THE night was still young when there came one to the entrance ofthe banquet hall where O-Tar of Manator dined with his chiefs,and brushing past the guards entered the great room with theinsolence of a privileged character, as in truth he was. As heapproached the head of the long board O-Tar took notice of him.

"Well, hoary one!" he cried. "What brings you out of your belovedand stinking burrow again this day. We thought that the sight ofthe multitude of living men at the games would drive you back toyour corpses as quickly as you could go."

The cackling laugh of I-Gos acknowledged the royal sally. "Ey,ey, O-Tar," squeaked the ancient one, "I-Gos goes out not uponpleasure bound; but when one does ruthlessly desecrate the deadof I-Gos, vengeance must be had!"

"You refer to the act of the slave Turan?" demanded O-Tar.

"Turan, yes, and the slave Tara, who slipped beneath my hide amurderous blade. Another fraction of an inch, O-Tar, and I-Gos'ancient and wrinkled covering were even now in some apprenticetanner's hands, ey, ey!"

"But they have again eluded us," cried O-Tar. "Even in the palaceof the great jeddak twice have they escaped the stupid knaves Icall The Jeddak's Guard." O-Tar had risen and was angrilyemphasizing his words with heavy blows upon the table, dealt witha golden goblet.

"Ey, O-Tar, they elude thy guard but not the wise old calot,I-Gos."

"What mean you? Speak!" commanded O-Tar.

"I know where they are hid," said the ancient taxidermist. "Inthe dust of unused corridors their feet have betrayed them."

"You followed them? You have seen them?" demanded the jeddak.

"I followed them and I heard them speaking beyond a closed door,"replied I-Gos; "but I did not see them."

"Where is that door?" cried O-Tar. "We will send at once andfetch them," he looked about the table as though to decide towhom he would entrust this duty. A dozen warrior chiefs arose andlaid their hands upon their swords.

"To the chambers of O-Mai the Cruel I traced them," squeakedI-Gos. "There you will find them where the moaning Corphalspursue the shrieking ghost of O-Mai; ey!" and he turned his eyesfrom O-Tar toward the warriors who had arisen, only to discoverthat, to a man, they were hurriedly resuming their seats.

The cackling laughter of I-Gos broke derisively the hush that hadfallen on the room. The warriors looked sheepishly at the foodupon their plates of gold. O-Tar snapped his fingers impatiently.

"Be there only cravens among the chiefs of Manator?" he cried."Repeatedly have these presumptuous slaves flouted the majesty ofyour jeddak. Must I command one to go and fetch them?"

Slowly a chief arose and two others followed his example, thoughwith ill-concealed reluctance. "All, then, are not cowards,"commented O-Tar. "The duty is distasteful. Therefore all three ofyou shall go, taking as many warriors as you wish."

"But do not ask for volunteers," interrupted I-Gos, "or you willgo alone."

The three chiefs turned and left the banquet hall, walking slowlylike doomed men to their fate.

Gahan and Tara remained in the chamber to which Tasor had ledthem, the man brushing away the dust from a deep and comfortablebench where they might rest in comparative comfort. He had foundthe ancient sleeping silks and furs too far gone to be of anyservice, crumbling to powder at a touch, thus removing any chanceof making a comfortable bed for the girl, and so the two sattogether, talking in low tones, of the adventures through whichthey already had passed and speculating upon the future; planningmeans of escape and hoping Tasor would not be long gone. Theyspoke of many things--of Hastor, and Helium, and Ptarth, andfinally the conversation reminded Tara of Gathol.

"You have served there?" she asked.

"Yes," replied Turan.

"I met Gahan the Jed of Gathol at my father's palace," she said,"the very day before the storm snatched me from Helium--he was apresumptuous fellow, magnificently trapped in platinum anddiamonds. Never in my life saw I so gorgeous a harness as his,and you must well know, Turan, that the splendor of all Barsoompasses through the court at Helium; but in my mind I could notsee so resplendent a creature drawing that jeweled sword inmortal combat. I fear me that the Jed of Gathol, though a prettypicture of a man, is little else."

