doorway," quavered Borg. 'Zog will slay us with his magic fire."

"Enough of this. Come over here and help me, every one of you, or I will slay you all with my magic." The tragic fear which was in their eyes was pitiful to behold, but they were not long in choosing between what they believed would be sure death from my magic and possible death from the bolts of the deity they called "Zog." The doorway was soon so completely blocked that no night-roaming beast could enter.

Night having come on by this time, the only light in the cave was from the frequent flashes of lightning. For a long time I stood at the entrance. Each lightning flash showed branches flying through the air, fern-trees blown over, and wild things, large and small, scurrying for shelter. I was awakened in the morning by a loud clatter and the sound of gruff voices. Sitting up with a yawn, I stretched my cramped limbs as I watched Borg and several other cave-apes dragging the barricade away from the cave entrance. Gone was the unreasoning fear that had gripped them the night before. I rose and followed them outside. The storm had vanished, and other than the upper cloud envelope which is ever present in the Zarovian sky, the heavens were clear. But the still-dripping fern forest plainly showed the ravages of the tempest. The ground was littered with leaves and branches; trees were bent over, snapped off and uprooted, and many streams of muddy water trickled riverward. Crossing the gulch which separated our cave from the highest eminence, I climbed to the point where I had been standing the night before when the storm struck, to find some spore pods. As I gazed out over the Ropok, now rolling as gently as it had before the storm, my munching terminated in a sudden exclamation of surprise.

Lying on their sides far out in the surf with the waves rolling over them, and apparently deserted, I saw the battered hulls of two of Prince Gadrimel's ships. And anchored on the lee side of the promontory on which I stood, were the other three ships, their spars and rigging in most sorry case. The flagship, I observed, was the one anchored nearest the point of the headland, indicating that Loralie had escaped death, for which I was deeply thankful. From where I stood I could see the crews of the three ships busy repairing the damages which the storm had wrought.

Crouching in order that I might not be observed, I made my way back into the gulch, where most of my fierce retainers were finishing their morning meal.

"The food-men have returned," I said. "Keep out of sight so they will not know that we are here. And do not go far away, as I will probably need you to fight very soon."

"We will remain nearby, Rogo," said Borg. "We are all very hungry for the flesh of food-men." I returned to my lookout on the rock and tried to formulate some plan of attack. Presently I saw two scarlet-clad figures appear on the deck of the flagship. The smaller of the two was constantly attended by two armed warriors. Gadrimel had evidently found it expedient to keep the princess under constant surveillance.

But a plan did not suggest itself to me until I saw several boats lowered and a party of officers, headed by Gadrimel, put off for shore. Dashing back to the gulch where my cave-apes were grouped, I said,

"Some of the food-men are coming ashore. We will divide into two parties of equal size, one of which will be under the leadership of Borg. The other I will lead.

"Bores party will go down near the shore at the spot toward which they are coming. With his warriors he will climb into the trees, taking care lest the food-men see any of them, for they carry magical clubs which can kill at a great distance. As soon as the food-men enter the forest, Borg and his warriors will drop down on them from the trees and surprise them. They can thus be slain before they have a chance to use their magic clubs. Do you understand, Borg?"

"I understand, Rogo," replied the old cave-ape. "The food-men will not see us until we fall upon and slay them."

Calling the other cave-apes to follow me, I hurried to the other side of the promontory and descended its steep seaward side where we were hidden from view of the ships. Then, cutting the string I had with me into appropriate lengths, I tore a number of fronds from a wide-leafed variety of bush-fern, and proceeded to bind these to the heads of my subjects, spreading them in such a manner that at a distance they would effectually conceal the heads and shoulders of the great brutes. Disguising myself in the same manner, I led my savage followers to the very point of the promontory and into the water.

"You will all keep close together in the water," I said, "and follow me without noise. There are many trees and branches floating down the river this morning, and if we swim carefully and silently we will not be noticed."

Peering around the point, I saw that Gadrimel and his hunters had landed and were starting into the forest. Then there came to me faintly the yells of startled men and the roars of fighting cave-apes, interspersed with the popping of torks and clash of weapons, and I knew that all eyes on board the ship would be directed toward the scene of battle.

"Now," I said, and plunging into the water, swam around the point and straight for the flagship. Just behind me, in such close formation that we must have appeared like a single, tangled mass of floating branches, came my camouflaged apes.

The flagship was not more than a thousand feet from the point, but before we could reach it I saw more boats put off from all the ships and make swiftly for the scene of combat on shore. We came up under the prow of the ship just as the sounds of conflict announced the arrival of the small boats at the beach where the battle was taking place.

Silently I seized the taut anchor chain and went up, hand over hand. Just as silently, my ape warriors followed. On reaching the top, I peered cautiously through the railing. Loralie and her two guards were standing on the starboard side watching the battle on shore. There were three men aloft, apparently there to repair the rigging, but they, too, had their eyes trained shoreward.

Without a sound, I climbed over the railing, and with sword in one hand and dagger in the other, advanced toward the two men. Simultaneously, I jabbed the point of my dagger in the back of one, and the point of my sword in the other.

"One false move," I said, "and you die. Raise your hands above your heads and keep your faces shoreward."

They complied with alacrity. With a little scream of fear, Loralie turned to see what had happened.

"Zinlo!" she exclaimed. "I knew you would come!"

"Take their weapons, my princess."

She quickly removed their belts from which depended their torks and scarbos. Three of the apes had meanwhile scrambled aloft after the men in the rigging, and the others were searching the ship.

"Bring to me alive those who do not resist," I shouted. "You may slay the others." My words had the desired effect on Gadrimel's men, for although those in the rigging all carried short scarbos, none offered to fight. Other than these three and the two I had disarmed, the apes found only the cook and his helper.

When the prisoners had all been rounded up, I addressed them.

"All of you who are willing to take orders from me will give the royal salute. The others will be quickly deposed of, as my apes are hungry."

To a man, they saluted.

"You three," I said, addressing the men who had been aloft, "hoist the sails. And you," pointing to the two guards, "heave the anchor."

I sent the cook and his helper back to their pots and pans under guard of two apes. Then I took the helm with Loralie at my side and as the sails filled, steered for the open sea. We had nearly passed the point of the promontory when the boom of a mattork and the sing of its shell through our rigging announced that we had been discovered.

"Can you steer?" I asked Loralie.

"Better than you, landsman," she answered laughingly. "Give me the helm." Her father ruled the greatest maritime nation on Zarovia.

"Make for the open sea," I said, "and I'll see if my marksmanship is better than my steering." The mattork, which was nothing but an oversized tork mounted on a tripod, stood nearby swathed in its water-proof covering. Beside it was the case which contained the clips of projectiles with their various designations printed in patoa: Solid, Paralyzing, Deadly, Explosive.

Stripping the cover from the weapon, I chose a clip of explosive projectiles and inserted it in the breech. By this time two mattorks on each of the anchored ships had opened fire, and shells were screaming around us. One snapped a shroud, and I ordered a sailor up to replace it. Another burst against our hull. And still others, ricocheting from the surface of the water, whined plaintively as they sped on their way. I took careful aim at the rear mattork on the nearest ship and pressed the button. But the weapon was strange to me, and equally strange was the experience of firing a projectile from a ship. I saw my shell strike the water far behind the mark.

Again I took aim, this time allowing for the rocking of the ship. To my surprise, my shell burst just beneath my target, tearing the gunner to shreds and knocking the weapon from its tripod. I tried another shot at the forward mattork, but it went wild. Then both boats slipped from our view as we rounded the promontory.

"My marksmanship is as wretched as my handling of a boat," I said. "But they cannot harry us for a time, at least. Where to now, my princess?"

With one hand she reached for my own, drew my arm around her slender waist. The other still skillfully managed the helm.

"Whither you will, beloved," she replied. "Shall it be Olba or Tyrhana-north or south?"

"Which is nearer?"

"They are about equally distant from here."

"Then let us try for Olba, for there I am sure Gadrimel dare not follow us." Gently she brought the boat about until its prow pointed directly north. "It will not be long before Gadrimel sets out after us."

"He may have been slain by Borg and his apes."

