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肩書を与える: The Prince of 危険，危なくする Author: Otis Adelbert Kline * A 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg of Australia eBook * eBook No.: 0601431h.html Language: English Date first 地位，任命するd: Jun 2006 Most 最近の update: Dec 2017 This eBook was produced by Richard Scott, Colin Choat and Roy Glashan. 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg of Australia eBooks are created from printed 版s which are in the public domain in Australia, unless a copyright notice is 含むd. We do NOT keep any eBooks in 同意／服従 with a particular paper 版. Copyright 法律s are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright 法律s for your country before downloading or redistributing this とじ込み／提出する. This eBook is made 利用できる at no cost and with almost no 制限s どれでも. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the 条件 of the 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg of Australia License which may be 見解（をとる）d online at http://gutenberg.逮捕する.au/licence.html To 接触する 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg of Australia go to http://gutenberg.逮捕する.au
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Argosy, August 2, 1930, with first part of "The Prince of 危険，危なくする"
| Foreword 一時期／支部 I 一時期／支部 II 一時期／支部 III 一時期／支部 IV 一時期／支部 V 一時期／支部 VI 一時期／支部 VII 一時期／支部 VIII |
一時期／支部 IX 一時期／支部 X 一時期／支部 XI 一時期／支部 XII 一時期／支部 XIII 一時期／支部 XIV 一時期／支部 XV 一時期／支部 XVI |
"(The) Prince of 危険，危なくする," Avalon 調書をとる／予約するs, New York, 1962
MANY people have asked me how I （機の）カム to 令状 "The Swordsman of 火星," "The 無法者s of 火星," and "The 惑星 of 危険，危なくする," and have wondered why the character of Dr. Morgan appears in all of them. "It was all 権利 for the first story," one reader complained, "but it begins to get a bit 厚い the third time. I hope you're not going to do it again." Another thought that Dr. Morgan really belonged in the series, but that there wasn't enough of him; I should 正当化する his continuance by having him play a more important 役割 in the 陰謀（を企てる）.
As an author, I agree with both of these critics. Dr. Morgan either should have been dropped, or should have a more active and 決定的な 役割; and I certainly would have taken one of these 代案／選択肢s in the second novel, "無法者s of 火星," were this series really my own to work out as I pleased.
You see, while the 指名する "Dr. Morgan" is fictitious, the character is not. It was やめる by 事故 that I literally dropped in on him one day while deer-追跡（する）ing in the mountains. It was a cloudy day, and I lost my bearings. I'd been foolish enough to forget my compass, so I climbed the highest prominence to orient myself.
If you have ever met me, you will know that these were not tremendous mountains. Now that I'm letting you in on a long-kept secret, I must 自白する to その上の deception. If you will re-read the 開始 一時期／支部s of the 先行する 調書をとる／予約するs, you will see that while I've given the impression that Dr. Morgan's 退却／保養地 was まっただ中に high mountains, I've never said anything 限定された about the 高さ. There were high enough for my own 目的s of sport and 演習, and Dr. Morgan's 目的s of 孤立／分離, but you may have been led to 過大評価する their eminence.
I had all but reached the 首脳会議 I was approaching, when my feet suddenly slipped from under me. Gun and all, I 衝突，墜落d through something which felt and sounded like glass, and struck a hard, 固める／コンクリート 床に打ち倒す. My 権利 脚 crumpled under me, and all went 黒人／ボイコット.
When I 回復するd consciousness I thought I was in a hospital, for two men in white 衣料品s were working over me.
The younger man I took to be an 抑留する. The other was indeed a doctor, as I was to learn. He was of gigantic stature, but 井戸／弁護士席-割合d and 運動競技の, and of most striking 外見. His forehead was far higher than any other I had ever seen, bulging outward so that his shaggy eyebrows, which grew 完全に together above the 橋（渡しをする） of his aquiline nose, half 隠すd his small, glittering, beady 注目する，もくろむs. His の近くに-cropped, はっきりと pointed 耐えるd, in which a few gray hairs were in 証拠, 布告するd him as probably past middle age.
When he had finished 包帯ing my fractured 脚, which throbbed unmercifully, he 解任するd his assistant, called me by 指名する, and introduced himself. I am not yet 解放する／自由な to divulge his true 身元, so I shall continue to call him "Dr. Morgan."
"What hospital is this," I asked, "and how did you find me?"
"You are not in a hospital," he replied in his にわか景気ing bass 発言する／表明する, "but still on the mountain in my 退却／保養地. My men are now 取って代わるing the skylight through which you fell."
For nearly a month I convalesced in the secret, perfectly- 偽装するd 観測所. When he learned that I was an author (be had learned my 指名する from the mundane 過程 of looking through my wallet) he asked 許可 to question me under hypnosis, 約束ing to explain when he had finished, and 保証するing me that I need not worry about anything he would ask me.
There are some human 存在s who 奮起させる you with 信用 almost upon first sight. Dr. Morgan was such a person. I agreed; and I learned later that, had he not been 信頼できる, it would have been very 平易な for him to have tricked me into 協定. 現実に, he would not have done it without my 十分な 同意, honestly 伸び（る）d.
"I must ask your forgiveness," he said, after the 開会／開廷／会期. "While my impression of you was that you were both honest and reliable, I had to be sure that you did not have particular character 証拠不十分s through which you could be easily led to betray 信用／信任s you really meant to keep. I have some 構成要素 which would be ideal for the sort of stories you 令状, but it is 決定的な that 確かな 面s of what you will learn do not become public knowledge. Without these, few readers will 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う that what you will 令状 is anything but very imaginative romance, and those few will not be able to ascertain more without facts which I now am 確信して you won't 明らかにする／漏らす."
He 一打／打撃d his 耐えるd. "I could, of course, with your 同意, doubly insure 安全 by putting you under hypnotic inhibition —you would not remember what you were not supposed to 明らかにする／漏らす. But this is a risky 過程, not one hundred パーセント 確かな , and might have 望ましくない 味方する-影響s upon you."
"I'll go along with your judgment on this," I told him.
In the days that followed I learned about Dr. Morgan's 熟考する／考慮するs of parapsychology, 特に in telepathy. I had done some reading in this line myself, so knew something of the general theory—that the communication of thoughts or ideas or moods from one mind to another without the use of any physical medium whatever, was not 影響（力）d or 妨害するd by either time or space.
Dr. Morgan had worked on telepathy for many years in his spare time, when he was in practice; but on his 退職, he tried a different 跡をつける. "I had to 修正する the theory," he explained. "I decided that it would be necessary to build a 装置 which would 選ぶ up and amplify thought waves. And even this would have failed had my machine not caught the waves 事業／計画（する）d by another machine, which another man had built to amplify and 事業／計画（する） them."
Now I had been a 充てる of imaginative fiction for many years, and had often thought of turning my 手渡す to 令状ing it. I prided myself on having a better than usual imagination; yet, I did not think of the 関わりあい／含蓄s of the theory of telepathy when Dr. Morgan told me that the man who built the thought-projector was on 火星. While I deferred to no one in my fondness for Edgar Rice Burroughs's stories of John Carter and others on Barsoom, I was 井戸／弁護士席 aware of the fact that what we knew of the 惑星 火星 made his wonderful civilization on that 惑星 やめる impossible. I said as much, going into facts and 人物／姿／数字s.
"Of course, we won't really know for sure about the exact 条件s there unless we land on 火星. But still we know enough to make Burroughs's 火星 probability 無," I 結論するd.
Dr. Morgan nodded. "完全に 訂正する," he said. "There is no such civilization on 火星."
He then explained his own incredulity when his machine 選ぶd up the thoughts of a man who identified himself as a human 存在— one Lal Vak, a Martian scientist and psychologist. But Lal Vak was lo いっそう少なく incredulous whoa Dr. Morgan identified himself as a human 存在 and scientist of Earth. For Lal Vak was 確かな that there could be no human civilization on Earth, and 特記する／引用するd facts and 人物／姿／数字s to 証明する it.
And that was the 手がかり（を与える）. Both Dr. Morgan and Lal Vak were 訂正する. Neither man could かもしれない 存在する on the world he （人命などを）奪う，主張するd to 住む —if both were living in the same area of space- time. But Lal Vak's description of Earth was a valid description of the third 惑星 from the sun as it 存在するd millions of years ago.
"I have read many weird and fantastic stories," Dr. Morgan said, "as have you. Some of them have given me a most eerie feeling—but nothing to compare with my feelings upon talking with a man who has been dead millions of years, of whose civilization there may now ぐずぐず残る not so much as a 選び出す／独身 trace."
This was the beginning. Dr. Morgan brought me several 厚い typewritten manuscripts which he had bound 分かれて, and I read therein the stories of Harry Thorne, of Morgan's own 甥, Jerry, and of Robert Grandon. Thus I learned that Lal Vak was the 同時代の of a Venusian 指名するd Vorn Vangal and that a human civilization had also 存在するd on Venus at this time.
With the 援助（する） of Lal Vak, Dr. Morgan had 影響d 移転 of personalities between two Martians and two Earthmen, whose physical and brain-pattern make-up were 類似の enough to 許す such 交流. Through a means which I am still 閉めだした from 述べるing in 詳細（に述べる）, it was possible for Dr. Morgan to keep in 和合 with his 特使s on 火星—供給するing they co- operated. The first man broke 接触する, and turned out to be a disastrously wrong choice. Thus, Harry Thorne was sent to 火星, to 交流 consciousness with a Martian whose 団体／死体 was 持つ／拘留するing the personality of Frank Boyd, 犯罪の Earthman.
From Vorn Vangal, Dr. Morgan learned the construction and 操作／手術 of a space-time 乗り物, propelled by telekinesis. It was by means of this 乗り物 that Morgan's 甥 Jerry, went to 火星 肉体的に. But something went wrong on the return trip—Dr. Morgan had tried to bring the 乗り物 支援する to Earth and his own time, empty, for use to 輸送（する） an Earthman to Venus later—and the 乗り物 was lost.
"It might have been possible to build another," Dr. Morgan told me, after I had finished reading about the adventures of his 甥, "but Vorn Vangal and I decided that it would be simpler to use the personality-交流 system, if we could find an Earthman or two who could qualify." He pointed to the other two manuscripts which I was yet to read. "These tell of what happened to the two I sent to Venus: Robert Grandon and Borgen Takkor."
"Borgen Takkor—but he's on 火星," I 抗議するd. "He's the Zovil of Xancibar ... Did something go wrong? A break-up between him and Neva...?"
Dr. Morgan smiled. "No, no, my friend—Harry Thorne is on 火星 in the 団体／死体 of Borgen Takkor. The man who was my assistant for many years, called Harry Thorne, is Borgen Takkor." He coughed わずかに. "Of course, he is now known as Prince Zinlo of Venus."
I smiled. "If we can consider millions of years in the past as 'now'."
"I am still in 接触する with him, as with the others who are 'still' alive ... At any 率, Borgen Takkor asked me if he could go to Venus; he was getting tired of Earth, and of course he could not return to 火星. He was fascinated with what Vorn Vangal told me of the Venusian civilization and was sure he'd feel more at home there, however strange it might be. I'd say it would be 概略で analogous to the 事例／患者 of a 改革運動家 from 12th Century England 輸送（する）d and settled 負かす／撃墜する into a remote part of Islam, where there was not and probably never would be direct 接触する with his native civilization."
So "Harry Thorne," and an Earthman 指名するd Robert Grandon went to Venus.
Here were four 際立った stories, and Dr. Morgan went over them with me, 示すing what parts of them might be used for novels, and what had best not be 関係のある in 詳細（に述べる）, or omitted 完全に.
I have told you the story of Robert Grandon in "The 惑星 of 危険，危なくする," and those of you who have read it will 解任する that Harry Thorne and Grandon met in the の近くにing episodes of the story. You may remember that Grandon asked Thorne to tell him of his adventures between the time of Thorne's arrival on Venus, and this 会合, as it was plain that much had happened and that the other man had 設立する his place and the woman of his heart's 願望（する）. Before Thorne could tell the story, they were interrupted by 告示s that their airship had arrived at Vernia's 資本／首都.