In the dim light Tara did not perceive the wry expression uponthe half-averted face of her companion.

"You thought little then of the Jed of Gathol?" he asked.

"Then or now," she replied, and with a little laugh; "how itwould pique his vanity to know, if he might, that a poor panthanhad won a higher place in the regard of Tara of Helium," and shelaid her fingers gently upon his knee.

He seized the fingers in his and carried them to his lips. "O,Tara of Helium," he cried. "Think you that I am a man of stone?"One arm slipped about her shoulders and drew the yielding bodytoward him.

"May my first ancestor forgive me my weakness," she cried, as herarms stole about his neck and she raised her panting lips to his.For long they clung there in love's first kiss and then shepushed him away, gently. "I love you, Turan," she half sobbed; "Ilove you so! It is my only poor excuse for having done this wrongto Djor Kantos, whom now I know I never loved, who knew not themeaning of love. And if you love me as you say, Turan, your lovemust protect me from greater dishonor, for I am but as clay inyour hands."

Again he crushed her to him and then as suddenly released her,and rising, strode rapidly to and fro across the chamber asthough he endeavored by violent exercise to master and subduesome evil spirit that had laid hold upon him. Ringing through hisbrain and heart and soul like some joyous paean were those wordsthat had so altered the world for Gahan of Gathol: "I love you,Turan; I love you so!" And it had come so suddenly. He hadthought that she felt for him only gratitude for his loyalty andthen, in an instant, her barriers were all down, she was nolonger a princess; but instead a--his reflections wereinterrupted by a sound from beyond the closed door. His sandalsof zitidar hide had given forth no sound upon the marble floor hestrode, and as his rapid pacing carried him past the entrance tothe chamber there came faintly from the distance of the longcorridor the sound of metal on metal--the unmistakable herald ofthe approach of armed men.

For a moment Gahan listened intently, close to the door, untilthere could be no doubt but that a party of warriors wasapproaching. From what Tasor had told him he guessed correctlythat they would be coming to this portion of the palace but for asingle purpose--to search for Tara and himself--and it behoovedhim therefore to seek immediate means for eluding them. Thechamber in which they were had other doorways beside that atwhich they had entered, and to one of these he must look for somesafer hiding place. Crossing to Tara he acquainted her with hissuspicion, leading her to one of the doors which they foundunsecured. Beyond it lay a dimly-lighted chamber at the thresholdof which they halted in consternation, drawing back quickly intothe chamber they had just quitted, for their first glancerevealed four warriors seated around a jetan board.

That their entrance had not been noted was attributed by Gahan tothe absorption of the two players and their friends in the game.Quietly closing the door the fugitives moved silently to thenext, which they found locked. There was now but another doorwhich they had not tried, and this they approached quickly asthey knew that the searching party must be close to the chamber.To their chagrin they found this avenue of escape barred.

Now indeed were they in a sorry plight, for should the searchershave information leading them to this room they were lost. Againleading Tara to the door behind which were the jetan playersGahan drew his sword and waited, listening. The sound of theparty in the corridor came distinctly to their ears--they must bequite close, and doubtless they were coming in force. Beyond thedoor were but four warriors who might be readily surprised. Therecould, then, be but one choice and acting upon it Gahan quietlyopened the door again, stepped through into the adjoiningchamber, Tara's hand in his, and closed the door behind them. Thefour at the jetan board evidently failed to hear them. One playerhad either just made or was contemplating a move, for his fingersgrasped a piece that still rested upon the board. The other threewere watching his move. For an instant Gahan looked at them,playing jetan there in the dim light of this forgotten andforbidden chamber, and then a slow smile of understanding lightedhis face.

"Come!" he said to Tara. "We have nothing to fear from these. Formore than five thousand years they have sat thus, a monument tothe handiwork of some ancient taxidermist."