"Not he," replied Loralie. "I was watching from the ship, and saw that he was the first to run for the beach when they were attacked. Standing beside a boat and ready to put off at a sign of a turn in the tide of battle, he used his tork, but did not get into the thick of the fight. A cautious youth, my cousin." It was not long before her prediction was fulfilled. One of the ships nosed around the promontory and came after us with all sails up.

I sprang to the mattork and fired. It was a bad miss. Again I fired. This time my projectile struck the water close to the target. I was getting the range. But when I would have fired a third time there was an explosion in the breech. The projectile had jammed and the safety plug had blown out. Frantically I worked with the recalcitrant weapon, momentarily expecting a volley from our pursuers. But none came. Evidently the prince had forbidden the use of mattorks because of the presence of Loralie on our vessel.

Suddenly a terrific explosion from the front of our vessel knocked me flat. Half dazed, I gripped a leg of the tripod for support just as the deck gave a violent lurch forward.

My prostrate body swung halfway over, and I saw with horror that the front end of the ship had been completely blown away and she was plunging into the waves, nose down. I have never learned the cause of that explosion, but believe that the cook or his helper found a way to outwit their ape guards and destroy the vessel.

My gaze flashed to the wheel, but the princess was nowhere in sight, then I heard a shout from the water behind me. Loralie was swimming in the wake of the swiftly sinking vessel. "Jump!" she cried. "Jump quickly, or you will be dragged down with the ship!"

I sprang to the rail and leaped over. A moment later I was swimming beside her as we both strained every muscle in our endeavor to put as much distance as possible between ourselves and the stricken vessel before she went down.

But try as we would, we could not escape the mighty suction of the boat as it plunged beneath the waves. Like tossing corks we were dragged back in spite of our utmost efforts. But by the time we reached the center of the whirlpool it had so far subsided that the water was comparatively calm and we were not drawn under.

Presently bits of wreckage began to come up around us. A huge timber suddenly popped to the surface. We swam to it and found it amply buoyant to sustain our combined weight in the water. As we topped the crest of a wave I glanced back. The first ship was within a quarter of a mile of us, and I caught a glimpse of a scarlet-clad figure in the bow, eagerly scanning the water with a glass. I was still looking back when a cry from Loralie attracted my attention in another direction. "A killer norgal! The scourge of the Ropok has seen us! We are doomed!"

Bearing down on us at terrific speed, I saw an enormous fish. Its body, fully thirty feet in length, was blue in color, and bristled with sharp spines of a deep crimson shade. Its huge jaws, large enough to have swallowed ten men at a gulp, were open, revealing row on row of sharp, back-curved teeth.

"Better that than Gadrimel," said Loralie with a shudder, "for we can die together. One last kiss, beloved, for it is the end."

Our lips met and clung, across the timber. Then I drew my sword, puny weapon indeed with which to meet such an enemy.

CHAPTER XIII

As WE CLUNG to the timber there in the tossing waves, Loralie and I, the killer norgal swiftly surged closer and closer. There was no mistaking its purpose. It had seen us and singled us out for its prey. Suddenly a dark shadow fell on us from above. A shot rang out, followed by a muffled explosion. Where the gaping mouth of the fish had been was only a bloody mass of flesh and bone. The mighty carcass lurched, flopped about for a moment, and then turned belly upward.

Above us loomed the great bulk of an aerial battleship, swiftly descending. It hovered only a short distance above our heads. A door opened in the side and a flexible metal ladder was lowered to us. I helped Loralie to mount, then went up after, hand over hand.

An officer in the uniform of Olba helped me into the ship. He was the mojak, or captain of the vessel. Then he bowed low with right hand extended palm downward, as did every other man in sight. "Your name, officer," I said.

"Lotar," he answered, "at your highness's service."

"Lotar, you will find quarters for Her Highness Loralie of Tyrhana, then start immediately for the Imperial Palace at Olba."

"I hear and obey," he replied, and dashed off to give the necessary orders. We mounted to the rear turret, the princess and I, and watched the two ships of Gadrimel fast disappearing from view. Why he did not fire at us I have never learned. Possibly because the princess was on board, but more probably because he feared the powerful mattorks of the mighty Olban airship. The princess presently retired to her quarters to rest, and I went forward with Lotar, who was directing the pilot in the first turret. "How long should it take us to get to Olba?" I asked. The young mojak consulted his charts and instruments for a moment.

"We should be able to make the palace by nightfall, Highness," he said. "This ship is rated at a rotation." A rotation, I recalled, meant the speed at which Venus turns on her axis, approximately a thousand miles an hour.

"Who sent you after us?"

"Your Highness's father has had the entire air fleet of Olba scouring the planet for you since your disappearance from the Black Tower. His Majesty assigned a patrol zone to each ship. I have been flying above this zone for many days. Attracted by the explosion which destroyed your ship, I flew over to investigate. With the aid of my glass I saw you and Her Highness in the water, and the norgal swimming toward you. As a marksman I have won many prizes in tournaments with the mattork. It was a simple matter for me to kill the norgal with an explosive projectile."

"It was excellent shooting," I said, "and it not only saved my life, but a life that is infinitely dearer to me. You will not find me ungrateful."

"My greatest reward lies in the knowledge that I have saved your highness for Olba. There will be great rejoicing throughout the length and breadth of the empire when the people learn that you are alive. And greatest of all will be the joy of His Imperial Majesty, Torrogo Hadjez." For some time I strolled about the ship, examining her armament and admiring the luxury of her appointments. Presently, Loralie came out of her stateroom. We went to the salon, where hot kova was served to us in jewel-encrusted golden cups.

Night fell just as we flew above the great crescent-shaped harbor of Tureno, and its myriad lights flashed on as did those of Olba. I caught a fleeting glimpse of the lighted windows of the Black Tower as we hurtled past it. Then the pilot gently slowed the ship until we were directly above the Imperial Palace. As we dropped toward the flat roof a number of guards came running toward us. Two of them seized the ladder which we dropped and held it while the princess descended. Then I followed. A mojak in the uniform of the palace guard stepped up and tendered the royal salute. "His majesty will be overjoyed, highness. It was his command that I bring you before him as soon as you arrive." There was something strangely familiar about the features of this officer. I tried to place him as he conducted Loralie and me down the telekinetic elevator.

When it stopped he bowed us into a spacious hall which led to a great, arched doorway hung with curtains of scarlet and gold, at each side of which stood two guards armed with torks, scarbos and long-bladed spears.

The four guards bowed obsequiously as we came up. Then two of them parted the curtains and there stood before us another individual whose face seemed strangely familiar to me. Yet he wore the pompous uniform of a torrango, or prime minister, which I recognized from my studies, and I knew I had never met the prime minister of Olba.

As soon as he saw me, he bowed low with right hand extended palm downward. "His Majesty the Torrogo bids you welcome. Whom may I announce as accompanying you?"

"Her Highness, Loralie. Torrogina of Tyrhana," I replied.

He bowed once more and departed. A moment later I heard him announcing our names and titles. Then a voice, which also seemed familiar to me, said, "You will conduct them before the throne." As we followed the prime minister into the large and magnificent throne room of Olba, more guards saluted and fell in behind us. A guard of honor, I thought.

I had never seen Torrogo Hadjez, and was curious for a look at his face, but restrained my impatience until Loralie plucked at my arm.

"Look!" she whispered. "Look who sits upon the throne!" I raised my eyes, and the features of my arch-enemy, Taliboz, leered down at me. For a moment I was stunned as I saw him sitting there, arrayed in the royal scarlet and wearing the insignia of the Torrogo of Olba. Then my hand flew to my sword hilt and I sprang forward. But before I could take a second step strong arms pinioned my own from behind and my weapons were wrested from me.

"I trust," Taliboz said, bowing to Loralie, "that you will excuse this poor reception, but as your coming was unexpected we were totally unprepared to greet you with the pomp and circumstance due visiting royalty." He turned to his minister. "See that suitable apartments are prepared for Her Highness of Tyrhana at once and conduct her there, Maribo. And Vinzeth," he said, addressing the mojak who had conducted us to the throne room, "you will also conduct Torrogi Zinlo to the suite that awaits his coming."

"You fiend!" said Loralie, facing him with flashing eyes. "What are you going to do with the prince!"

"Have no fear, Your Highness," responded Taliboz. "No harm shall come to him. Not now, anyway. Later, his fate shall rest in your fair hands."