現実に, the 記録，記録的な／記録する shows that Thorne did tell his story to Grandon later, during the visit—although like nothing in the 詳細（に述べる） 現在の in Dr. Morgan's 記録，記録的な／記録するs. But it was impossible to give even so 簡潔な／要約する an 輪郭（を描く） in this place. It had no 耐えるing on the story of Robert Grandon and his rise on Venus, his winning of Vernia, and the 敗北・負かす and death of the 反逆者, Prince Destho. I decided to omit it 完全に, leaving it for another novel.
So now I 申し込む／申し出 you the story of Harry Thorne—and, with your 許可, I shall stop calling him "Harry Thorne." This is the story of Borgen Takkor's adventures on Venus, Borgen Takkor, born on 火星, transferred to Earth for a １０年間, and finally finding his career and place on Venus.
—The Author.
"GOOD-BYE, men and good luck to you."
My awakening, after I lay 負かす／撃墜する on the cot in Dr. Morgan's 観測所, was やめる sudden and startling. It seemed that not more than a few seconds had elapsed since I had heard the doctor's parting words to Grandon and myself.
I opened my 注目する，もくろむs and sat up 突然の with an inexplicable sense of 差し迫った danger. My first glimpse of my surroundings 納得させるd me that I had indeed arrived on Venus. The magnificent 暴動 of vegetation surrounding me —vegetation the like of which I had not seen on 火星, the red, barren 惑星 of my birth, nor on Earth, the more 最近の 惑星 of my 採択— was 十分な 証拠.
I was seated on a bank of soft, violet-colored moss which sloped gently to a limpid pool at my feet. The feathery fronds of a 巨大（な） bush-fern arched above my 長，率いる, some of them dipping to the surface of the water, where they were snapped at from time to time by playful, grotesque, multi-colored amphibians.
I was dressed in 衣料品s of shimmering, scarlet 構成要素. There was a 幅の広い, golden chain-belt about my waist, with a jeweled clasp in 前線. Riveted to this belt on the 権利 味方する was an oblong 器具 about two feet in length, with a button 近づく the upper end, a small lever on the 味方する, and a tiny 穴を開ける in the lower end. I had no idea what it was for; but I 認めるd the 武器 which hung at my left 味方する, as it 似ているd a scimitar. As I was 診察するing the ruby-studded hilt of this beautiful 武器, a noise at my left attracted my attention.
慎重に, without turning my 長，率いる, I ちらりと見ることd from the corners of my 注目する，もくろむs across a stretch of shrubbery to where a high 塀で囲む of 黒人／ボイコット 石／投石する surrounded this 広い地所, and hid the country beyond. Just on the other 味方する of the 塀で囲む a tall fern-tree spread its mighty fronds. It must have been the 割れ目ing of one of these that had attracted my attention, for a 激しい-始める，決める individual with a coarse red 耐えるd, 削減（する） off square below the chin, had climbed out on it to a point where it would no longer 支える his 負わせる, in an 成果／努力 to reach the 最高の，を越す of the 塀で囲む.
Someone in the shrubbery やめる 近づく me called a whispered 警告 to him —or such I took it to be, for the language was unknown to me, and I could only 裁判官 by the トンs. The 抱擁する 侵入者 was much more agile than he appeared, for he flung an arm over the 最高の，を越す of the 塀で囲む and drew himself up with catlike quickness. As he struck the 塀で囲む there was a metallic clank which, I saw as soon as he （機の）カム into 十分な 見解（をとる）, was from an 辛勝する／優位d 武器 at his 味方する, やめる like my own but with a いっそう少なく ornate hilt and broader blade.
As soon as the red-bearded man reached the 最高の，を越す of the 塀で囲む, the one who had whispered from the bushes 慎重に stood up. He was smaller and more wiry than the first, and his 耐えるd, which was アイロンをかける-gray in color, was trimmed in the same manner.
Red-耐えるd tiptoed stealthily along the 最高の，を越す of the 塀で囲む, ちらりと見ることing toward me from time to time as if fearful that I would hear him or turn toward him. Then he leaned out, caught his fingers in a tall 反対／詐欺-形態／調整d growth, swung his sandaled feet out, and descended.
I wondered if it could be possible that these two 空き巣ねらいs were bent on 傷害 to me, a total stranger on Venus. Then it 夜明けd on me that they could easily be mortal enemies of the prince with whom I had 交流d 団体／死体s, and that I—so far as their knowledge went—was that prince.
I therefore drew my cutting 武器 from its sheath ーするために have it ready, and pretended to 診察する its beautiful, 高度に polished blade. For several minutes I neither saw nor heard anything of the two 空き巣ねらいs. Then I suddenly glimpsed, 反映するd on the polished surface of my blade, the red-bearded man standing 直接／まっすぐに behind me with his 武器 upraised for a downward 削減（する） that would have sheared my skull from 栄冠を与える to chin. As swords of all 肉親，親類d had been my 主要な／長／主犯 playthings on 火星, and 盗品故買者ing my favorite amusement on Earth, I did the thing which any swordsman would have done instinctively in the circumstances. I raised the blade of my 武器 above my 長，率いる with a downward slant from hilt to point, and the descending blade of my would-be 暗殺者, deflected by my own, buried itself in the mossy turf on my left.
Springing to my feet, I whirled and attacked.
My 対抗者 証明するd to be a 大打撃を与える-and-結社s 闘士，戦闘機, no match for superior swordsmanship. I could have killed him any one of a dozen times before he realized that I was playing with him. Then he bawled out lustily, and the wiry fellow with the gray 耐えるd （機の）カム 急ぐing out of the bushes. Not knowing the caliber of the second 加害者, I stopped the squawking of the first with a quick neck-削減（する） that laid him low.
The wiry graybeard was much quicker and far more elusive than his 抱擁する companion, and I did not play with him. He soon left me the 開始 I sought, and I stretched him beside his fellow with a bone-shearing 削減（する）.
Having ascertained beyond 疑問 that both of my would-be 暗殺者s were dead, I carefully cleaned my blade, sheathed it, and 始める，決める out to 調査する my surroundings.
I had been walking for perhaps ten minutes along the mossy bank, when a monster, more hideous than anything I had ever seen or even dreamed 存在するd, 現れるd from the water and （機の）カム toward me.
I whipped out my blade as it waddled 今後 on its 厚い, 屈服するd 脚s. Its long, scaly tail dragged in the moss, and its enormous jaws were distended in a grin that 公表する／暴露するd 抱擁する, ivory-white tusks. It was so fearsome a thing that, although I am no coward, I knew not whether to stand and fight or take to my heels.
A gust of laughter at my 権利 原因（となる）d me to turn. I beheld a tall man, 明らかに of middle age, smiling 概して at me. His 衣料品s were of purple, and he wore a 耐えるd that had once been 黒人／ボイコット, now わずかに streaked with gray, 削減（する） off square below the chin. His 武器s were 類似の to 地雷, though his belt was of silver.
"The 'ikthos' will not 害（を与える） you," he said in English. "It is one of the garden pets, and 敵意を持った only to strangers."
The thing he called an ikthos 匂いをかぐd at my 衣料品s, rubbed its ugly muzzle against my thigh, yawned, and crouched at my feet.
"You are surprised at my knowledge of English," continued my new 知識. "After I tell you who you are and were, and also who I am, the thing will not seem so mysterious. You are he who was Borgen Takkor on 火星, and later Harry Thorne on Earth. You have now become Zinlo, the Torrogi or 皇室の 栄冠を与える Prince of Olba. I am Vorn Vangal, the Olban psychologist, and have been communicating telepathically with Dr. Morgan of Earth for several years."
"I have heard the doctor speak of you often," I replied. "It is a 楽しみ to 会合，会う you, Vorn Vangal."
He 定評のある with a courtly 屈服する. "I have but a few hours to spend with you. Grandon has already arrived on the other 味方する of the 惑星 and will すぐに awaken to find himself a princely slave in the marble quarries of Uxpo. I must 飛行機で行く to his 援助. Come with me and see what 準備s I have made for you."
I followed Vorn Vangal through the garden. There was a profusion of ornamental trees, shrubs, fungi and 共同のd grasses, but no flowers or fruits. Patches of gloriously colored water 工場／植物s of divers 半端物 形態／調整s 繁栄するd in the lagoons, and fungi of a thousand types and sizes grew in the moister places.
Though it was without flowers, the garden did not 欠如（する） color. All the hues of the rainbow were 代表するd in its rankly growing, 原始の vegetation. Toadstools as tall as trees 国境d several of the lagoons, some of them lemon-yellow, others orange, scarlet, 黒人／ボイコット or brown, and still others of pale, chalky whiteness.
Beautiful statues and statuettes stood here and there, some placed conspicuously, but more of them showing 突然に in niches and vine-covered bowers as we moved along.
The garden teemed with bird and animal life. The trees were alive with gay-plumed songbirds that filled the 空気／公表する with their melodious, flute-like 公式文書，認めるs. Waterfowl, both swimmers and waders, dotted the lagoons, and their cries, though not musical, were far from unpleasant. Amphibians of many 種類 disported themselves in the water or dozed lazily on the banks. I was astonished at sight of a 抱擁する yellow frog which must easily have 手段d more than six feet from nose to toes, blinking contentedly and fearlessly 負かす／撃墜する at me from his seat on an enormous scarlet toadstool.
With our hideous ikthos 追跡するing closely behind us, and from time to time affectionately nosing either Vorn Vangal or me with its 冷淡な, moist snout, we presently （機の）カム before a tall building. It was of 黒人／ボイコット marble, and was my first glimpse of Olban architecture.
Its 形態／調整 astonished me. I do not believe there was a straight line in the entire structure. Everything was curved. The building stood on a circular 創立／基礎, and its 塀で囲むs, instead of 開始するing skyward in a straight line, bellied outward and then curved in again at the 最高の，を越す. The lower structure was surmounted by a second segment, smaller, but of 類似の 形態／調整. This, in turn, supported others, still smaller, up to the 最高の，を越す segment, some thirty feet in 直径 and no いっそう少なく than six hundred feet from the ground.
We 機動力のある a flight of steps, walked between two 制服を着た guards who saluted stiffly, and entered a large circular door, where a slave took 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the ikthos and led him away. After に引き続いて a 幅の広い hallway for some distance we （機の）カム to a 抱擁する 中心存在. It was in the 中心 of the building, and was decorated on one 味方する with a large oval plate of burnished silver on which was embossed what appeared to be a coat-of-武器. As we stepped before it the plate slid 支援する, 明らかにする／漏らすing a small room within.
At Vangal's 招待 I stepped into the small room inside the 抱擁する central 中心存在 of the tower, and he followed. As soon as he stood beside me the silver plate slid 支援する across the 入り口, a 隠すd light flashed on somewhere above our 長，率いるs, and the 床に打ち倒す moved 上向き.
We were in an elevator, of course, but what had started the thing and how was my companion going to stop it when we reached our 目的地? There were no levers or buttons of any sort. The thing seemed almost human in its movements. Perhaps there was a hidden 操作者. I 発言する／表明するd my question to Vorn Vangal.
"It is moved by a 機械装置 which amplifies the 力／強力にする of telekinesis," he said.
I had often heard Dr. Morgan use the word "telekinesis," and knew that it 述べるd that mysterious 力／強力にする of the mind which enables psychics to tip （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs and 解除する imponderable 反対するs without physical means. In short, it referred to the direct 力／強力にする of mind over 事柄.
"I have heard of small 反対するs 存在 moved or 解除するd by telekinesis," I marveled, "but to 解除する an elevator! Why, this is amazing!"
"We 解除する far heavier things than this little car," said Vangal, smiling わずかに. "抱擁する cranes and derricks are operated in the same way. Airships of all sizes from small one-man flyers to 抱擁する 戦艦s are moved by it— propelled through the 空気／公表する at 速度(を上げる）s 範囲ing from two hundred to one thousand miles an hour."
"But how is that possible?"
"It was made possible by that wonderful 発明, the 機械装置 that amplifies the mind's 力／強力にする. The 製造（する） of this 機械装置 is the 排除的 secret of the Olban 政府, and 構成するs our 弁護 against 侵略 from the warlike torrogats—or empires—surrounding us. If those 政府s knew the secret, they would build 航空機 and use them for conquest. The Olbans, however, are committed to a 政策 of 'live and let live: We use our wonderful 力／強力にする only for 商業の 目的s and as a 弁護 against 侵略."
We stopped before a metal plate which slid 支援する noiselessly. I stepped out of the car and Vorn Vangal （機の）カム after me, その結果 the plate slid 支援する in place.