As they approached more closely they saw that the lifelikefigures were coated with dust, but that otherwise the skin was inas fine a state of preservation as the most recent of I-Gos'groups, and then they heard the door of the chamber they hadquitted open and knew that the searchers were close upon them.Across the room they saw the opening of what appeared to be acorridor and which investigation proved to be a short passageway,terminating in a chamber in the center of which was an ornatesleeping dais. This room, like the others, was but poorlylighted, time having dimmed the radiance of its bulbs and coatedthem with dust. A glance showed that it was hung with heavy goodsand contained considerable massive furniture in addition to thesleeping platform, a second glance at which revealed whatappeared to be the form of a man lying partially on the floor andpartially on the dais. No doorways were visible other than thatat which they had entered, though both knew that others might beconcealed by the hangings.

Gahan, his curiosity aroused by the legends surrounding thisportion of the palace, crossed to the dais to examine the figurethat apparently had fallen from it, to find the dried andshrivelled corpse of a man lying upon his back on the floor witharms outstretched and fingers stiffly outspread. One of his feetwas doubled partially beneath him, while the other was stillentangled in the sleeping silks and furs upon the dais. Afterfive thousand years the expression of the withered face and theeyeless sockets retained the aspect of horrid fear to such anextent, that Gahan knew that he was looking upon the body ofO-Mai the Cruel.

Suddenly Tara, who stood close beside him, clutched his arm andpointed toward a far corner of the room. Gahan looked and lookingfelt the hairs upon his neck rising. He threw his left arm aboutthe girl and with bared sword stood between her and the hangingsthat they watched, and then slowly Gahan of Gathol backed away,for in this grim and somber chamber, which no human foot had trodfor five thousand years and to which no breath of wind mightenter, the heavy hangings in the far corner had moved. Not gentlyhad they moved as a draught might have moved them had there beena draught, but suddenly they had bulged out as though pushedagainst from behind. To the opposite corner backed Gahan untilthey stood with their backs against the hangings there, and thenhearing the approach of their pursuers across the chamber beyondGahan pushed Tara through the hangings and, following her, keptopen with his left hand, which he had disengaged from the girl'sgrasp, a tiny opening through which he could view the apartmentand the doorway upon the opposite side through which the pursuerswould enter, if they came this far.

Behind the hangings there was a space of about three feet inwidth between them and the wall, making a passageway entirelyaround the room, broken only by the single entrance oppositethem; this being a common arrangement especially in the sleepingapartments of the rich and powerful upon Barsoom. The purposes ofthis arrangement were several. The passageway afforded a stationfor guards in the same room with their master without intrudingentirely upon his privacy; it concealed secret exits from thechamber; it permitted the occupant of the room to hideeavesdroppers and assassins for use against enemies that he mightlure to his chamber.

The three chiefs with a dozen warriors had had no difficulty infollowing the tracks of the fugitives through the dust of thecorridors and chambers they had traversed. To enter this portionof the palace at all had required all the courage they possessed,and now that they were within the very chambers of O-Mai theirnerves were pitched to the highest key--another turn and theywould snap; for the people of Manator are filled with weirdsuperstitions. As they entered the outer chamber they movedslowly, with drawn swords, no one seeming anxious to take thelead, and the twelve warriors hanging back in unconcealed andshameless terror, while the three chiefs, spurred on by fear ofO-Tar and by pride, pressed together for mutual encouragement asthey slowly crossed the dimly-lighted room.

Following the tracks of Gahan and Tara they found that thougheach doorway had been approached only one threshold had beencrossed and this door they gingerly opened, revealing to theirastonished gaze the four warriors at the jetan table. For amoment they were on the verge of flight, for though they knewwhat they were, coming as they did upon them in this mysteriousand haunted suite, they were as startled as though they hadbeheld the very ghosts of the departed. But they presentlyregained their courage sufficiently to cross this chamber too andenter the short passageway that led to the ancient sleepingapartment of O-Mai the Cruel. They did not know that this awfulchamber lay just before them, or it were doubtful that they wouldhave proceeded farther; but they saw that those they sought hadcome this way and so they followed, but within the gloomyinterior of the chamber they halted, the three chiefs urgingtheir followers, in low whispers, to close in behind them, andthere just within the entrance they stood until, their eyesbecoming accustomed to the dim light, one of them pointedsuddenly to the thing lying upon the floor with one foot tangledin the coverings of the dais.