I was dragged out a side door by two guards.

They took me down a small elevator which, it seemed to me, traveled into the very bowels of the planet before it stopped. Then I was jerked out of the car and pulled along a narrow, dimly lighted passageway that seemed to have been hewn from solid rock, until we came before a door of massive metal bars. One of the guards produced a key with which he unlocked this door, and I was flung inside with such force that I fell sprawling on a cold stone floor and the door clanged shut behind me. Scarcely had I fallen to the stone floor of the dungeon cell into which I had been hurled, when a shadowy form darted from its dim interior and was helping me to my feet.

"Are you hurt, Highness?" the man asked solicitously. I recognized the voice instantly, though the features were still indistinguishable to me, my eyes not having become accustomed to the semidarkness.

"Lotar!" I exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I was placed under arrest with all my officers and crew immediately after you left with the villainous Vinzeth. So far as I know, my men are confined in the cells around us."

"But what is the meaning of it all? Where is the Torrogo Hadjez, and how did Taliboz attain the scarlet and the imperial throne?"

"At the time of Your Highness's disappearance from the Black Tower, Taliboz and a number of his henchmen disappeared also," said Lotar. "A short time ago he returned alone, disguised as a merchant of Adonijar and driving one of the swift mechanical vehicles which are manufactured in that country. His disguise was penetrated by a soldier of the imperial guard, who placed him under arrest and took him before Torrogo Hadjez.

"His Majesty questioned Taliboz about your disappearance, and he told a story which was believed by some and discredited by others-namely, that there was a plot on foot among the guards of the Black Tower to assassinate you as you slept. He said that he, with Vinzeth and Maribo and his men, had fought, protecting you from death, until they were driven back, and you were dragged to the tower top and spirited away by the plotters in one of the tower airships.

"As quickly as he could, so his story went, he returned to his fighting craft and set out in pursuit of your abductors. They finally crashed, he said, in the wild country of the cave-apes beyond Adonijar, where you and your abductors were killed in the crash. All of his men were killed and eaten by cave-apes, and he barely escaped with his life to Adonijar, where he had purchased a merchant's outfit and vehicle with which to traverse the high road to Olba."

"I have met liars," I said, "on three planets, but Taliboz seems to be prince of them all. This, however, does not explain how the traitor attained the throne. I left him, paralyzed by a tork projectile, in a forest near the mountains of the cave-apes. That he escaped the perils of the jungle is little short of miraculous."

"No one could disprove the story told by Taliboz," Lotar pointed out, "as everyone in the Black Tower had been slain. Torrogo Hadjez could do nothing but thank him for attempting to save your life, reward him with costly presents, and restore to him all the honor and authority which had been his before his departure. That the Torrogo did not believe his story, however, was evidenced by the fact that his air navy continued to patrol the globe in search of Your Highness."

Someone rapped sharply on one of the massive bars of the cell door with the hilt of a weapon. It was one of the guards assigned to patrol the corridor.

"Less noise in there, prisoners," he growled, then passed on.

"I learned more while we were being held in one of the upper rooms after our arrest on the palace roof," continued Lotar softly. "As you are probably aware, every man who awaited us on the roof was a henchman of Taliboz. Your Imperial father, Highness, died at the hands of an assassin several days ago. The dagger found driven in his back was proved to be that of Arnifek, his prime minister. With Torrogo Hadjez dead and your highness presumably so, there was no successor to the throne and it was necessary for a new Torrogo to be elected by acclamation. Taliboz was thus elected. He immediately had Arnifek, the supposed assassin, executed, made Maribo his prime minister, and Vinzeth captain of the palace guards."

"Do you think Arnifek was guilty of the murder?"

"Of course not. Taliboz-or one of his tools-did it with Arnifek's dagger. It was part of his plan to get control of the Olban government. Why he has let you live even this long is a mystery to me."

"It is no mystery to me," I answered. "He dropped some hint of his purpose before he sent me from the throne room, for I heard him tell Princess Loralie that my fate should rest in her hands. He will attempt to force Loralie into marriage with him by threatening my life-and have me slain once the marriage is consummated."

"You are right, Highness," said Lotar. "Taliboz plays for even greater stakes-to unite the only air power and the mightiest maritime nation of Zarovia, Olba and Tyrhana, by marriage. Adonijar would probably form an alliance with him because her ruler is married to the princess's aunt. He would be the wealthiest and most influential monarch on the globe. Nor is there a single nation powerful enough to oppose such a strong alliance-not even Reabon, with her mighty army. Reabon is far across the ocean, and besides, her great warlike Torrogo died recently, leaving his daughter, Vernia, to rule in his stead."

"Reabon," I mused. "The name sounds familiar. Ah, I remember. That is the country to which Grandon went."

"Grandon?" he exclaimed, puzzled. "The name has a foreign sound."

"An old friend of mine. You would not know him. He is, as you say, a foreigner...Is this Taliboz so popular that the people would gladly make him Torrogo by acclamation?"

"Far from it, Highness," replied Lotar, "though he probably persuaded some of them to espouse his cause by convincing them that he had risked his life in an attempt to save yours."

"It looks," I said, "as if it were impossible to escape from here."

"I am familiar with these dungeons, Highness, as I served in the palace guard for two years. There is a way to escapea secret way which I doubt very much whether Taliboz himself knows. But we must first get past yonder barred door and the armed guard in the corridor."

"If that is all," I replied, "I see freedom in the offing. Follow my instructions implicitly, and we'll soon be out of this."

"You have but to command, Highness."

"Very well. When next the guard approaches on his rounds, talk very loudly. No doubt he will stop and order you to be silent. When he does this, insult him."

"But he will only come in and beat me with the flat of his scarbo, Highness."

"Do as I say, Lotar. I will attend to the rest."

It was not long before we heard the heavy footfalls of the guard in the corridor. I immediately started a conversation with my companion in a loud voice.

"Silence!" roared the guard. "The other prisoners want to sleep."

"Be on your way, you clumsy lout," replied Lotar, "and do not in the future forget how to address your superiors."

"My superiors! Ho, ho!" jeered the guard. "Very soon will I show you who is superior, a prisoner or his jailer."

He took a bunch of keys from his belt pouch and fumbled among them until he found the one that fitted our door.

"Now see what you have done, Lotar," I exclaimed, simulating great fear. "You have got us a beating with that noisy tongue of yours."

The guard flung open the door, a grin of delight on his features. Such a man would not only welcome any opportunity to torture a fellow creature, but would seek such an opportunity.

"So, 0 cub of a dead marmelot, you fear a beating," snarled the guard. "It is well that a weakling such as you can never mount the throne."

"Were he on the throne," Lotar snapped, "hahoes like you would be working in the quarries where they belong!"

The guard raised his scarbo for a heavy blow at the defenseless Lotar. This gave me the opening for which I had been waiting. With a single bound I was in front of him. Before he could recover from his surprise I planted a crashing right hook on the point of his jaw. He went down like a felled ninepin, nor was a second blow necessary.

I gave his tork and dagger to Lotar, but retained the scarbo myself. It took us but a few moments to bind and gag the prostrate guard with the straps of his own accouterments. We dragged him back into a corner, closed and locked the cell door, and tiptoed stealthily down the corridor, the young captain in the lead.

"Let us release your men," I said.

"Your Highness's life is too precious to risk for them. Still, if it is your Highness's command...

"It is."

Pausing before the first cell door, Lotar peered within.

"Here are six of them," he whispered, testing his keys in the lock. Looking over his shoulder, I saw six shadowy forms on the floor, and could hear their breathing as they slept.

When he had found the right key, Lotar opened the door quietly and stepped within. One by one he awakened the sleeping men, cautioning silence.

We went from cell to cell until we had released forty-five men-all but five of the crew of Lotar's aerial battleship. He was opening their cell door when we heard the clatter of footsteps, the clank of weapons and the sound of talking. Armed men were approaching by way of a transverse corridor.

"Quick, into this cell, every man of you," I ordered.

Silently our forty-five filed into the cell with the remaining five. When all were inside there was standing room only.

"Now, Lotar," I whispered, "let us go to greet our callers." He whipped out his dagger and followed me to the intersection of the two corridors, where we crouched, breathlessly awaiting the approach of the enemy.