We were in a small, circular hallway around whose 塀で囲むs were metal doors at intervals of about twenty feet. Vangal led the way to one of these doors, 圧力（をかける）d a button, and when it slid open, 屈服するd me into a luxuriously furnished 控訴 lighted by enormous circular windows that reached nearly from 床に打ち倒す to 天井.
"This is to be your 退却／保養地 until my return from Uxpo," he said. "I have been 準備するing for your coming these many months."
He walked to a beautifully carved （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する of red 支持を得ようと努めるd, and took a 厚い scroll from a pile neatly stacked on its polished 最高の，を越す.
"These are your lessons in Patoa, the 全世界の／万国共通の language of Venus. Our Patoan 指名する for Venus is Zarovia. Some twenty thousand Patoan words are 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）d here with their pronunciations and English translations. If you will 熟考する／考慮する them carefully until my return it will perhaps be 安全な for you to leave the 黒人／ボイコット Tower. Then I can take you to the Red Tower, the 皇室の Palace of Olba."
"Am I to infer that it would be 危険な for me to leave the tower at 現在の?"
"The tower and grounds are 井戸／弁護士席 guarded," Vorn Vangal replied; "but do not under any circumstances wander beyond the 塀で囲むs. In the course of your walks in the garden, always keep the ikthos with you. He will 警告する you of lurking 暗殺者s, and will fight in your 弁護."
"He certainly wasn't on the 職業 a short time ago," I said.
"What do you mean?"
I told him of the two 暗殺者s.
"The beast must have been 誘惑するd away by his keeper!" cried Vangal, when I had finished. "The 反逆者 will be dealt with in 予定 time. And those two ruffians—they would be in the 支払う／賃金 of Taliboz, of course."
"Who is Taliboz?"
"A man whom I 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う, but against whom I can 証明する nothing. Nothing! You see—in the course of 準備 for your coming, I cast about for an excuse to bring your 前任者 here in order that His 皇室の Majesty, Emperor Hadjez, might not learn that his son Zinlo was changing places with an Earthman. A ready-made excuse 現在のd itself when word （機の）カム through the 知能 department of the 政府 that there was a 陰謀（を企てる） on foot to assassinate the male members of the 皇室の family.
"I すぐに 示唆するd that Prince Zinlo be brought here until the plotters could be taken and 遂行する／発効させるd. His majesty readily 同意d, thus making it possible for me to 得る a 静かな 退却／保養地 for you in which you could learn something of the language and customs of Olba, and at the same time be guarded from danger.
"The plotters have not been apprehended, but I am 堅固に of the opinion that Taliboz is the ringleader. They have already made an 試みる／企てる on the life of the Emperor and escaped with the loss of a 選び出す／独身 man. You can see how you would be exposed by going out unguarded."
"I'm willing to stay here for a while," I replied, "for there is no question about my having to learn this language, Patoa, sooner or later. But once I learn your language you won't catch me staying behind 塀で囲むs on account of a few 暗殺者s. I was born on 火星, where men do not stay indoors to 避ける their enemies; and though I am not familiar with your 武器s, I believe I can give some account of myself with this cutting 器具／実施する at my 味方する if attacked."
"No 疑問 you can," replied Vangal, "although the two ruffians you killed were probably clumsy 闘士，戦闘機s. But please 耐える in mind that you are the Torrogi of Olba—the 栄冠を与える prince—and that your life is not yours to throw away heedlessly."
"Don't ever think I'm going to throw it away," I said. "The man who gets it will have to put up a 捨てる."
"You might be 発射 from 待ち伏せ／迎撃する with a tork."
"A tork?"
"You are wearing one 大（公）使館員d to your belt."
Vangal explained the use of the oblong 器具 at my 味方する. It was about two feet long and 形態／調整d like a carpenter's level. A rivet passed 完全に through it, about eight インチs from the 最高の，を越す, fastening it to the belt in such a way that it could be 攻撃するd at any angle or pointed in any direction by moving the 団体／死体.
He 圧力（をかける）d a small lever on the 味方する and 除去するd two clips, explaining that one was a gas clip 含む／封じ込めるing a thousand 一連の会議、交渉／完成するs of condensed 爆発性の gas, while the other was a 弾丸 clip which held a thousand 一連の会議、交渉／完成するs of needle-like glass 発射物s. These 発射物s, he said, were filled with a 毒（薬） that would 麻ひさせる man or beast almost 即時に, though the paralysis was only 一時的な. Other 発射物s, he explained, were filled with deadly 毒（薬）, and still others with 爆発性のs. The 効果的な 範囲, he 明言する／公表するd, was equal to about ten Earth-miles.
He led me to a window which was open.
"I have 用意が出来ている a 的 for you," he said. "You will need to practice with the tork if you are to be able to defend yourself on this 惑星. Do you see that large white plate against the 塀で囲む at the other end of the garden?"
Yes."
"I had it 築くd for your use. It is coated with a 実体 that will 連合させる with the 毒（薬） in your tork 弾丸s, emitting a green gas. If you see a green 位置／汚点／見つけ出す appear momentarily on the 的 you will know that you have 登録（する）d a 攻撃する，衝突する."
I was eager to try this new 武器, and Vangal, smiling at my 切望, 負担d it for me and showed me how to 持つ／拘留する it when 圧力（をかける）ing the button which 解雇する／砲火／射撃d the gas in the 議会 by means of an electric 誘発する. It fed new 弾丸s automatically, he explained.
I confidently 解雇する／砲火／射撃d at the 的 and waited for a green 位置／汚点／見つけ出す to appear. It remained white. Again I 解雇する／砲火／射撃d with the same result.
"You will need かなりの practice," said Vangal. "I am not accounted much of a marksman, but watch."
He 解雇する／砲火／射撃d his tork and a green 位置／汚点／見つけ出す appeared in the 中心 of the 的. Then, with no 明らかな 成果／努力, he 工場／植物d a （犯罪の）一味 of green 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs around it.
When the 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs had disappeared I tried again, and managed to 攻撃する，衝突する the 的 once out of five 発射s.
"Now let me see what you can do with the scarbo," Vangal said.
"The what?"
"That cutting 器具 at your 味方する."
"Oh 売春婦, friend Vangal!" I thought. "You won't find me utterly helpless with this 武器."
He drew his scarbo and I 地雷. Thinking to best me as easily as he had with the tork, he made as if he would lay my 長，率いる open.
I parried the blow with 緩和する, then whirled his blade on 地雷 with a movement so sudden that, strong as he was, it flew from his しっかり掴む and flashing over his 長，率いる, clanked in the corner behind him.
"団体／死体 of Thorth!" he exclaimed. "That is a marvelous trick!"
I 回復するd his 武器 and 手渡すd it to him laughingly.
"On 火星 I was raised on a diet of swords," I replied.
"Then I 示唆する that you 限定する your 成果／努力s to 的 practice and a mastery of Patoa," said Vangal. "I must leave you now to go to the 援助 of Grandon. My flyer is on the roof. Would you care to see me off?"
"Assuredly."
I followed him into the elevator.
THE elevator stopped at the 床に打ち倒す of the 最高の，を越す segment, and we 機動力のある thence to the roof by a spiral stairway. Two guards 武装した with torks, scarbos and 幅の広い-bladed spears, saluted when we appeared. The roof was made of the same 構成要素 as the 塀で囲むs, and the 厚板s of 黒人／ボイコット marble were fitted together so cunningly that the 共同のs were all but 隠すd. It was circled by a four foot 塀で囲む perforated on the 床に打ち倒す level at intervals to carry off the 激しい Zarovian rains.
There were four Olban airships on the roof. I 診察するd the nearest one with 利益／興味. It was 形態／調整d like a small metal duck- boat about ten feet in length and three in the beam. The 操縦室 was covered with a glass ドーム in the 支援する of which was a small door. Within this ドーム I could see an assortment of levers, buttons and knobs, and the cushioned seat for the driver. The thing that amazed me the most was the fact that it was not equipped with 計画（する）s, rudder or プロペラ.
Vangal turned to me. "You seem astonished at our airships."
"They certainly do not 似ている any 航空機 I have 以前 seen."
"We have no need of 計画（する）s, プロペラs or rudders for this type of flyer," he went on. "As I told you, it is raised, lowered, turned, or moved in any 願望（する）d direction by amplified mindpower. The amplifying 機械装置 is under the 一連の会議、交渉／完成する bump on the 今後 deck. The small lids that you see fore and aft 隠す safety パラシュート（で降下する）s. That rectangular protuberance from the 前線 of the cab is a mattork, a 武器 operated on the same 原則 as a tork, but with a greater 範囲 and 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing much heavier 発射物s."
"You told me that the Olban 政府 alone 所有するd the secret for 製造業の these 飛行機で行くing 機械装置s," I said. "Suppose one should be 軍隊d to land in 敵意を持った 領土. The （手先の）技術 would then, in all probability, 落ちる into the 手渡すs of your enemies, and they could thus easily take the 機械装置 apart and duplicate it."
"That danger has been foreseen. A vial of powerful 酸性の has been placed in the 機械装置 of each Olban （手先の）技術 in such a way that it will be すぐに broken if tampered with. The 酸性の thus 解放（する）d in the secret 機械装置 will 即時に destroy it."
"Certainly a far-sighted 準備／条項," I 発言／述べるd.
"It has kept us at peace with our neighbors for many centuries," replied Vangal. "I dislike leaving you thus precipitately, but the time has come for 出発."
So 説, he opened the door in the 支援する of the cab and entered. After a hurried examination of the 支配（する）／統制する levers and the 大砲-like mattork, he said: "別れの（言葉，会）. 熟考する／考慮する diligently, practice assiduously, and be ever on your guard against 暗殺者s."
"If I catch any prowling about I'll practice on them instead of the 的. 別れの（言葉，会）, and a 安全な and pleasant 旅行 to you."
The little （手先の）技術 rose slowly at first, then, 徐々に 集会 勢い, it 発射 to a 高さ of a half mile or more, sped away with amazing rapidity, and was soon lost to 見解（をとる）.
I walked to the 辛勝する／優位 of the 塀で囲む and looked over. The roof was at least six hundred feet from the ground, though the 減少（する） from battlement to battlement was only about sixty feet. Far to the northward I descried a city of circular buildings, in the 中心 of which towered an 巨大な red structure 類似の in design to the one on which I stood, but at least twice as tall.
This must be the Red Tower of which Vorn Vangal had spoken—the 皇室の Palace of Olba. The city 塀で囲むs formed a circle, broken at each point of the compass by a tower which evidently covered a gate.
The countryside, as far as I could see, was divided into 井戸／弁護士席- kept farms on each of which was a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する building, probably the home of the owner. People were working in the fields, and here and there I saw men 運動ing 抱擁する, grotesque beasts hitched to 骨折って進むs or cultivators.
The animals, which I afterward learned were called thirpeds, were 広大な／多数の／重要な hairless pachyderms; they stood about eight feet at the shoulder, and 重さを計るd four to five トンs apiece when 十分な grown. They had 抱擁する 長，率いるs and mouths, sharp-pointed long ears, and 比較して thin necks almost half as long as their 団体／死体s. They moved with a 板材ing gait that reminded me of elephants.
The 工場／植物s under cultivation were fungi of さまざまな 肉親，親類d, and several varieties of bush-ferns.
A 滑らかに 覆うd road, straight as an arrow, led from the south gate of Olba past the tower on which I stood, and thence to the 広大な／多数の／重要な, 三日月-形態／調整d Olban harbor of Tureno. This was the 海洋 gateway of the 資本／首都, whence Emperor Hadjez sent his mighty (n)艦隊／(a)素早い of 貿易（する）ing 大型船s out over the rolling, steel-blue waters of the mighty Ropok Ocean.
Along this straight, smooth road rumbled 広大な／多数の／重要な, one-wheeled carts drawn by thirpeds. The 団体／死体 of a Zarovian cart is inside the 抱擁する 選び出す／独身 wheel that carries it, 存在 一時停止するd on an inner idling wheel that keeps it from turning when the outer wheel 回転するs. There were also one-wheeled モーター-driven 乗り物s that moved over the road with 広大な／多数の／重要な 速度(を上げる）. I saw some with wheels more than twenty feet in 直径, making all of a hundred Earth miles an hour.