"Look!" he gasped. "It is the corpse of O-Mai! Ancestor ofancestors! we are in the forbidden chamber." Simultaneously therecame from behind the hangings beyond the grewsome dead a hollowmoan followed by a piercing scream, and the hangings shook andbellied before their eyes.

With one accord, chieftains and warriors, they turned and boltedfor the doorway; a narrow doorway, where they jammed, fightingand screaming in an effort to escape. They threw away theirswords and clawed at one another to make a passage for escape;those behind climbed upon the shoulders of those in front; andsome fell and were trampled upon; but at last they all gotthrough, and, the swiftest first, they bolted across the twointervening chambers to the outer corridor beyond, nor did theyhalt their mad retreat before they stumbled, weak and trembling,into the banquet hall of O-Tar. At sight of them the warriors whohad remained with the jeddak leaped to their feet with drawnswords, thinking that their fellows were pursued by many enemies;but no one followed them into the room, and the three chieftainscame and stood before O-Tar with bowed heads and trembling knees.

"Well?" demanded the jeddak. "What ails you? Speak!"

"O-Tar," cried one of them when at last he could master hisvoice. "When have we three failed you in battle or combat? Haveour swords been not always among the foremost in defense of yoursafety and your honor?"

"Have I denied this?" demanded O-Tar.

"Listen, then, O Jeddak, and judge us with leniency. We followedthe two slaves to the apartments of O-Mai the Cruel. We enteredthe accursed chambers and still we did not falter. We came atlast to that horrid chamber no human eye had scanned before infifty centuries and we looked upon the dead face of O-Mai lyingas he has lain for all this time. To the very death chamber ofO-Mai the Cruel we came and yet we were ready to go farther; whensuddenly there broke upon our horrified ears the moans and theshrieking that mark these haunted chambers and the hangings movedand rustled in the dead air. O-Tar, it was more than human nervescould endure. We turned and fled. We threw away our swords andfought with one another to escape. With sorrow, but withoutshame, I tell it, for there be no man in all Manator that wouldnot have done the same. If these slaves be Corphals they are safeamong their fellow ghosts. If they be not Corphals, then alreadyare they dead in the chambers of O-Mai, and there may they rotfor all of me, for I would not return to that accursed spot forthe harness of a jeddak and the half of Barsoom for an empire. Ihave spoken."

O-Tar knitted his scowling brows. "Are all my chieftains cowardsand cravens?" he demanded presently in sneering tones.

From among those who had not been of the searching party achieftain arose and turned a scowling face upon O-Tar.

"The jeddak knows,'' he said, "that in the annals of Manator herjeddaks have ever been accounted the bravest of her warriors.Where my jeddak leads I will follow, nor may any jeddak call me acoward or a craven unless I refuse to go where he dares to go. Ihave spoken."

After he had resumed his seat there was a painful silence, forall knew that the speaker had challenged the courage of O-Tar theJeddak of Manator and all awaited the reply of their ruler. Inevery mind was the same thought--O-Tar must lead them at once tothe chamber of O-Mai the Cruel, or accept forever the stigma ofcowardice, and there could be no coward upon the throne ofManator. That they all knew and that O-Tar knew, as well.

But O-Tar hesitated. He looked about upon the faces of thosearound him at the banquet board; but he saw only the grim visagesof relentless warriors. There was no trace of leniency in theface of any. And then his eyes wandered to a small entrance atone side of the great chamber. An expression of relief expungedthe scowl of anxiety from his features.

"Look!" he exclaimed. "See who has come!"