CHAPTER XIV

As LOTAR and I crouched against the corridor wall in the dungeon beneath the Imperial Palace of Olba we could hear our unseen enemies drawing nearer and nearer in the transverse passage way. How many there were, or how well they were armed, we had no means of knowing. But we were desperate, and had there been an entire company of them we could have done nothing but fight like cornered rats. Two guards, fully armed, suddenly rounded the turn facing us. Out came the scarbo of the one nearest me, but before he could use it my point had found his throat. He went down with a queer gurgling sound. Lotar had, meanwhile, sprung on the other guard like an enraged marmelot, burying his dagger in his breast. Simultaneously, we withdrew our dripping weapons, thinking this was all, when suddenly a third guard rounded the corner.

This time we had no element of surprise in our favor, for he had seen us as quickly as we had him. He quickly clapped his hand to his tork, at the same time raising his voice to alarm the guards. "Help!

Two pris-"

He said no more, nor had he even an opportunity to press the tork button, for with lightning quickness that the eye could scarce follow, Lotar had hurled his bloody dagger straight at the enemy's face. It entered his opened mouth with such force that the point protruded from the back of his neck and the hilt clicked against his teeth. With a look of amazement and horror on his twisted features, he slumped to the floor.

"Get their weapons, Lotar," I ordered, and hurried to summon our men. With the weapons of the three guards we partly armed six of them, and once more hurried away under the guidance of Lotar. But we had not gone far when there was a great clamor and much shouting behind us, and we knew our escape had been detected. We bounded forward now, without any attempt at silence. A moment later Lotar called a halt before a huge, cylindrical pillar about three feet in diameter, which to all outward appearances was exactly like the many other pillars which supported the stone roof of the corridor. Whipping out his dagger, he pressed the point into a tiny crack in the floor in front of it, whereupon, much to my amazement, I saw that the pillar was turning quite rapidly, and as it turned, moved up into the rock above it like a gigantic screw. In a few seconds its base was above the floor, and beneath it there yawned a black well.

"Into it, every man of you, quickly," ordered Lotar.

The man nearest the wall paused gingerly on the edge.

"Leap," ordered the captain. "It is not far."

In he went, and we could see that the spot where he had landed was scarcely seven feet below the floor level. After him, as fast as they could find room, crowded the other men. But meanwhile, the sounds from behind us told us that our pursuers were dangerously near.

It seemed an age before the last man leaped into the hole, followed quickly by Lotar and me. Stooping down, the young mojak pressed a lever in the floor. The pillar started downward, the direction of its turning reversed, and soon we stood in total darkness. Judging from the sounds above, the thing had been accomplished just in time. The large party of guards above clattered on past without even stopping to investigate.

"They do not suspect," said Lotar, "which is well. It may be that we shall want to pass this way again. Come, I will lead the way."

As none of us had the means to make a light, we moved forward like blind men, following the voice of Lotar, who seemed to know the way by heart. "A steep slope ahead," he would sing out, or, "A sharp turn here. Look out for it." We followed him in the inky blackness.

The tunnel had apparently been hewn through the rock stratum that underlay this part of Olba. How it was ventilated I had no means of knowing, but though the air was cool and moist it seemed quite fresh. When we had traveled for more than an hour in this fashion, I asked Lotar how much farther we had to go.

"We are but a third of the way, Highness," he responded. "This tunnel leads to the Black Tower."

"And whom do you expect to find in the Black Tower?"

"Friends. It is hardly likely that Taliboz has manned it with his henchmen so soon, but even if he has, some of us are armed and we have the advantage of surprise on our side."

"Unless," I observed, "he discovers that we have come this way and sets a trap for us."

"It is not likely. The guards in the dungeon were completely baffled. By now I doubt not that the traitorous Taliboz is exceedingly mystified and furiously angry."

It was nearly ten Earth miles from the Imperial Palace to the Black Tower, so that, traveling blindly as we were, it took us more than three and a half hours to make the trip.

When we reached our destination, Lotar cautioned silence and groped about in the darkness for some time. Then I heard the click of a lever and the turning of a cylinder, and presently a circle of light appeared above our heads-most welcome after three and a half hours of intense darkness. Gripping the edge of the floor, Lotar drew himself up and peered cautiously about. Evidently satisfied that he was unobserved, he clambered on out of the hole, beckoning to us to follow. It was not long before we had our entire company lined up in a large room, the ceiling of which was supported by pillars similar to the one which had been raised to let us in. Lotar then pressed the hidden button that started the pillar rotating in the opposite direction, and watched it turn back into place, leaving no sign of the way by which we had come.

There were three windows in the room through which the first faint streaks of dawn were visible. There were also three doors. Lotar slowly and carefully opened one of these. But scarcely had he looked out ere a sharp challenge was hurled at him from the corridor.

"Move and you die! Who are you?"

"Lotar, Mojak in the Imperial Air Navy," replied the young officer.

"What do you here?"

"That," replied Lotar, "I will tell your mojak if you will fetch him. Who is in command here?"

"Pasuki commands," replied the guard.

"A good and loyal soldier. Take me before him."

He motioned with his hand for us to remain in the room. Then he stepped out, closing the door after him. Evidently the guard had not the slightest suspicion of our presence.

Not more than ten minutes elapsed ere the door opened once more and Lotar entered, followed by a tall, straight, white-bearded man who wore the uniform of Mojak of the Black Tower Guards, easily distinguished by the small replica of the tower worn on the helmet and the same device in relief on the breastplate.

The old soldier bowed low with right hand extended palm downward.

"Pasuki is yours to command as of old, Highness," he said, "and overjoyed that the report of Your Highness's death was false."

I did not, of course, remember Pasuki, but it was quite evident that he remembered the former Zinlo.

"You were ever a true and loyal soldier, Pasuki," I replied. "See that these men I have brought with me are fed, housed and armed."

After a brief order for the disposal of Lotar's men to a mojo who waited outside, Pasuki conducted us to the telekinetic elevator and by it to my apartments.

"I'll send for you men soon," I told them. "Meanwhile we must try to devise some plan of attack on this wily Taliboz, and find a way to rescue Her Highness of Tyrhana."

Pasuki and Lotar bowed low and withdrew.

After a bath and a change of clothing, I was served with the usual huge and variegated breakfast with which Zarovian royalty tempts its appetite, to the accompaniment of gold service and scarlet napery. But ere I had completed this meal, a page came to announce that a man who had just been admitted to the tower, craved immediate audience with me. "Who is he?" I asked.

"He gave the name of Vorvan to Pasuki, who questioned him and seemed satisfied of his loyalty," replied the page.

"Then show him in," I answered. The name Vorvan had a familiar ring, and I was trying to remember where I had heard it before when a man clad in the conventional blue garb of a tradesman entered. He appeared about fifty years of age, and his square-cut beard had an unnatural reddish tinge, as if it had been dyed. His eyebrows were similarly treated, and a bandage was drawn across one cheek and the bridge of the nose, as if he had been recently wounded. I could not remember ever having seen the man before, yet there was something about him that was strangely familiar.

He bowed low, right hand extended palm downward.

"I have a message for Your Highness's ears alone," he said, with a significant look at the three men who were serving my breakfast.

"Won't you have some breakfast?" I asked.

"With Your Highness's leave I will decline, as I have already breakfasted. There is much to be done, and time presses." Again he glanced impatiently at the servants.

With a wave of my hand, I dismissed them.

"The page told me you gave the name of Vorvan," I said when they were gone. "Both the name and yourself seem somehow vaguely familiar, yet I cannot remember having heard it, nor having seen you before."

"Then my disguise must be effective, Highness," he answered, with a smile which was also familiar. "I am Vorn Vangal."

The smile and the name instantly brought a flood of recollections. This was indeed Vorn Vangal, the man who had arranged with Dr. Morgan to bring me to Venus-Vorn Vangal, the great nobleman, scientist and psychologist of Olba-the man who had welcomed me to Venus with the identical smile he was now wearing.

But at that time he had been attired in the purple and the glittering bejeweled panoply of a great noble, and his beard and hair had been iron gray. A bit of dye, a bandage, and the clothing of a tradesman had wrought vast change in his appearance.