One of the guards …を伴ってd me 負かす／撃墜する the telekinetic elevator, which I had not learned to operate, 行為／行うd me to the 控訴 Vangal had 用意が出来ている for me, and 屈服するing low, with 権利 手渡す 延長するd palm downward, left me alone. I could hear him pacing 支援する and 前へ／外へ in the hall while I 熟考する／考慮するd the Patoa scrolls.
As I pored over the translations and pronunciations with keen 利益／興味, it seemed to me that I was reading something I had known 井戸／弁護士席, but had forgotten. I 実験（する）d myself on this and 設立する, to my surprise, that having once read and pronounced a Patoan word, I had learned it.
When I told Vorn Vangal about it afterward, he explained that this was because the brain of Zinlo, which had become 地雷, knew all of these things already. The subjective mind, having once received an impression, 記録，記録的な／記録するs it forever. Thus, having only to tap my subjective mind, I learned 即時に. It amazed and overjoyed me.
Long before the afternoon had 病弱なd, I had mastered the entire group of lessons which Vorn Vangal had 用意が出来ている for me. I was 熱望して reading a Zarovian 調書をとる／予約する on natural history, when the advent of sudden 不明瞭, so ありふれた in 熱帯の and 半分- 熱帯の Venus, interrupted my 熟考する／考慮するs. A 非難する sounded at the door.
"Enter," I said in Patoa, eager to try my newly mastered language.
The door slid open, でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるing the 人物／姿／数字 of my guard in silhouette against the lighted hall. He entered and 圧力（をかける）d a button, flooding the room with soft light. I could not see the points from which the radiance emanated, so cleverly were the fixtures 隠すd.
"Your Highness's dinner," 発表するd the guard.
Two slaves entered, 耐えるing a 抱擁する 二塁打-decked tray laden with at least fifty different dishes. A third followed with a small （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and a fourth with gold service and scarlet napery.
Fish, flesh, and fowl were 始める，決める before me, 同様に as 非常に／多数の dishes concocted from mushrooms and other fungi, and countless others whose origin I could not fathom. There was also a colorless, pleasant-tasting （水以外の）飲料 which I afterward learned was called "kova," served hot in small bowls. I 設立する it fully as 刺激するing as strong ワイン, though with a わずかに different 影響.
Having dined as became a prince of Olba, I turned once more to my 熟考する／考慮するs.
Late in the evening a second knock sounded at my door, and a new guard 認める a man who was evidently my valet. He busied himself in the 隣接するing room for a few minutes, then entered and, 屈服するing before me, 発表するd that my bedchamber was ready.
I entered, to behold a sleeping shelf that curved out from the 塀で囲む like the nest of a 洞穴-swallow. A scarlet canopy fringed with gold 事業／計画（する）d above it, and the downy, silken coverlets—scarlet lined with golden yellow —had been turned 支援する invitingly.
My valet brought my scarlet sleeping 衣料品s, and I wondered at the preponderance of this color; later, I learned that throughout Zarovia scarlet is the 排除的 color of 王族.
Though I had grown drowsy over my 熟考する／考慮するs, the novelty of my 状況／情勢 kept me awake. After several hours, I managed to drift off, only to be awakened by a sharp, metallic clang.
The sound seemed to come from the direction of the battlement outside my window, and I listened breathlessly for a repetition. As it was not repeated, I decided that it could have no alarming significance, and was once more composing myself for slumber when I heard a slight rustle as of silken 衣料品s only a few feet distant from my 長，率いる.
Without moving, I opened my 注目する，もくろむs and 努力するd to 侵入する the pitch 不明瞭 that enveloped me. Venus has no moon, and in consequence it was fully as dark outside as anywhere in the room; I could not see the window, nor could I have seen any one entering it.
It was plainly evident that there was someone in the room. I thought of Vorn Vangal's 警告, and a 冷淡な sweat broke out on my forehead. My 武器s lay on a low （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する only a few feet from me, yet I could not move to reach them without making 十分な noise to apprise my stealthy 訪問者 of my どの辺に.
Another rustle, やめる 近づく me this time, was followed by the glow of a flashlight which swept the room, 残り／休憩（する）d for a moment on my recumbent form, and then winked out. I sat up suddenly, at the sound of a scarbo drawn stealthily from its sheath not two feet from me.
No sooner had I sat up in bed than there was a whistling sound, followed by a thud, as the keen blade of a scarbo buried itself in the pillow where my 長，率いる had lain a moment before.
I leaped from the sleeping shelf and fumbled for the light switch while my 加害者, with a muttered exclamation of surprise and 怒り／怒る, flashed his たいまつ on the coverlets. Then he whirled it around the room just as I 設立する the switch and turned it.
Both of us were blinded for an instant by the glare of the light. I reached the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and 安全な・保証するd my scarbo just in time to 区 off his furious attack.
支援する and 前へ／外へ we fought across the smooth 床に打ち倒す, overturning furniture and tripping on rugs, while the apartment echoed and re-echoed with the clamor of our 速く moving blades.
I 設立する my 加害者 a dangerous antagonist; as a swordsman, Vorn Vangal was but a child compared with him. He was dressed in purple raiment trimmed with silver, and wore a 激しい 黒人／ボイコット 耐えるd.
At first his demeanor was one of sneering disdain; but when he 設立する me able not only to parry his 雷 削減（する）s and thrusts, but to return them, 手段 for 手段, a look of wonderment （機の）カム to his 強硬派-like features. "団体／死体 of Thorth, stripling!" he exclaimed. "You have been practicing with the scarbo since I last saw you."
"I am but practicing now," I replied tauntingly, speaking slowly so that I might not mispronounce the words which （機の）カム to me so readily.
His 直面する reddened at this, and he redoubled his 成果／努力s, his keen blade flashing in shimmering arcs, alike bewildering and deadly. But his 怒り／怒る gave me the 適切な時期 I sought. Whirling his blade on 地雷, as I had whirled that of Vangal some time before, I wrenched it from his 手渡す and sent it clattering to the 床に打ち倒す.
With a startled look he leaped 支援する just in time to 避ける a 肺 that would have ended our 衝突. As he sprang he shouted lustily, "Vinzeth! Maribo! …に出席する me!"
Two burly ruffians 答える／応じるd to his call, leaping through the window. They were 武装した with 抱擁する, 幅の広い-bladed spears and would probably have made quick work of me had not my own retainers burst through the door at my 支援する, having heard the noise of our 衝突.
For the moment the tide of 戦う／戦い turned in our 好意. Then fresh 増強s 注ぐd in from outside. The leader had 回復するd his scarbo, and now they 削減（する） my men 負かす／撃墜する until but a handful remained. Though our 攻撃者s were not without 死傷者s, we were より数が多いd from the start.
Maddened with the lust of 戦う／戦い, I was cutting my way through the spearmen in my 努力する to reach their leader when my tower guards made a sudden 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 in 返答 to a sharp order from their 指揮官. At the same instant he plucked at my sleeve.
"The tower is lost, highness," he cried. "The 反逆者s are too many for us. You must 逃げる."
"Never! Let me at these 暗殺者s!"
I 後継するd in breaking from his しっかり掴む, but he 掴むd my arm once more, calling one of the guards to 補助装置 him. "Do not 強要する me to use 軍隊, Highness," he pleaded. "I must get you hence at once. To do さもなければ would be 背信 to Your 皇室の Sire."
The two of them dragged me through the doorway which they bolted. A moment later we entered the elevator and 発射 to the 最高の，を越す 床に打ち倒す, whence we climbed the spiral stairway to the roof. Far below us I heard the door 衝突，墜落 inward—proof that the last guardsman had fallen.
They hustled me to the largest of the three airships, opened the door of the cab, and 公正に／かなり 投げつけるd me の上に the cushions.
"Raboth will take you to the palace," said the commandant. "I will bolt the door and follow in a one-man （手先の）技術."
Raboth, a lean wiry 青年 with a thin, ragged 耐えるd, climbed in beside me and の近くにd the door. As soon as he was seated, the ship began to rise— slowly at first, but 速く 伸び（る）ing 勢い until we 発射 上向き with amazing rapidity.
My 操縦する, looking downward to take his bearings, drew 支援する with a sudden intake of breath. "They have seen us! Two of their 戦う／戦い 計画（する）s are rising to 削減（する） us off from the palace."
Scarcely had he spoken ere a サーチライト flashed on our ship. An instant later a 弾丸 ricocheted from our deck, 涙／ほころびing way part of the railing as it 爆発するd. It had been 解雇する／砲火／射撃d from a mattork.
A terrific fusillade followed as we continued our 早い ascent. Suddenly we 急落（する），激減（する）d into a 厚い cloudbank, 保護物，者ing us from the 明らかにする／漏らすing glare of the enemy サーチライト. Continuing 上向き for several minutes more we （疑いを）晴らすd this lower cloud stratum and Raboth すぐに put on our 今後 lights. Then he turned a switch, illuminating the 内部の of the cab with the radiance of a tiny bulb above our 長，率いるs.
My 操縦する leaned 今後 to 診察する a small 器具 一時停止するd on a thin wire at the 前線 of the cab. "I 恐れる we are lost, Highness," he said, with a look of びっくり仰天. "One of the 爆撃するs must have carried our magnet away. The compass is out of order."
A quick examination 証明するd his 声明 訂正する. The magnet, which is fastened to the 後部 deck of all Olban airships to 中和する／阻止する the strong 磁石の pull of the 動機 機械装置, had been snapped off by one of the mattork 弾丸s. Now the needle pointed to the 前線 of our （手先の）技術 no 事柄 which way we turned.
A sudden glare of light at our 支援するs, followed by the rending 衝撃 of a mattork 爆撃する on our 船体, 警告するd us that the enemy had sighted us. This time we dived into the stratum beneath us and then with level keel, hurtled 今後 at a pace that held me breathless with wonder.
"How 急速な／放蕩な are we traveling, Raboth?" I asked, trying to adjust my senses to the sight of cloud 集まりs made iridescent by our lights, and moving past the cab in swift, bewildering kaleidoscopic 陳列する，発揮する.
"This ship is 率d at three-４半期/4分の1s of a rotation," he replied. "We are moving at 最高の，を越す 速度(を上げる）."
"What do you mean by three-４半期/4分の1s of a rotation?"
He seemed astonished at my question. "Why, a rotation is the 速度(を上げる） at which Zarovia 回転／交替s on her axis. We are traveling three-fourths of that 速度(を上げる）."
I made a 早い 計算／見積り. As the circumference of Venus is わずかに いっそう少なく than that of Earth, and her day twenty-three hours and twenty-one minutes, Earth time, she 回転／交替s on her axis at a 速度(を上げる） of more than a thousand miles an hour. 概略で, then, we were traveling at seven hundred and fifty miles an hour.
My companion held the ship to her course through the clouds for a かなりの period, then dipped beneath them. This move almost resulted in our undoing; the second enemy （手先の）技術, which had evidently been 飛行機で行くing below us all the time, opened 解雇する／砲火／射撃. I replied with our 厳しい mattork—whether 効果的に or not, I could not tell—while Raboth again 発射 our （手先の）技術 up to the concealment afforded by the clouds. Once more we hurtled 今後 on a level keel.
"Our would-be 暗殺者s are certainly 執拗な," I 発言／述べるd casually to my companion.
"And 井戸／弁護士席 they may be. This is the first time their leader has been 認めるd. No 疑問 we are the only two 生存者s of the fight in the tower, and その結果 the only ones able to expose Taliboz."
"Who is this Taliboz?" I asked thoughtlessly.
"Is it possible that Your Highness does not remember Taliboz? He is the most powerful noble in Olba. For some time it has been hinted that he was conspiring against the 王位, but there was no direct 証拠. Now he must kill us all—both to do away with the 相続人 to the 王位, and to silence the 証言，証人／目撃するs of his perfidy."
We sped along for some time in silence. I calculated that if we had traveled in a reasonably straight line we were at least a thousand miles from our starting point. At length, feeling that we must have shaken our pursuers, Raboth once more descended beneath the lower stratum, taking the 警戒 of switching off all lights as he did so.
He looked about carefully, saw no 調印する of 追跡, and made the 致命的な mistake of turning on the lights. Scarcely had he done this ere a ミサイル 衝突，墜落d through the 支援する of the cab and 爆発するd with a deafening noise. It struck on Raboth's 味方する and killed him 即時に, 涙／ほころびing his 団体／死体 to shreds.