"I'll try to answer Your Highness's questions in due order," Vorn Vangal said. "I returned from Reabon one week after I left you in the Black Tower, expecting to find you here, safe and sound. You may imagine my astonishment when I learned that you and Taliboz had disappeared, that your guards had been slain, and that a number of dead henchmen of Taliboz had been found here.

"I immediately established telepathic communication with Dr. Morgan who was to keep in constant rapport with you, and from him I learned what had happened to you. Then I went to Torrogo Hadjez and persuaded him to patrol the area where it might be expected that you would be found. You were moving about so much that it was impossible for the airships to find you in any specific location I might name. Part of the time you didn't know where you were, hence your subjective mind could not inform Dr. Morgan, and through him, me.

"Of course I knew the report of Taliboz was a lie when he said you had been killed, but I did not dare to so inform Torrogo Hadjez. He would have demanded to know the source of my knowledge, which would have forced me to disclose the fact that his son was on your world and you were taking his place here.

"I decided to personally conduct a search for you in an aerial battleship, and Torrogo Hadjez provided me with one for the purpose, but we encountered a terrific storm before we had gone far, and the ship was forced to land, hopelessly crippled, near the Olba-Adonijar border. I immediately took a motor vehicle back to Olba, but was placed under arrest as soon as I entered the city gates, for Torrogo Hadjez had been assassinated and Taliboz was on the throne.

"He condemned me to die as a traitor, and confiscated my city palace as well as my lands, estates and treasure. With the aid of a few faithful friends, I managed to escape before his sentence could be carried out, disguised myself as a tradesman, and came here, having learned through Dr. Morgan that this was where you were to be found."

"And now," I asked, "have you any plans for rescuing the Princess Loralie and disposing of Taliboz?"

"The only method I can think of will be a bloody revolution. Most of the men who garrison the palace and the city are men of the usurper. The men who previously filled these ranks have been sent to work on and guard the private estates of Taliboz, far to the north of Olba. If we were to proclaim your return, Taliboz would immediately denounce you as an impostor, a price would be placed on your head, and you would be hunted by every military man under his command.

"The best way, I believe, will be for you to remain here until I can arouse the patriotic citizens of Olba, secretly telling them of your presence here. You can then come to Olba in disguise, and we can make a concerted effort to capture the palace and do away with the traitor who sits on the throne."

"But that will take considerable time," I said, "and in the meantime, what of Loralie?" This question went unanswered, for at this moment one of my guards entered with the statement that Pasuki and Lotar craved immediate audience as they had a communication of the utmost importance.

"Admit them," I said.

Both saluted hurriedly as they came in, and seemed greatly agitated. "Your Highness's presence here has been discovered," said Lotar. "We must get you away at once."

"I am sorry to inform you that there must have been a traitor among my men," said Pasuki, "planted there, no doubt, by Taliboz to spy on my doings. One of my faithful servants, however, was watching Taliboz, and has dispatched a messenger to me with the information that the usurper has mobilized an army of five thousand men who are already marching on the Black Tower."

CHAPTER XV

As I SAT facing the three men, Pasuki, Lotar, and Vorn Vangal, all faithful to me, but with no plans for meeting the emergency created by the advance of the army which was ten times the strength of the garrison of the Black Tower, an idea came to me.

"Will Taliboz accompany the army, Pasuki?" I asked.

"It is probable, Highness, but I cannot be certain."

"How many men in your garrison?"

"Four hundred and fifty, not counting Lotar's fifty. We could not hold the tower long against the attack of five thousand. It is best that we disband the garrison and make our escape in the flyers on the roof of the tower. There are two there, each of which will carry two men."

"But what of the princess? If you men and your followers are willing to fight both for her and for me, I have a plan-a precarious one, but possible of execution-for saving her and dethroning Taliboz." They pledged their loyalty.

"Very well," I said. "Prepare, then, all of you, to obey my orders without question. They may seem strange to you, but if they do, remember that they are designed to outwit Taliboz. You, Pasuki, will prepare for the defense of the Black Tower at once with all your mattorks and men. You, Lotar, will keep your men armed and ready for my call, but out of sight. See that every one of them is provided with a portable light, and that there are several extra lights. Vorn Vangal will remain at my side for the present."

The two men hurried away to carry out my commands, and I leisurely finished my breakfast, while Vorn Vangal kept anxious watch out the window.

"They draw near, Highness," he said excitedly, "and Taliboz is with them, for I see the personal standard of the Torrogo in their midst."

"Good." I went to the window. Taliboz was bringing up a mighty host indeed, compared to our small garrison. When they were within a thousand yards of the walls that surrounded the tower, they deployed to the right and left. A man bearing a banner on which was written in large letters the Zarovian word

"dua"-which, under the circumstances meant, "a truce"-left the ranks and marched toward the main gate of the tower wall.

"A herald," said Vorn Vangal. "Taliboz would treat with us."

"Let us go to the top of the tower."

We quickly took a telekinetic elevator.

"We are completely surrounded now," said Vorn Vangal. "There will be no escape. Even if we were to try to get away in the airships we should immediately be shot down by their mattork crews."

"We are not yet ready to attempt an escape."

The herald stopped near the gates and shouted a command to Pasuki to deliver to His Imperial Majesty, Taliboz of Olba, "the usurper who calls himself Zinlo of Olba." He offered a free pardon to Pasuki and his men.

"You will return to His Majesty," replied Pasuki, "our regrets that we are unable to comply with his order, as we have no usurper in the Black Tower."

"Who is that man in scarlet I see standing on the roof of the topmost segment?" demanded the herald. "If that be not Zinlo of Olba..." He checked himself, then continued, "If that be not the usurper who calls himself Zinlo of Olba, who is he?"

"He is Zinlo of Olba. Tell that to your traitorous master, and bid him come and bend the knee to the man whose throne he has stolen." Turning contemptuously, Pasuki walked away from the parapet.

"Pasuki has played his part well," I informed Vorn Vangal. "Now, remove your disguise; if possible get rid of that villainous-looking hair dye; array your self in the purple that suits your true station, and then report to me in my apartments."

"I will carry out Your Highness's commands at once," replied Vorn Vangal, and hurried to the elevator. I watched the herald as he picked his way through the encircling army to a point some distance behind it where a man stood, garbed in the royal scarlet, surrounded by officers and courtiers. I knew that he must be Taliboz.

Scarcely had the herald bowed before him ere he sent a number of officers scurrying toward the front lines. A mattork spoke. The shell went screaming past the tower only a few feet from my head. A second shell exploded near me, tearing away part of the battlement.

As our mattorks replied, a general bombardment started, and the soldiers of the encircling army took advantage of natural cover when it was to be had, or threw themselves flat and dug in. I judged that they planned to bombard the tower before attempting to storm it.

Shells were rattling like hail against the upper battlements when 'I took the elevator and descended to my apartments. Here I found Vorn Vangal, once more the great Olban noble I had first seen. Together we entered the elevator once more and descended to the fifth underground level, where Lotar's men were mobilized. The young mojak saluted and then stood awaiting my orders. Even at this depth the thunderous sounds of the battle came faintly from above, and I could see that both men and commander longed, even as did I, to be in the thick of it. But I had other work for all, which might prove as exciting and far more dangerous.

"Have you the lights, Lotar?" I asked.

"Every man has been provided with a light, and there are several to spare, Highness."

"Then give one each to Vorn Vangal and me, and we will start for the palace at once, the way we came. Hurry!"

Lotar quickly handed us a light each, and then led us to the pillar from beneath which we had entered the Black Tower. I led the way into the pit beneath it as soon as it was raised, closely followed by Vorn Vangal, and leaving Lotar to close the entrance and bring up the rear.

Traveling with lights, it was easy to maintain a pace much faster than our previous one when we had walked in total darkness.

"How many guards do you think there will be in the palace?" I asked Vorn Vangal as he jogged along beside me.

"Normally there are a thousand constantly on duty in the palace and grounds. However, it may be that Taliboz has taken some of these with him in order to fill the ranks of his hastily organized army. If this is the case, he may have left two or three hundred, perhaps five hundred men."

"Whether there be two hundred or a thousand, we must take the palace," I said. "In either case we will be tremendously outnumbered, but we have the advantage of surprise in our favor." When we reached the palace, I called a halt to give the men a rest, and passed back word for Lotar to come up.

As soon as he joined us, I told him my plans for taking the palace. Then I pulled the lever which operated the pillar above us, and we all snapped off our lights.

When the pillar was high enough I drew myself up and peered over the edge of the floor through the dim light of the dungeon. Only one guard was in sight, and he was walking away from me. Silently I threw a knee over the edge, stood erect, and signed for the others to follow me. When every man was out, Lotar pressed the hidden button which closed the wall.

At the suggestion of Vorn Vangal, our torks were loaded with the projectiles which paralyze for several hours but do not kill unless they happen to strike a vital spot. By using these bullets we could render our opponents helpless without actually killing them, and would not be bothered with guarding prisoners. As Vorn Vangal had surmised, Taliboz 'had taken a number of the palace guards with him when he started for the Black Tower. We found only one man patrolling the corridors of the level we were on, and he was quickly put out of the way. On the next level we found two guards, and on each of the three dungeon levels above it, two. Although they were not taken completely by surprise, having heard our shots, they were easily overcome.

On the ground level, Lotar took twenty men and started out in one direction while his lieutenant took another twenty and went in the opposite direction. With the ten remaining men, Vorn Vangal and I took an elevator to the roof.

Here we found only a dozen men on guard, and quickly shot down all but one, who surrendered in terror, for he did not know that we were not using the deadly bullets in our torks. There were six aerial battleships on the roof but crews in none of them. I also noticed several small, one-man airships. One of these suddenly rose and started for the Black Tower, but Vorn Vangal leaped to a mattork and shot it down. It crashed in one of the busiest streets of Olba, drawing a great crowd and halting traffic. Quickly searching the other airships, we found them untenanted.

By questioning the man we had captured, we found that

Vinzeth, Mojak of the Palace Guards, had ordered most of his men to the dungeon, and had gone there himself to direct the fighting.

"Now, Vorn Vangal," I said when we were in control of the roof, "do you think that by spreading the knowledge of my return in Olba you can get us a few more fighting men?"

"I can raise a vast army, and that quickly. They may not all be trained soldiers, but every male Olban knows how to use a tork and scarbo."

"Then you will remain here in charge of the roof, retaining five men at all times to defend the stairway. The other five you may use as messengers to summon your friends. As all these men are from an aerial battleship, I assume that they know how to handle the small airships."

"They do," replied Vangal.

I then sent for the prisoner. When he was brought before me I asked him where the Princess of Tyrhana was imprisoned.

"I do not know, Your Highness," he replied.

"Have a care how you lie to me," I warned him.

"I swear it, Highness. I have no idea of her whereabouts."

"Cling to your falsehood, knave! We shall see if it will sustain you in mid-air. Pitch him over the battlements, men."

The two warriors who had brought him immediately began dragging him toward the battlements. He struggled unsuccessfully to break away from them, feet threshing, eyes rolling in terror.

"Wait!" he shrieked. "I know! I will tell!"

"Bring him back," I ordered. "He shall have another chance." Once more they brought him before me, this time trembling with terror and thoroughly cowed.

"Speak," I said. "And tell the truth this time."

"Her Highness has apartments on the floor just beneath us," he said quaveringly. "The last floor at which the elevators stop."

'And how is she guarded?"

"Two men guard her door, and she has two female attendants."

I did not wait to hear more but dashed down the stairway. After traversing several corridors, I saw two guards standing before a door draped with scarlet, and knew I had the right place. One of the guards saw me as soon as I saw him, and our torks spoke in unison. His bullet struck my sword hilt, but mine stretched him, unconscious, on the floor. The other guard wheeled just in time to receive my second bullet and share the fate of his companion.

Rushing up to the doorway, I ripped aside the scarlet drape and tried to open the door, but it was locked. I quickly searched both fallen guards but could find no keys in the belt pouches of either. Arising, I rapped loudly and called the name of Loralie.

A woman's voice answered me from within. It was the voice of my princess. "Who is there?"

"It is I, Zinlo," I replied. "Open the door, quickly."

"Zinlo, beloved!" she answered. "I had almost lost hope of your coming. But I cannot open the door. It was locked from the outside, and we have no keys in here."

"Then I'll break it down," I answered. "Stand away from it." Backing across the corridor, I ran at the door, hurling my body against it, but it was sturdily fashioned from thick planks of tough serah wood, and my sole reward for my onslaught against it was a bruised shoulder.

Again and again I hurled myself against it with the same result.

Then I whipped out my scarbo, resolved to hew my way through it, when I suddenly heard the sound of men running behind me. Wheeling, I beheld the brutal, leering features of Vinzeth. Behind him came a dozen palace guardsmen. I reached for my tork, but before my hand touched it, his spoke. There was a soaring pain in my already bruised shoulder, a dizzy nausea swept over me, and all went black before my eyes.

When I regained consciousness after being shot down by Vinzeth, I had a furious headache, a terrific pain in my shoulder, and a tremendous thirst. I was lying on a mattress on the roof, with Vorn Vangal bending over me, holding a phial of some pungent liquid beneath my nostrils. Lotar was standing near by.

"Where is Loralie?" asked. "Have you rescued her?"

"Here, drink this," said Vorn Vangal, removing the phial from beneath my nostrils and holding a steaming bowl to my lips. "Then I will tell you." I recognized the fragrant aromatic smell of kova, and drank deeply. The hot, stimulating beverage sent the blood coursing warmly through my veins. When I had drunk, Vorn Vangal said, "Lotar and his men not only conquered the guards stationed on every floor they came to, but defeated the fifty guards which Vinzeth took down from the roof to oppose them, driving them upward from floor to floor until only a dozen remained with their mojak. Evidently intending to get the princess and escape in one of the airships, Vinzeth retreated with his twelve men while Lotar was conquering the guards posted on the floor that is second from the top. This took only a short time, but when Lotar reached the top floor he saw Vinzeth standing over you with a scarbo, ready to give you the death blow.

"He instantly opened fire, whereupon Vinzeth transferred his attention from you to the only avenue of escape left to him-the door to the apartments of the princess. With a key from his belt pouch he succeeded in opening it and getting inside with two of his men. The others were shot down by Lotar and his warriors.

"Finding you were not dead, but only temporarily paralyzed, Lotar had you brought up to the roof by two of his men, and with the others who were with him, demanded that Vinzeth surrender and give up the princess. But Vinzeth refused to surrender, and swore that if the door were broken down the princess should be instantly slain."

"How long ago was this?"

"It occurred about three hours ago. The effect of the narcotic in the tork bullets lasts about that long."

"And she is still in there with him?" I asked, sitting up.

"What could we do, Highness? We have surrounded the room, but if we break in she will undoubtedly be slain. Vinzeth is a desperate character."

"You are right. We must find some way to outwit this Vinzeth."

"We have not been unsuccessful in other ways," said Vorn Vangal. "Already I have raised a citizen army of twenty thousand men, and more volunteers pour into our ranks constantly. The city is in the hands of the loyal commanders I have appointed, and a thousand men who are trustworthy guard the palace from roof to dungeons."

"What about Pasuki in the Black Tower? I had intended to have you send him reenforcements by way of the tunnel as soon as you could get them, but forgot it."

"In this I acted without Your Highness's command, guessing your intentions," said Vorn Vangal. "Five thousand men have already traveled to the relief of Pasuki through the tunnel. When all get there, his men will outnumber those of Taliboz. And they will have a decided advantage any time he decides to storm the tower. The twenty thousand citizen troops are mobilized near the south gate, awaiting your orders." Just as he finished speaking a small, one-man flyer alighted on the roof. The man who stepped out looked around him for a moment, then espying our group, ran toward us.

"I have just come from Tureno," he announced. "A mighty battle fleet is in the harbor-the fleet of Tyrhana. And in the flagship rides Ad, Torrogo of Tyrhana, who demands that his daughter be delivered to him safe and sound, or he will immediately reduce Tureno and march on Olba. With him, also, are two ships, in one of which is Prince Gadrimel of Adonijar. He threatens an immediate declaration of war by his nation if his cousin, the Princess of Tyrhana, be not immediately returned unharmed to her imperial sire."