Our lights were 消滅させるd by the 爆発, but a powerful サーチライト played on us from behind and another 爆撃する carried away our 厳しい. Then the （手先の）技術 lurched violently and fell, turning end-over-end while I clung 猛烈に to my seat.
AS the 難破させる hurtled downward it gathered 勢い each instant, and I 推定する／予想するd nothing いっそう少なく than a terrific 衝突，墜落. To my surprise, however, the （手先の）技術 急落（する），激減（する）d nose first into water and sank 速く. The cabin filled 即時に through the 広大な／多数の／重要な 穴を開ける, torn by the mattork 爆撃する; but this same 穴を開ける 証明するd to be my 救済, for after the first 冷淡な shock of immersion was past I managed to 緊急発進する through it.
For several seconds I continued to 沈む in spite of my frantic 成果／努力s, 予定 to the downward 勢い of the （手先の）技術 I had just left. Then I stopped, and slowly began to make some 進歩 上向き, though it seemed at every 一打／打撃 that my 肺s must burst for want of oxygen.
After what seemed an age of 肺-緊張するing 拷問, my 長，率いる bobbed above the surface, and I trod water while 吸い込むing 広大な／多数の／重要な breaths of the moist, salt 空気／公表する.
In the blackness of the Zarovian night, broken only at infrequent intervals by the momentary twinkle of a 星／主役にする or two through a 不和 in the ever-現在の cloud envelope 総計費, I was unable to see in any direction. But I heard a familiar sound, far to my 権利—the roll of breakers on a windward shore. Toward this sound I swam slowly.
The sound grew louder as I 進歩d, and presently I lowered an 調査するing foot to find the 底（に届く）. Not reaching it, I swam onward once more. The second 実験（する） 証明するd more successful, and I stood 築く, only to be knocked flat by a 抱擁する wave. I 緊急発進するd to my feet and, half wading, half swimming, at length dragged my 疲れた／うんざりした 団体／死体 up on a sandy beach beyond reach of the breakers.
After a 簡潔な／要約する 残り／休憩（する） I arose and walked still さらに先に inland, where I soon ran into a 厚い copse of bush-fern. The ground beneath the curved fronds was covered with moss, and on this I stretched, thankful for so soft a couch. In a short time, I was asleep.
I was awakened by the sound of 発言する／表明するs やめる 近づく me. It was 幅の広い daylight and 約束d to be an exceptionally warm day. My silky scarlet 衣料品s had long since 乾燥した，日照りのd, as had my leather trappings, which bad 強化するd as a result of their soaking.
I 裁判官d from the トンs that two people were conversing—a man and a girl. At first I did not hear what they said as I lay there on the soft moss only half awake, looking drowsily up through the rustling, 勝利，勝つd-shaken fern leaves. Then the man raised his 発言する／表明する.
"井戸／弁護士席 you know, Cousin Loralie, that your parents 願望（する） the marriage as much as 地雷," he said in mincing Patoa. "Is this not enough for you? Are you so 欠如（する）ing in 尊敬（する）・点 for the wishes of your father and mother that you would 始める，決める them aside for an idle whim?"
"Not for an idle whim, Cousin Gadrimel," replied the girl in a （疑いを）晴らす, musical 発言する／表明する. "I do not love you. What more need be said?"
"How do you know?" he 需要・要求するd. "Yesterday we saw each other for the first time. We had but a few moments alone. I have not more than touched your 手渡す. I could make you love me as I have..."
"As you have countless others, no 疑問. Understand me, once and for all. No man can make me love him, nor could I make myself love any man, even if I 願望（する）d to do so as a 事柄 of filial 義務."
Not wishing to play the part of an eavesdropper, however unintentional, I stood up, ーするつもりであるing to 申し込む／申し出 my 陳謝s and take my 出発. As I did so I heard a muttered, "We'll see," from the man, followed by the sound of a struggle and a little 叫び声をあげる of 恐れる.
押し進めるing my way through the shrubbery, I （機の）カム out on a moss- covered sward in the middle of which played an ornate fountain. Just beyond the fountain I saw a girl struggling to 解放する／自由な herself from the embrace of a tall blond 青年, whose yellow 耐えるd had just begun to grow. Both wore the scarlet of 王族.
"Let me go, you beast!" The girl's big brown 注目する，もくろむs were flashing— her disheveled, dark brown ringlets 飛行機で行くing as she struggled to 解放する／自由な herself. Even in 怒り／怒る she was beautiful—more beautiful than any woman I have seen on three 惑星s.
I sprang 今後, 掴むd the 青年 by the collar, and 新たな展開ing it said, "If you are bent on 格闘するing this morning, Prince Gadrimel, 許す me to 申し込む／申し出 you a more even match."
He 解放（する）d the girl and tried to turn, その結果 I 新たな展開d his collar the tighter. Then he reached for his tork, but I 掴むd his wrist and bent it up behind his 支援する. At this he began to bellow for the guard, その結果 I sent him 衝突，墜落ing headfirst into the fern-ブレーキ.
I turned and 屈服するd to the girl, who was still 紅潮／摘発するd and panting from her struggle. "Your Highness's 容赦, if I intrude. It appeared to me that you were 存在 annoyed."
"You were 権利, and I am indebted to you, Prince... ?"
"Prince Zinlo of Olba," I finished for her, "at your service."
"I am the Princess Loralie of Tyrhana," she replied with a smile that 明らかにする／漏らすd two adorable dimples. "Pray tell me..."
Our conversation was interrupted by the 青年, who, after extricating himself from the bushes, 急ぐd between us with drawn scarbo.
"団体／死体 and bones of Thorth," he snarled. "You have 調印（する）d your death 令状, Prince Zinlo."
Then he made a 削除する at me that would have 厳しいd my 長，率いる from my 団体／死体 had I not leaped 支援する. As I did so, I drew my own blade and engaged him. Finding in a moment that he was no master of 盗品故買者, I 武装解除するd him—then retrieved his 武器 before he had time to 回復する from his amazement.
"You have dropped your scarbo," I said. "許す me." And I 現在のd it to him, hilt first.
Again he 肺d at me, and again I 武装解除するd him, with as much 緩和する as before—then leaped and 選ぶd up his 武器 before he could reach it.
"Perhaps I had better keep this," I said. "You seem so unfamiliar with its use that you may 負傷させる yourself."
He reached for his tork, but I was 推定する／予想するing this, and with a quick 削除する 削減（する） his belt. The 武器 fell の上に the soft moss, and I kicked it into the shrubbery.
He cringed as if 推定する／予想するing the death blow, then suddenly looked beyond me, exclaiming, "By the sixteen kingdoms of Reabon! Look behind you!"
Thinking it a trick, I did not look until I heard a 叫び声をあげる from Princess Loralie and the clank of 武器s. Then I whirled, and saw her struggling in the 支配する of a purple-覆う？ noble whom I 即時に 認めるd as my 対抗者 of the tower—Taliboz! An Olban airship 残り／休憩（する）ing on the ground behind him explained his presence here. Four burly 軍人s were 急ぐing toward me with drawn scarbos.
"It seems that we have some real fighting to do," I said to Gadrimel, 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするing him his 武器. He caught it, and （機の）カム manfully enough to guard, just as the four 武装した retainers of Taliboz bore 負かす／撃墜する on us. I crouched low and 延長するd my point as my first 加害者 made a vicious swing at my neck.
He died on my blade with an ear-piercing shriek, and I wrenched it 解放する／自由な just as my second 加害者 （機の）カム up. This fellow was not only more 用心深い, but やめる 専門家 with the scarbo. He laid my cheek open with a quick 削減（する） just as I was coming on guard. His second blow was 目的（とする）d at my 脚s, and would have mowed me 負かす／撃墜する as 伸び（る） is 削減（する） had I not leaped 支援する. As it was, the point of his 武器 raked my thigh.
Stung by the 苦痛 of my two 負傷させるs, I forgot my swordsmanship for the moment, and brought my blade straight 負かす／撃墜する in a blow which he should have easily parried. It was the 予期しない clumsiness of the 一打／打撃 which told, as he did not come on guard in time; my blade divided his 長，率いる as cleanly as a knife divides a Zarovian spore-pod.
Over at my left, Prince Gadrimel was sorely beset by the other two ruffians. His 直面する and 団体／死体 were 血まみれの as my own, yet he gave them 支援する blow for blow and thrust for thrust. But he was plainly 弱めるing. With the princess 存在 carried off, there was no time for the niceties of dueling, and I felt no compunction about leaping up behind his nearest 加害者 and striking off his 長，率いる. The other, seeing the blow, turned to 直面する me; but to his own undoing, for he left Gadrimel the 開始 he sought. With a quick 削除する the prince disemboweled him.
"Come," I snapped, dashing toward the airship. "We must 救助（する） the princess from that fiend."
He followed の近くに at my heels, but we had not covered more than half the distance to the airship when it began to rise. Then a mattork 発射物 叫び声をあげるd past our 長，率いるs, 爆発するing in the shrubbery behind us, followed by another and another. We took 避難所 behind the marble 縁 of the fountain, and Taliboz's 砲撃 中止するd.
The cannonading was suddenly 再開するd; but this time it （機の）カム from the 城 behind us. The 城 guards, evidently believing themselves attacked by the Olban ship, were returning its 解雇する／砲火／射撃 with a vengeance.
Gadrimel and I both rose from our hiding place, and he shouted, "Don't shoot! The princess is on board."
The 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing 中止するd, but too late, for the airship, its 動機 機械装置 put out of （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 by a mattork 爆撃する, was 落ちるing into the bay. I watched breathlessly as it hurtled downward, 推定する／予想するing to see it 急落（する），激減（する） beneath the water as my own had done the night before; but, to my astonishment, two パラシュート（で降下する）s flew 上向き from the fore and aft decks and 効果的に broke its 落ちる. It alighted on an even keel with a 広大な／多数の／重要な splash that nearly 転覆するd a small sailing 大型船 錨，総合司会者d 近づく by. 沈むing no deeper than its deck railing, it rose again to ride the waves as 平等に as if it had been built 特に for the 目的.
Washed shoreward, it drifted closer and closer to the small sailing 大型船 while Gadrimel and I 急ぐd 負かす／撃墜する to the shore. Then, as we stood helplessly watching, a dozen 武装した men 群れているd into the sailing 大型船 from the airship. The sailors 即時に dived over the opposite 味方する and swam for shore. The last man to step into the 逮捕（する）d ship was the purple-覆う？ Taliboz, carrying in his 武器 the limp form of Princess Loralie.
"To the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れるs!" shouted Gadrimel, racing madly off to the 権利. "They are raising the sails!"
As I hurried along, I saw the sails go up, 大波ing in the 微風, while four of Taliboz's men at the prow hoisted the 錨，総合司会者.
Gadrimel and I 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd a bend in the wooded shore line, and a 三日月 of ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れるs to which several hundred ships were moored （機の）カム into 見解（をとる）. At the same time, the 大型船 which Taliboz had 逮捕（する）d, with all sails up and 錨，総合司会者 hoisted, veered about in the かなりの 微風 and made 速く for the open sea.
A party of 兵士s from the 城 had reached the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる ahead of us. With them was a tall, 幅の広い-shouldered 人物／姿／数字 in the scarlet of 王族, whose grizzled 耐えるd was 削減（する） off square below the chin, and whose regal countenance was empurpled with 怒り／怒る.
"It's my father, Emperor Aardvan of Adonijar," said Gadrimel.
"準備する six 軍艦s for 追跡, at once," I heard Aardvan shout.
A thousand men hurried to carry out his orders.
As we approached this 命令（する）ing individual, the prince and I both 屈服するd low, with 権利 手渡すs 延長するd palm downward, in the 全世界の／万国共通の Zarovian salute to 王族. I was struck by the contrast between this brawny, bull-necked emperor and his mincing, effeminate son.
Aardvan, glaring 負かす／撃墜する at us, roared, "Two brawling princelings, all spattered with 血. What did you do? Scratch each other like a couple of marmelot cubs? Who is your playmate, Gadrimel? Were those his men who carried off the princess?"
"This is Torrogi Zinlo of Olba, Your Majesty," replied Gadrimel.
"The 皇室の 栄冠を与える Prince of Olba! What does he here?"
I explained 簡潔に.
"We slew four men, sire," 誇るd Gadrimel.
"I've heard of this Taliboz," growled Aardvan. "A traitorous and dangerous fellow. You are welcome to Adonijar, Prince Zinlo. Stay as long as you like, and when you are ready to 出発／死 I'll send a guard of 栄誉（を受ける） to …を伴って you to your own country."
"With your majesty's 許可," I said, "I should prefer to …を伴って the (n)艦隊／(a)素早い which is 準備するing to follow Taliboz."
"That will be as Gadrimel says," rumbled his father. "He will 命令（する） the (n)艦隊／(a)素早い."
"Come along," said Gadrimel. "Our 私的な quarrel can wait. For the 現在の we have ありふれた 利益／興味s, and your blade may be needed."
A gray-bearded 海軍の officer （機の）カム running up and saluted.
"What is it, Rogvoz?" 問い合わせd Emperor Aardvan.
"The (n)艦隊／(a)素早い is ready, Your Majesty," replied the officer.
"Then let's be off," said Gadrimel.
We hurried 船内に one of the six 大型船s, all of which 群れているd with 武装した men, …を伴ってd by the gray-bearded officer. A few moments later, with all sails 始める，決める, the (n)艦隊／(a)素早い 骨折って進むd out of the harbor in 追跡 of the small fishing boat, which was now but a speck on the horizon.
THE tiny 帆船 in which my mortal enemy, Taliboz, was carrying off the Princess Loralie, was making 刻々と northeast toward Olba with our six 戦艦s in hot 追跡, when suddenly I saw her come about and bead 直接／まっすぐに south.
Gadrimel, 海軍大将 Rogvoz and I were watching together on the 今後 deck of the 旗艦. The 海軍大将 星／主役にするd for a minute through his long glass. Then he carefully scanned the horizon toward the northeast.
"They have good 推論する／理由s for turning," he 発表するd excitedly. "A 広大な／多数の／重要な ordzook approaches from the north!"
He passed the glass to Gadrimel, who looked for a moment, then with an exclamation of horror, passed it on to me.
When I had adjusted the glass to 控訴 my 見通し, I saw a most fearsome sight. Not more than a half mile behind the small 帆船, and 伸び（る）ing on it 速く, a gigantic and terrible 長，率いる 事業／計画（する）d from the water, swinging on a 厚い arched neck. The 長，率いる alone was half as long as the 帆船 it 追求するd; and although the 団体／死体 was 潜水するd, I could see, at intervals of fifteen to twenty feet, sharp spines flashing 断続的に above the waves to a distance of fully a hundred feet behind the 長，率いる.
"Do you think we can save them, Rogvoz?" asked Gadrimel.
"We can but try, Highness," replied the 海軍大将. "It is doubtful." He turned to the captain of the boat. "Order the mattork 乗組員s to start 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing on the ordzook, and signal all other captains to do likewise."
The captain shouted his orders to the waiting 大砲 乗組員s, and a moment later the din of these 早い-解雇する／砲火／射撃 武器s was terrific. From the high 今後 deck our signal man 一方／合間 busied himself semaphoring with two 抱擁する disks, one red the other yellow. The other ships すぐに opened 解雇する／砲火／射撃 with their mattorks, 追加するing to the deafening noise which our own ship had started.
We were approaching closer to the 海洋 monster now, as the path of the fishing boat crossed our own. I could see the ordzook turn from time to time, snapping at the stinging mattork 発射物s as they struck the spiny 山の尾根s of its undulating scaly 団体／死体, which was a shimmering, bluish-green in color. The 長，率いる and neck were a brilliant shade of yellow, except where neck and shoulders joined, for at this point a 幅の広い 禁止（する）d of scarlet formed a 炎上ing （犯罪の）一味— a danger signal which all creatures might beware.
The 速度(を上げる） of the mighty amphibian was 妨げるd by its constant turning to snap at its 負傷させるs, enabling the small boat 含む／封じ込めるing Taliboz and Loralie to 伸び（る） on it 徐々に.
Suddenly changing its course, the monster wheeled and swam toward our (n)艦隊／(a)素早い. "To the 権利!" called Rogvoz. "Veer to the 権利!"
The ship on which we stood （機の）カム about suddenly, her starboard rail for a moment 潜水するd beneath the waves. All 手渡すs grabbed for such 直す／買収する，八百長をするd 反対するs as they could 粘着する to.
Behind us 追跡するd the (n)艦隊／(a)素早い, and on （機の）カム the ordzook, not stopping now to snap futilely at the stinging 発射物s, but bent on more deadly 活動／戦闘.
With all the port mattorks trained on the monster, I thought to see it go into a death struggle at any moment, but the 発射物s seemed 単に to irritate it. We were so の近くに in a few moments that I could see its 比較して tiny jet 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs, 始める，決める just above the corners of the 広大な／多数の／重要な gaping mouth which was filled with a formidable array of saw-辛勝する／優位d teeth.
We passed it 安全に, as did the second, third, fourth and fifth boats, but the last of the (n)艦隊／(a)素早い, lagging behind because of 妥当でない 巧みな操作 of its sails, could not escape.
The enormous yellow 長，率いる 後部d 上向き for an instant on the arched, spiny neck. Then, with formidable jaws distended, it struck downward at the fore deck. The captain of the ship and three of his men standing with him disappeared into the 抱擁する maw along with most of the deck on which they stood.
Again and again the creature struck at the doomed （手先の）技術, until sails, masts, men, and most of the upper 作品 were gone. Then it 後部d 上向き in the water and （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する with a tremendous 衝突，墜落 on the middle of the defenseless hulk. Broken in two by the terrific 衝撃, both halves of the ship sank almost 即時に, and the fearful creature which had wrought this 破壊 before our 注目する，もくろむs 急落（する），激減（する）d into the waves after them. Nor did we see it more.
Once more we turned our attention to the boat 含む／封じ込めるing Taliboz and the princess. Hemmed off from Olba by our five 大型船s, they were now sailing 予定 south at a 速度(を上げる） 明らかに equaling our own, for as time passed the distance between us did not seem appreciably to alter.
Because of the presence of Princess Loralie on board the fishing boat we were constrained to 保留する our mattork 解雇する／砲火／射撃, with which さもなければ we could soon have brought Taliboz to 条件. He 解雇する／砲火／射撃d no 発射s, either, except a few 逸脱する 発射物s from the torks, which led us to believe that he had not 海難救助d any mattorks from his 難破させるd airship.
As we sailed southward over the blue-gray waters of the Ropok Ocean, the point of land on which the city of Adonijar is 据えるd receded from 見解（をとる）, and in all directions showed only a cloud-lined sky 会合 and almost blending with the rolling waters.
But even this 広大な expanse of sky and sea was not a lonely place. It teemed with life of a thousand varieties—with creatures of striking beauty and of the most terrifying ugliness. やめる 近づく our boat several large white birds with red-tipped wings and long, はっきりと curved beaks skimmed the water in search of food. Mighty 飛行機で行くing reptiles, some with wingspreads of more than sixty feet, 急に上がるd high in the 空気／公表する, scanning the water until they saw such prey as ふさわしい them; then, 倍のing their webbed wings, they 急落（する），激減（する）d with terrific 速度(を上げる）, to 現れる with struggling prey and leisurely flap away.
With the advent of sudden 不明瞭, ありふれた to 熱帯の and 半分-熱帯の Zarovia, 有望な サーチライトs flashed out from the mast-長，率いるs of the entire (n)艦隊／(a)素早い, and the boat we 追求するd was thus kept in sight.
While these lights were an 絶対の necessity in the blackness of the moonless Zarovian night, they were also a nuisance, as they attracted to the 大型船 countless droves of 飛行機で行くing creatures, mostly reptilian; many of them, blinded by the 有望な beams, flew against masts, sails or 船の索具 and fell, squawking, croaking or hissing to the deck. Some of them, infuriated and only partly 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうd or stunned, menaced our lives until 派遣（する）d and 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd overboard.
After several hours I grew 疲れた／うんざりした and retired for the night. にもかかわらず the 絶えず repeated 騒動s above deck and the たびたび（訪れる） 衝突する／食い違うing of the （手先の）技術 with some 海洋 monster, I soon fell asleep.
I was awakened late the に引き続いて morning by Prince Gadrimel's valet, who 主張するd on 大臣ing to my wants as became a prince of the 血 皇室の. After a breakfast of stewed mushrooms and succulent 取調べ／厳しく尋問するd fish, washed 負かす／撃墜する with a bowl of steaming kova, I went on deck where I 設立する Gadrimel and Rogvoz in 協議.
"They swing 徐々に but surely toward the 南西, Highness," said Rogvoz as I （機の）カム up. "They are trying to circle us and sail once more toward Olba."
"Is there no way we can 妨げる their doing this?" asked Gadrimel.
"We can only follow them so that their circle must be so large that they will be cornered by land."
I took up the glass which he had put 負かす／撃墜する ーするために make some 計算／見積りs, and 焦点（を合わせる）d it on the ship we were 追求するing. On the 後部 deck I made out the わずかな／ほっそりした 人物／姿／数字 of the princess, who also held a telescope in her 手渡す. She raised it a moment later, and I saw that it was pointed at our ship. I waved my left arm.
Her reply was instantaneous, as her shapely white arm flashed above her 長，率いる. Then I saw Taliboz, glowering with 激怒（する）, come up behind her, wrench the glass from her しっかり掴む and with 重要な gestures order her 今後. With little 長，率いる held high, she 反抗するd him, but he しっかり掴むd her wrist and dragged her away. As she disappeared from 見解（をとる）, I lowered my glass, and Gadrimel, who had evidently been watching me, said, "耐えるd of Thorth, Prince Zinlo! Your usually serene and smiling countenance has suddenly become as 嵐の and forbidding as the Azpok at change of seasons. What have you seen?"
"Enough," I replied, "to make me long for the day when I can once more 会合，会う Taliboz 直面する-to-直面する, scarbo in 手渡す!"
For five days we followed in tormenting nearness, いつかs の近くに enough to be within あられ／賞賛するing distance, いつかs so far 支援する that we 恐れるd to lose them. It was late on the fifth day that a 警戒／見張り at the masthead above us suddenly shouted: "Land! Land!"
即時に Gadrimel, Rogvoz and I 急ぐd to the foredeck. Taliboz, now hemmed in from all 味方するs by our (n)艦隊／(a)素早い, was doing the only thing left for him to do, steering 直接／まっすぐに for a 避難所d inlet. He 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd a curve in the shore line, disappearing from 見解（をとる）, and some time later, when we sailed into the inlet, we saw his （手先の）技術 beached.
Rogvoz, who had the glass, exclaimed, "The fool! The utter fool! To escape us he 急落（する），激減（する）s into worse danger, dragging the princess with him. We, at least, would not eat him."
"What do you mean?" 需要・要求するd Gadrimel.
"Just now I saw the entire party disappear into the fern forest."
"But this danger you について言及する. What is it?"
"I had forgotten, Highness, that you are unfamiliar with this part of Zarovia. This is the land of the terrible, flesh-eating 洞穴-apes—抱擁する creatures, any one of which is said to be a match for a dozen men, but with 知能 far greater than that of other apes. Some of the few men who have landed here and had the good fortune to escape them say they not only have a peculiar clucking language of their own but can also speak Patoa."
"We must catch up to them quickly," I cried.
The five ships were brought up as の近くに to the sloping, sandy beach as was 安全な, then boats were lowered. Soon a 軍隊 of five hundred fighting men stood on shore.
After a short 協議, it was decided that we should form a long line, the men keeping about ten feet apart, and so enter the forest in the direction which Taliboz had taken. This line, if kept 無傷の, would form a 広大な／多数の／重要な 逮捕する nearly a mile across in which the 逃亡者／はかないものs, we felt sure, must 必然的に be snared. Rogvoz took 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the extreme left end of the line, Gadrimel directed the 中心, and I had 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the extreme 権利 end.
Tripping over 粘着するing creepers, floundering through sticky morasses, cutting our way through matted, 絡まるd ropelike vines which hung downward from the mighty 支店s of the tree-ferns, and 絶えず slapping at the biting and stinging insect pests which abounded in these lowlands, we soon 設立する ourselves 進歩ing with exasperating slowness.