"Never mind Prince Gadrimel," I told the messenger, "but fly at once to the flagship of Torrogo Ad. Tell him that his daughter has been kidnapped by one of the mojaks of Taliboz, and we are trying to rescue her. Tell him further that if he cares to, he is welcome to land his army in Tureno, and that such citizens of Tureno as are available and can bear arms will march with him and assist him if he is bent on attacking the army of the man who abducted his daughter and usurped the throne of Olba." The messenger made obeisance and departed.

I turned to Vorn Vangal. "Send another messenger at once to the King of Tureno. Tell him it is my command that he permit the soldiers of Tyrhana to land, and that he send as many men with them as he can gather to fight Taliboz. You will then go yourself and take command of the citizen army that waits at the south gate of the city, starting immediately for the Black Tower and surrounding the army of Taliboz, if possible."

Vorn Vangal hurried away to carry out my orders, and I swung on Lotar. "By looking over the battlements, can you point out the windows of the room in which Her Highness is confined?"

"Yes, Highness."

"First send for a long, strong rope," I commanded. "Then show me the windows-and be sure you make no mistake."

He sent a man scurrying for a rope and then went to the parapet and leaned over. I leaned over with him and he pointed downward.

"That window," he said, indicating one almost directly beneath us, "opens on the reception room of her apartment. The one to the left opens on her bedroom, the right on her bath." At the sound of footsteps behind us we turned. Two soldiers bearing a large coil of stout rope saluted.

"Put down the rope," I ordered. "Now you, Lotar, go down in front of the door of the princess's apartment. Make a great noise,' demand the release of the prisoner, and engage Vinzeth in an argument if you can. Don't do anything until you hear a commotion inside, or until I call you. Then break down the door."

With a quiet smile, which showed his full comprehension of my plan, Lotar hurried down the stairway. Making a tight loop in the end of the rope, I brought it over the parapet at a position directly above the window which opened on Loralie's bedroom. Then, telling the two soldiers to let me down until I held out one hand for them to stop, I swung over the battlement, and with one foot in the loop and both hands gripping the rope, was swiftly and silently lowered. As soon as I was opposite the window, I signaled the men to cease lowering me. Because of the projection of the battlements, I hung about three feet from the window ledge. Below me was a sheer drop of about a hundred feet to the balcony roof of the next segment.

Gripping the rope with both hands, I worked it as a child works a swing until it began to move back and forth, first toward, then away from the window ledge. Nearer and nearer it swung until I was finally able to hook a foot over the ledge and draw myself inside. Cautiously dropping to the floor, I found the room deserted and the door closed. From beyond the door came men's voices raised in altercation. Scarbo in hand, I tiptoed to the door and gently opened it a little way. Standing near the large central window, but looking toward the entrance to the corridor, were Loralie and her two handmaidens. Just in front of them, and also facing the door, were Vinzeth and his two men.

I had no idea whether the two maids with Loralie were friendly to my cause or to that of Taliboz, but I took a chance, and, reaching out, touched the arm of the one nearest me, then held my finger to my lips for silence. She started and gave a little cry of fear which caused me to snatch at my tork, but it went unnoticed by the three men because of the clamor in the corridor.

Motioning the girl into the bedroom, I touched her companion in a like manner, and also succeeded in getting her out of the way without noise. I then touched Loralie lightly on the shoulder. She swung on me, a furious look in her eyes, but it was instantly replaced by one of infinite tenderness when she recognized me. She went with me quickly enough into the bedroom, but when I started out again she threw her arms around my neck to detain me.

"Don't go, please," she whispered. "They will kill you. Close the door and stay in here." I smiled, kissed her, and pushed her away.

"Lock the door after me," I said in a whisper. "In case I lose the fight, Lotar will break in from the corridor before Vinzeth can harm you."

Then I stepped out and softly closed the door after me. At this instant one of the men, turned, facing me. For a moment he stared incredulously; then he reached for his tork. But mine was already leveled at him, and I fired.

At the sound of the shot, Vinzeth and the other ruffian swung about. I shot the latter, but the mojak of Taliboz was too quick for me. Without pausing to draw a weapon, he sprang in so close that I was unable to use mine, and we went down in a heap, kicking, clawing, striking and gouging each other like a pair of wild animals.

The corridor door, meanwhile, was splintering from thunderous blows on its exterior. Although the thick serali planking was exceedingly tough, it was evident that it could not much longer withstand the terrific assault. Lotar had evidently found something that made an efficient battering ram. All this came to me subconsciously as I fought, for I was too busy with my powerful and wily antagonist to think of anything else. Back and forth we struggled, rolling over and over, crashing against furniture and pulling down hangings, each man kept so occupied by the other that he was unable to use a weapon. Presently I managed to get a short arm jolt to Vinzeth's jaw, which partly dazed him, and was about to repeat the process when he suddenly caught me in the solar plexus with his knee. With the wind completely knocked out of me, I sank, gasping, to the floor.

He uttered a yell of triumph, and whipping out his scarbo, swung it aloft with the evident intention of splitting my skull.

But ere he could bring it down, there was a final, rending crash from the corridor doorway, followed by the cracking of a tork. With a look of horrified unbelief on his features, Vinzeth dropped his scarbo and pitched forward on his face, his body lying across me.

Lotar quickly dragged him off me, and flung him into the corner as if he had been a sack of grain. I sat up but was unable to talk.

When I regained my speech I called to Loralie, telling her that it was now safe to open the door. Recognizing my voice, she came out and knelt beside me, pulling my head down on her breast and asking me where I was wounded.

But I reassured her, and a moment later, having managed to regain my breath, I stood up. "Man one of the aerial battleships at once, Lotar," I said. "We're going to pay our respects to Taliboz." While we waited for Lotar to get the ship ready for flight, Loralie and I stood on the palace roof, looking toward the Black Tower.

Lotar sent us each a glass, and with the aid of these, we could watch what was transpiring. The citizens' army which had started out from Olba was now less than two miles from the tower and spread out in an immense crescent. Marching from Tureno, and almost as close to the besieged tower, was an army almost as large as that of Olba, deployed in the same manner. On account of his low position and the rolling formation of the ground, Taliboz had not yet seen his approaching enemies. His men, who had evidently been previously repulsed, judging from the bodies that lay before the wall, were forming for a new assault on the Black Tower.

We were watching the horns of the two crescents draw together when Lotar called to me, "The ship is ready, Highness."

CHAPTER XVI

LORALIE AND I boarded the aerial battleship. It was the same one that had rescued us from the killer norgal and brought us to Olba, manned in part by the same crew, and commanded by Lotar. By my command he piloted the ship to a point directly above the Black Tower, and hovered there. The armies from the north and south had, by this time, completed their encircling movement and were rapidly closing in on the unsuspecting army of Taliboz.

Zinlo of 0lba, to Taliboz: You are surrounded by an army of forty thousand warriors. As the Black Tower is garrisoned with five thousand men, you cannot hope to take it. You have your choice of unconditional surrender or annihilation. If you surrender, lay down your arms and raise the "dua" pennon. If not, you alone are responsible for what will follow.

ZINLO

Rolling it up and weighting it with an empty tork clip, I hurled it down at the spot where the Imperial Standard of Olba fluttered in the wind.

With the aid of my glass I watched its flight downward, and saw it fall near one of the officers, who carried it to his commander.

Unrolling it, Taliboz read it, then passed it to the man nearest him. Upon careful scrutiny with the glass, I saw the man was Maribo, his prime minister. After the latter had read it, the two engaged in a lengthy argument in which several of the others joined.

I judged from their attitudes that the other officers sided with Maribo, and that Taliboz stood alone in whatever decision he had made. While the argument was going on, the first skirmish line of the encircling army opened fire.

Suddenly wheeling and walking away from Maribo and the others, I saw Taliboz shout something to a mattork crew and point toward our ship. A moment later a shell screamed past me. This was his answer. A gunner in our forward turret promptly replied, wiping out the crew of the mattork from which the shot had been fired.

But Maribo and the other officers apparently did not approve of the way Taliboz had replied to our missive. With positive defeat staring them in the face, they appeared to be united in favor of immediate surrender. At least they did not interfere with Maribo when he ran up behind Taliboz just as the traitor was ordering another gun crew to fire on us, and deliberately stabbed him in the back. Scarcely had the stricken traitor sunk to the ground ere Maribo gave an order to the standard bearer. Instantly the banner of Taliboz was lowered and the pennon of peace raised, while the shout of "dua" went around the lines. The fighting ceased almost instantly, and with their weapons on the ground and their hands clasped behind their heads in token of submission, the warriors who had set out so confidently that morning to reduce the Black Tower, were taken prisoners.