Not only did the vegetable and insect world 捜し出す to 拘留する us, there was the menace of animals and reptiles 同様に. A 巨大（な） whistling serpent—a hideous creature fully forty feet in length, with long, upright ears and sharp spines the 十分な length of its 支援する—struck 負かす／撃墜する one of our men and 後継するd in 殺人，大当り two others before it was finally 派遣（する）d by the 弾丸s from a 得点する／非難する／２０ of torks.
Soon the men had banded in groups of about twenty each for 相互の 保護.
The group nearest us lost three men to a ramph, a 広大な／多数の／重要な hairless bearlike creature, whose scaly hide was a brilliant chlorophyll green above, fading to a greenish yellow below. After they had 殺害された it they fell to with their scarbos, cutting it up and 耐えるing 部分s of the meat with them, for ramph steaks were considered the most delicious meat on Zarovia.
Some time 近づく noon, my party was attacked by a marmelot, a vicious feline fully as large as a terrestrial 草案 horse, its hairless, scaly hide a mottled orange and 黒人／ボイコット, its 広大な／多数の／重要な saber tusks fully a foot in length. Seven of our men were 殺害された by this, one of the fiercest of the Zarovian ジャングル creatures, before it was 派遣（する）d.
勇敢に立ち向かう men were these 兵士s of Adonijar; in spite of the sudden death which hovered over us in these 絡まるd ジャングルs, they 削減（する） their way 今後 without 不平（をいう）ing or word of turning 支援する.
Because they had stopped to 削減（する） up the ramph they had 殺害された, we bad lost sight of the party next to us, and it was not until 不明瞭 suddenly descended that I thought to communicate with them. I called out to them then to 停止（させる）, but received no reply. Again I called at the 最高の，を越す of my 発言する／表明する, but there was no answer.
"Remain here," I told my men, "and I will go and find them. They cannot be far away."
Glad for a 残り／休憩（する） after their arduous march, the group quickly （疑いを）晴らすd a place for a 解雇する／砲火／射撃, and got out their kova and 準備／条項s to 準備する their evening meal.
I then 始める，決める out in the direction which I felt sure would lead me to the next group of 軍人s, flashing my light ahead of me. I must have traveled for at least two miles, shouting from time to time without receiving any reply, when suddenly I heard a quavering, mournful howl from the 不明瞭 at my 権利.
Swinging my light around in the direction of the noise, I saw three 抱擁する, slinking forms and three pairs of 炎ing 注目する，もくろむs. They わずかに 似ているd terrestrial wolves, but were fully twice as large as any wolves that ever lived on Earth. Their scaly hides were 予定する gray in color, and each had a ruff of long, sharp spines which stood out around the neck like a spiked collar. Upon 述べるing them later, I learned that they were awoos—so called, no 疑問, because of their doleful, 神経-racking cries.
Swinging my tork into line, I 即時に brought 負かす／撃墜する the 真っ先の beast, その結果 the others crouched, disappearing from 見解（をとる）. Howl after howl resounded from all directions. They began to の近くに in on me.
I whirled this way and that, and where the light was caught by the glowing 注目する，もくろむs of the 用心深い creatures, my tork spat death, but I soon saw that it was a hopeless fight. It seemed that as soon as I killed or 負傷させるd one creature, two more stepped in to take its place.
There was nothing left for me to do but to climb into the 支店s above me, hoping they would be unable to follow. Accordingly I 群れているd up one of the 追跡するing, rope-like vines which hung from the mighty fronds of a tree-fern fully sixty feet above my 長，率いる, and soon 設立する myself in a 抱擁する leaf 栄冠を与える which afforded a 一時的な 残り／休憩（する）ing place.
The howling chorus below was terrible to hear. The pack, now more than a hundred in number, milled about the base of the tree while the more impatient of the creatures leaped up, snapping and snarling. Time and again I used my tork, littering the ground with their carcasses, but the dead brutes were 即時に 取って代わるd by others.
Wondering how long this sort of thing would last, I was slipping a fresh clip of gas and one of 発射物s into my 武器 when I heard a rustle of the leaves above me. ちらりと見ることing 上向き, I beheld a 抱擁する gorilla-like 直面する surmounting a mighty chest fully three feet across. Then a 広大な／多数の／重要な hairy 手渡す descended on my 長，率いる with terrific 軍隊, and I lost consciousness.
WHEN I bad once more become aware of my surroundings, I was lying in 半分-不明瞭 on a 冷淡な 石／投石する 床に打ち倒す. The 最高の，を越す of my 長，率いる was bruised and tender, and my neck so lame that a sharp twinge of 苦痛 発射 through it each time I turned my 長，率いる to look about. The belt, to which my tork and scarbo had been fastened, was gone.
I sat up, and my brain swam dizzily for a moment. My 見通し （疑いを）晴らすd presently, and I saw that the source of the light which but faintly illuminated the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す I 占領するd was a jagged 開始—evidently the mouth of a 抱擁する 洞穴.
やめる の近くに to me on my left, I became aware that some creature was breathing ひどく, 明らかに in sleep. Turning, I beheld the recumbent form of a gigantic hairy 女性（の）—長，率いる pillowed on arm, and 膝s drawn up as if for warmth, sleeping not four feet from me.
The 直面する was neither ape nor human, but partook of the 特徴 of both. The form, slender of waist, 十分な- breasted and 幅の広い-hipped, was more like that of a human 女性（の） than a she-ape, though covered with short, 赤みを帯びた-brown hair. The 四肢s were not ungraceful, but the toes were long and evidently prehensile. I 裁判官d that the creature, when standing 築く, must be at least eight feet in 高さ and so powerfully muscled as to be a formidable antagonist.
Stealthily I stood 築く, then tiptoed toward the mouth of the 洞穴. I had not taken more than a dozen steps when something tripped me and I fell headlong to the jagged 床に打ち倒す. At the same time there （機の）カム the sound of a fearful growl behind me.
Before I could 緊急発進する to my feet I was pounced upon from behind and jerked 築く. Then, with my 武器 pinioned behind me by two powerful hairy 手渡すs, I was marched out into the sunlight. Looking up, to the かなりの inconvenience of my 負傷させるd neck, I saw that my captor was the big 女性（の） who had been sleeping so 平和的に a moment before. She had been awakened by a thin but exceedingly 堅い 新たな展開d string of gut, tied to my ankle and her wrist.
We were high up on a rugged hillside which seemed honeycombed with 洞穴s. In the valley far below us, I saw the waving fronds of 抱擁する tree-ferns above the 絡まるd 集まり of ジャングル vegetation.
"So, food-man, you would escape Chixa, and thus have Chixa 殺害された," said my captor in a peculiar, clucking Patoa.
"It is high time you were taken before Rorg. Perhaps he is hungry."
"解放（する） my wrists," I replied, "and I'll be glad to go with you before Rorg. Who is he, and what has his hunger to do with me?"
"Rorg is the king, the Rogo of the 洞穴-Apes." The tall 女性（の） 解放（する）d my wrists and stepped up beside me, taking a 会社／堅い 支配する on my 権利 arm. "If he is hungry he may want to eat you."
"What makes you think I will be good to eat?" I asked.
"I have tasted the flesh of many food-men, and most of it is good, though it is いつかs too salty. Are you very salty?"
"Very. I'm afraid your 支配者 would be displeased."
"If you are very salty he will be 大いに pleased," said Chixa. "He likes salty food-men, though I do not."
About the furry waist of my captor there was a string like the one bound to my ankle. Swinging from this string on the 味方する opposite me, by a short hook in the 扱う, was a 武器 I 大いに coveted.
It was a club of hard 支持を得ようと努めるd about three feet in length, 形態／調整d something like the blade of an oar, but 厚い and heavier, and pointed at the end. 始める，決める in the two 辛勝する／優位s of this club were small bits of sharp flint which gave it a formidable saw-like 外見. It was 激しい enough to 鎮圧する a skull or break a 四肢, and sharp enough to lacerate the toughest muscle. A large flint knife also swung between her breasts from a cord around her neck.
The 洞穴-ape walking beside me was in some ways like a woman, and because of that faint similarity I hesitated for a moment to carry out the 計画（する） which had come to me. But life has ever been dear to me—even though I love adventure so 大いに that I have 危険d death in many terrible forms on three 惑星s—so my hesitation was but momentary.
Suddenly turning with my 権利 arm bent at the 肘, I put all my 負わせる in a blow that landed in the furry solar plexus. With a terrible sound— half 叫び声をあげる, half roar—my tall captor clasped her 手渡すs to her abdomen and bent over. As she did so I pivoted the other way with a left to the point of her jaw, and she fell unconscious at my feet.
Quickly slipping the knife cord from around her neck, I sawed the gut tether from my ankle. Then I 掴むd the club which dangled from her belt, and looked about me for the most likely avenue of escape.
To my surprise and horror, I saw that there was 非，不，無, for at the sound of Chixa's 発言する／表明する, the 洞穴s had suddenly 噴出するd 前へ／外へ not いっそう少なく than a thousand of these gigantic creatures, all 武装した as I now was, with flint knives and sawedged clubs. The 円熟した 女性（の）s 変化させるd in 高さ from seven to nine feet and the males from ten to twelve.
Those nearest me had 秘かに調査するd me as I got to my feet, and now approached menacingly from all 味方するs with 明らかにするd fangs and low, throaty growls—the males 陳列する，発揮するing long, downcurving tusks which 大いに 増加するd their ferocious 外見.
With the club held swordlike in my 権利 手渡す, and the flint knife gripped in my left, I leaped for a 広大な／多数の／重要な leaning 玉石, one 味方する of which could afford me 保護 from above and behind.
A 抱擁する tusked male sprang 今後 to 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 my 進歩, and swung his saw-辛勝する／優位d club in a terrific blow. He was fully eleven feet in 高さ, and 非常に高い above me as he did, 申し込む／申し出d no 適切な時期 for quick club work.
There was, however, a chance to use the knife, which I did without compunction. Leaping beneath his swinging 武器, I buried it in the 権利 味方する of his abdomen and ripped him across the belly. While he swayed drunkenly, I 完全にするd my 急ぐ to the 一時的な 保護 of the 玉石, and as I turned with my 支援する against it to 会合，会う the attack of the others, I saw him 倒れる to the ground.
A moment later I was 直面するd by a semicircle of growling, roaring 洞穴-apes, swinging their clubs menacingly, but a little different about approaching me too closely—probably because of what had happened to their companion. 拒む，否認するd with the growling and roaring I could distinctly hear the Patoan words "kill" and "meat," which sounded ominous enough.
The 広大な／多数の／重要な tusked males seemed to be working themselves into a frenzy of fury as they （機の）カム closer and closer—evidently their 原始の way of 試みる／企てるing to 打ち勝つ their 恐れる of me.
Presently one leaped out ahead of the の近くにing line, and swung his club for my 長，率いる with a terrific downward, two-手渡すd 一打／打撃. I stepped to the left, and 今後, and as his club was 粉々にするd on the 石／投石する where I had been standing, the flinty 辛勝する／優位 of my own bit 深く，強烈に into his cervical vertebrae. He fell on his 直面する without a sound.
I sprang to a new position, brandishing my club menacingly, and the line of 攻撃者s moved 支援する a little.
"Kill! Kill!" The word was repeated 絶えず now as the savage semicircle の近くにd in once more.
"Come and be killed!" I replied.
"You will be next to die, food-man," roared a 抱擁する male who stood 近づく the 中心 of the line, "for Urg is about to kill you." Urg stood at least twelve feet in 高さ, a 長，率いる taller than the other males in the 前線 line, and his 広大な／多数の／重要な downcurving tusks, fully seven インチs in length, gave him a most ferocious 面.
He seemed about to spring 今後, and I had を締めるd myself for his attack, when there was a sudden commotion behind him. The milling （人が）群がる of apes drew 支援する respectfully to make way for a 抱擁する male, taller and heavier even than Urg.
Just behind him walked two young 女性（の）s, one waving a fern 前線 to keep annoying insects away from him, while the other carried a 抱擁する gourd-like fungus with a 瓶／封じ込める neck and a bowl made from a 分裂（する） sporepod. Behind these two walked more ape- maidens, some carrying fresh meat, while others bore bowls heaped high with fragments of edible fungi or sporepods, 割れ目d, and ready for eating.
Coming up behind Urg, the newcomer carelessly 押し進めるd him aside and stood in the 前線 line, 調査するing me with 明らかな 退屈. At this, Urg gave a low growl, その結果 the larger ape smote him in the mouth.