"Now that they have surrendered," said Loralie anxiously, "can't we go and see my poor father?"

"We'll get him and take him to the palace at once. I want him to be my guest as long as he cares to stay."

"And I want you to ask him something just as soon as you get a chance," she said with a meaning smile.

"Remember Cousin Gadrimel is with him. He is very fond of my cousin." We flew southward to where the standards of the Torrogo of Tyrhana, the Torrogi of Adonijar, and my Rogo of Tureno fluttered in the breeze, then descended.

As Loralie and I got down from the ship, three men came to meet us. All wore the scarlet of royalty. The foremost I recognized instantly by his mincing gait as Prince Gadrimel. The other two I did not know except by their insignia.

Loralie flung herself into the arms of the taller of the two, a straight, athletic-appearing monarch with snapping brown eyes and a square cut, jet black beard. I judged him to be about forty years of age.

"Father!" she cried joyously.

He kissed her hungrily, then held her away from him, looking her over from head to foot. "My little girl. I can scarcely believe it is you, alive and well. Rather had I lost my empire and my life than that harm had come to you."

"This is Zinlo of Olba, Father," she said, indicating me. "Prince Zinlo, my father, Torrogo Ad of Tyrhana."

"You have placed me deeply in your debt by bringing my daughter to be unharmed," said Ad.

"Had there been a debt, Your Majesty," I replied, "it would have been canceled long ago by the pleasure of Her Highness's company."

Gadrimel came up and bowed formally, muttering something about being grateful to me for having rescued his dear cousin and fiancee. The other in scarlet was the Rogo of Tureno. I asked that he arrange for the entertainment of all soldiers and sailors of Adonijar and Tyrhana, in his city, at the expense of the Imperial Government of Olba.

Ad and Gadrimel then got aboard with us. We flew to the Black Tower, where we took Pasuki on board, and to the headquarters of the citizens' army, where we picked up Vorn Vangal. Then we flew to the palace.

When quarters had been assigned to our guests, Vorn Vangal enthusiastically undertook the task of supervising preparations for a great feast to be held that evening. I met my guests in the imperial reception room, where I ordered kova served.

Gadrimel was so attentive to Loralie that I scarcely had an opportunity to speak to her. So I called her father out on the balcony, told him I loved Princess Loralie, and asked him for her hand in marriage. Ad looked astonished. "Beard of my grandfather!" he thundered. "What's this you say? Her hand in marriage? Is it possible that you are not aware that she is to marry her cousin Gadrimel?"

"I knew that she was betrothed to Gadrimel against her will," I replied, "but that does not stop us from loving each other."

"From loving each other! Loralie-come here, child." He added, "Excuse us a moment, Gadrimel." Loralie came out through the window, visibly a little frightened at his tone.

"I hope," he said gravely, when she stood before him, "that you will deny, once and for all, that you love His Highness of Olba. You know my wishes with regard to Gadrimel!"

For a moment she hung her head, but for a moment only. Then she raised it proudly, and with tears brimming in her glorious eyes answered, "Father, I love him, and have told him so." On the dark brows of Ad a storm of anger was gathering.

"By the blood and bones of Thorth!" he roared. "Do you thus defy me-me, your father? You ingrate! I swear by my head and beard that I'll wed you to Gadrimel at once and take you to Adonijar."

"Father, please!" Great tears were streaming down her cheeks now.

"Your Highness," Ad said to me shortly, "you will confer a favor on me by leaving us." I bowed and departed, striving to conceal my bitter disappointment as I entered the room where we had left Gadrimel. The prince had a most unwonted grin on his effeminate face, and I had no doubt but that he had been listening a moment before at the window.

He instantly began a lisping chatter about our many adventures together, and his own heroic exploits after we had parted company in the fern-forest.

At intervals when he stopped talking long enough to sip his kova I could hear the sobbing of Loralie on the balcony and the rumbling voice of her father. Suddenly Ad appeared to lose his temper again, for he roared, "He did, did he? Why, of all the..."

He strode to the window, his face a thundercloud of wrath. Loralie hurried after him. I leaped to my feet, expecting physical violence.

But he did not even look at me. Instead, he walked to where Gadrimel was sitting and, seizing him by the scruff of the neck, jerked him erect.

"You insolent cub!" he roared, shaking the prince until his teeth rattled and his eyes nearly popped from his head. "You mincing, lisping, addle-headed popinjay! So you would abduct my daughter and force her to marry you! Lucky it is for you that I am constrained to remember you are the son of my sister. Were it not for that I should wring your neck and hurl you from the battlements."

"I-ah, ah, you're choking me," gasped the prince.

"Did you think I was fondling you, you wretch?" thundered the Emperor of Tyrhana, and shot the princeling through the window by applying his toe to the youth's center of gravity. Nor did he return, but slunk away through another room.

A look of serenity gradually settled over Ad's clouded brow. "Your Highness, like all men, I sometimes change my mind."

"It is a mark of greatness," I replied, bowing.

"Tonight at dinner, my children, I will announce your betrothal." Before either of us could reply a guard entered and announced that Vorn Vangal, Pasuki and Lotar craved immediate audience.

"If Your Highness can spare a moment to the people," said Vangal, "please be so good as to show yourself on the balcony."

"What is up?" I asked.

"A little technicality to be cleared up," he answered. "Taliboz was only wounded and not killed as we thought. He has escaped. Under the law he is still Torrogo of Olba because he has been legally so acclaimed, thus taking precedence over your otherwise perfectly legal succession to the throne. Knowing all the circumstances the people of Olba now wish to acclaim you Emperor, so there will be no complications hereafter."

I walked to the balcony. The palace grounds were thronged with a close-packed, surging populace. The streets were jammed with people, and every window ledge, balcony, housetop and wall in sight was packed.

As soon as I appeared above the battlements a hundred thousand scarbos flashed aloft in the hands of the men, and a hundred thousand white scarves were waved above the mighty sea of humanity by the women and girls. A great cheer rose, swelling in volume until it seemed that it must shake the very palace.

"Hail Zinlo, Torrogo of Olba!"

I bowed in acknowledgment of this tremendous ovation, whereupon every voice was suddenly stilled.

"I thank you, my people," I shouted down to them. "I will ever strive faithfully to fulfill the trust you have placed in me."

Once more the scarves and scarbos flashed aloft. Once more a thunderous cheer rolled up. Bowing, I returned to the room and the congratulations of my friends.

With the deepest satisfaction I appointed Vorn Vangal prime minister, and gave the command of army and aerial forces to Pasuki and Lotar. My three loyal friends made obeisance and departed, leaving Loralie, Ad and myself alone.

"Sine you have made so free with your favors, Your Majesty," smiled Loralie, "what have you left for me? Am I not also to be honored?"

"Why, yes," I answered, as, unmindful of her father's presence, her arms went around my neck. "As soon as you grant me leave, I'll make you Torroga, Empress of Olba."

"It's the highest honor an empire can bestow," laughed Ad, "for be he in palace or hovel a man is ever subject to the sweet will of his wife."

"Agreed," I replied. "And now, little wife to be, what is your pleasure?"

"If you were not so busy talking nonsense to Father," she pouted, "you would see that I have been waiting for you to kiss me."

THUS ENDS the tale of Borgen Takkor's adventures on Venus, up to the time that he was securely established as Zinlo, Torrogo of Olba. However, lest the perceptive reader remind me that this security was precarious at the very least-since Borgen Takkor had merely exchanged personalities with Zinlo of Venus, who was meanwhile on Earth in the body of the man known as Harry Thorne-let me assure him that I have not forgotten this fact.

Robert Grandon was in exactly the same position, in Reabon, at the close of his story, which is told in

"The Planet of Peril." Those who have read that story know that the resolution of Grandon's difficulty in this regard also solved Borgen Takkor's problem. So I will only mention here that neither Grandon nor Takkor had to worry about being taken from their wives and thrones and returned to their Earth bodies; but how this came about you will have to read the novel mentioned above to discover. The Author.

THE END