"Growl again at Rorg, and you will feel the 負わせる of his club."
"I did not know it was Rorg who 押し進めるd me," replied Urg.
"Why do you hesitate before this little food-man?" asked Rorg. "Do you 恐れる him?"
"Of course not," answered Urg. "I was playing with him. I was about to kill him when you （機の）カム up."
"I believe you 恐れる him," continued Rorg. "I notice he slew your brother, Arg, who was as good a 闘士，戦闘機 as you. This is unusual for a food-man. He must be a mighty 軍人 の中で his people. It shall be for Rorg, mightiest of the 洞穴-apes, to 殺す him."
"It is my 権利 to kill him," growled Urg, "for he slew my brother."
"He will be killed when and how I 任命する, for I am king." He swung on me once more. "Who are you, food-man," he asked, "and how did you 殺す my people?"
"I am Zinlo," I replied, "and I slew your people with the 武器s of Chixa which I took from her."
"How could you take Chixa's 武器s from her?" asked Rorg incredulously. "Why, she is ten times as strong as you. I do not believe it. Chixa gave you her 武器s, so Chixa shall be 殺害された."
"Chixa lies unconscious on the ground, Rorg," clucked a 女性（の）. "This food-man must have taken her 武器s by 軍隊."
"Chixa is feigning and shall be 殺害された," said Rorg. "Such a thing would not be possible. Go and 殺す her, Urg."
All this time I had been standing guardedly, 説 nothing; but when it became 明らかな that the 女性（の） ape was about to be killed through no fault of her own, but because of something I had done, I felt a wave of pity for her. Brute and man-eater though she was, she had been considerate of me. After all, she was something like a woman.
"Rorg," I said, "I did not 嘘（をつく） about taking her 武器s from her, and I can 証明する it."
"How?"
"By taking the 武器s from your strongest 軍人 in the same manner."
"Can you take Urg's 武器s from him?" asked Rorg.
"Of course."
"Then you must be very strong or very clever. I like clever food-men. いつかs I keep them for a long while when they are exceedingly clever. When they fail to amuse me they die. Let me see you take Urg's 武器s, and I will spare your life for today, at least."
"But what of Chixa?"
"I will spare her life, also."
"Good. I will need plenty of room, and I 需要・要求する your 約束 that I will not be attacked by any one other than Urg."
"You will have plenty of room, and you have my word that you will not be attacked or 干渉するd with," said Rorg.
"Move 支援する, then, all of you," I said, "until I tell you to stop."
The （人が）群がる drew 支援する until the 前線 line was a hundred feet from the 激しく揺する in all directions.
"That is enough. Now, Urg, come here and I will take your 武器s. I will go 非武装の, and you must not have your 武器s in your 手渡すs. You will walk beside me as if I were your 囚人 fastened to a tether." With this I dropped 武器s to the ground.
"It is a trick," growled Urg, but at Rorg's 命令（する） he hung his flint knife around his neck, and 麻薬中毒の his club in the string around his waist. As the brute 板材d up beside me, and I saw what a mighty tower of strength he was, I must 自白する that I felt かなりの 疑問 about 存在 able to knock him out.
He strode along beside me, his 広大な／多数の／重要な 武器 swinging at his 味方するs. I timed my swing for the instant when the 広大な／多数の／重要な paw nearest me was 支援する, leaving the abdomen unguarded. Then I pivoted, 上陸 my 権利 握りこぶし in his solar plexus —all the 軍隊 I could 召集（する） behind it.
With a grunt of surprise, he 二塁打d 今後 as Chixa had done; but before I could swing for his jaw, he stood 築く once more and reached for his club. His chin, by this time, was so high in the 空気／公表する that I could not reach it, and he had his plexus covered by his 広大な／多数の／重要な forearm; there was nothing I could do with my 握りこぶしs. His 向こうずねs; however, were exposed; I kicked the 権利 one with my sandaled foot.
Uttering a howl of 苦痛, he raised his foot and 開始する，打ち上げるd it at me, その結果 I しっかり掴むd it with both 手渡すs, and 新たな展開ing it with a sudden jerk that 原因（となる）d the bones to creak, turned his toes downward and his heel 上向き at the same time. This turned him 完全に around, and a quick 押し進める sent him on his 直面する.
Before he could 緊急発進する 築く, I leaped on his 支援する, 工場／植物ing a 激しい blow just beneath his ear. He shook himself in an 成果／努力 to dislodge me, but I しっかり掴むd one of his tusks with my left 手渡す, and with my 脚s wrapped around him, continued to 大打撃を与える him behind the furry ear.
Standing 築く, he bellowed 怒って, and 解放（する）ing his 支配する on his club, しっかり掴むd my left arm in his 抱擁する 権利 手渡す. Wrenching my 手渡す away from his tusk, he jerked me 今後 over his left shoulder and threw me to the ground fully twenty feet away. Fortunately for me, I alighted on my feet, and although I つまずくd and fell, was 損なわれない.
I saw Urg coming toward me, but he reeled drunkenly.
Quickly springing to my feet, I leaped 今後, その結果 he jerked his club from his belt and made a wild swing for my 長，率いる. As his 勢い bent him 今後, I dodged, and leaping in, 工場／植物d a blow in his 権利 注目する，もくろむ. He straightened, and I struck him in the solar plexus once more.
This time he 二塁打d up, exposing his jaw, on which I 工場／植物d a 衝突，墜落ing 権利 hook. Once more he stood 築く, tottering unsteadily, and once more I 二塁打d him up with a plexus blow, getting in a left to the jaw. He fell on his 直面する as I sprang out of his way, finishing him with a blow behind the ear.
I slipped the knife cord from around his neck, and 選ぶd up the 広大な／多数の／重要な saw-辛勝する／優位d club which he had dropped. Then I leaped upon his 支援する, and with one foot on his neck, brandished the 武器s aloft, while a 広大な／多数の／重要な howl went up from the 暴徒 around me.
From his place in the 中心 of the line, Rorg walked slowly toward me, …に出席するd only by the 女性（の） with the fern frond. I stepped 負かす／撃墜する from the prostrate 団体／死体 of Urg as he approached, and slung the knife about my neck, also hooking the club in my belt. "Are you 納得させるd?" I asked.
"I am 納得させるd," replied Rorg. "You are clever enough to be kept alive for a while, and Chixa shall be spared."
It was then I noticed a gold bangle about Rorg's wrist. I saw that it was stamped with the coat of 武器 of Taliboz, and it followed that this must have belonged to one of his retainers.
"Where did you get the man who wore that bangle?" I asked.
"My 軍人s 逮捕（する）d him with twelve other food-men, and a food-woman. We have eaten them all, except one man who is very clever, and the woman, who is very beautiful."
"Do you know the 指名する of this clever food-man?" I asked.
"His servants called him Lord Taliboz," was the reply.
"And the food-woman?"
"A 王室の princess, fit only for 王族. I ーするつもりである to 結婚する her at the beginning of the next endir. Although I should like to 結婚する her sooner, I will not 出発／死 from the customs and traditions of my forefathers, who married but one wife at a time and her at the beginning of each endir, thus taking but ten mates a year. I had ーするつもりであるd Chixa for my next wife, but now she will have to wait for another endir."
"Is it customary for 洞穴-apes to mate with food-people?"
"It is not," replied Rorg, "but we have no old 法律 against it. I make all the new 法律s, and I have 法令d that, hereafter, all Rogos of the 洞穴-Apes may marry food-women if they choose to do so."
"I have a 広大な／多数の／重要な curiosity to see this food-man who is so clever and this beautiful food-woman," I said.
"You shall see them," replied Rorg. "Come with me. I want you to do some more clever tricks, anyway, to amuse my wives and children."
As I strolled away with Rorg I saw Urg 動かす わずかに, then roll over and sit up, after which he tenderly felt his bruised jaw and the 乱打するd 位置／汚点／見つけ出す behind his ear.
RORG and I climbed high up the 山腹 while his 女性（の） attendants and the 暴徒 of 洞穴-apes which had been so bent on 殺人，大当り me 緊急発進するd after us.
We were 上がるing the tallest 頂点（に達する） of a chain of mountains which 延長するd toward the north and south, their rugged slopes partly 隠すd by the さまざまな strata of gray clouds which floated lazily 西方の. And these mountains, as far as I could see, 群れているd with 洞穴-apes.
As we 機動力のある 刻々と 上向き we passed many ape families, some of which were breakfasting while others appeared to be starting out on their morning 追求（する），探索（する） for food. Tiny helpless 幼児 apes were at their mothers' breasts. Spindle-legged, 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-bellied ape children played about on the rocky slopes, or gnawed at bones, 捨てるs of meat, edible fungi, and sporepods.
All of them, from babes to adults, watched me with their beady 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs as I passed, but 非，不，無 made a 敵意を持った move or sound, evidently because of the awesome presence of Rorg.
At length we climbed over the 縁 of what had once been an active 火山の 噴火口，クレーター. It was shallow, filled with the litter of centuries. In the 中心 a 火山の 反対／詐欺 事業／計画（する）d 上向き, and toward this we made our way across the 破片-strewn 噴火口，クレーター 床に打ち倒す. The 塀で囲むs of the 噴火口，クレーター, I noticed, were honeycombed with 洞穴s.
Enormous male apes, some of them nearly as large as Rorg, patrolled the 縁 of the 噴火口，クレーター, their saw-辛勝する／優位d clubs swinging in their hairy paws. With these 警報 歩哨s always on 義務, it was plain that escape from the 噴火口，クレーター would be most difficult and dangerous.
As we drew 近づく to the mouth of the 広大な／多数の／重要な central 洞穴 a number of 女性（の）s and young ones of assorted ages and sizes （機の）カム out.
"These are my wives and children," said Rorg. "If you are as clever as I think you are, you will find a way to amuse them."
"I will find a way," I 約束d, "but first let me see this clever food-man and beautiful food-woman of whom you have told me."
"I will send for them at once."
Searching in the 破片 近づく the 洞穴 mouth, I 選ぶd up two 井戸／弁護士席-乾燥した，日照りのd finger bones which looked 正確に／まさに alike. Palming one and 陳列する，発揮するing the other as I stood with my 直面する to the audience and my 支援する to the 塀で囲む of the 火山の 反対／詐欺, I proceeded to 成し遂げる some very simple tricks, such as making a finger bone disappear from my 権利 手渡す—then seemingly plucking the same finger bone out of my ear with my left. I even appeared to 除去する six finger bones, one after another, from the ear of one of Rorg's half-grown male children.
My audience seemed intensely 利益／興味d in what I was doing, but I noticed that no 事柄 what tricks I 成し遂げるd, not one of them laughed. Then I remembered that, to them, I was 現実に doing the things I seemed to do.
Before I had 成し遂げるd many tricks I saw two 人物／姿／数字s coming toward me, each tethered by the ankle to the wrist of an enormous she-ape. 即時に, I 認めるd the purple-覆う？, 黒人／ボイコット-bearded Taliboz, and the slender, scarlet-draped 人物／姿／数字 of Loralie.
Rorg, who had seated himself on a low 玉石 with his 女性（の） attendants behind him, ordered Loralie to a place on his 権利 and Taliboz on his left.
With 権利 手渡す 延長するd palm downward, I 屈服するd low to the princess in the customary salute to 王族, but she did not 答える／応じる, nor even give any 指示，表示する物 that she had seen me. Instead, with a haughty 投げ上げる／ボディチェックする of her pretty little 長，率いる, she sat 負かす／撃墜する at Rorg's 権利 and, looking across at Taliboz, said something in a low 発言する／表明する which I could not やめる catch. He smiled unpleasantly at me.
Puzzled at this singular and inexplicable show of dislike on the part of the princess, I mechanically went through several more tricks from the 調書をとる／予約する of 魔法—then pocketed, my bones and 屈服するd.
"You are indeed clever, food-man," said Rorg. "You are even more clever than Taliboz. To pluck six bones from the ear of Vork! I will not eat you today. You may go now, without tether or guard, but do not 試みる／企てる to pass the 噴火口，クレーター 縁 or you will die."
I walked away with the 黒人／ボイコット beady 注目する，もくろむs of the 洞穴-apes 星／主役にするing after me and the sardonic grin of Taliboz に引き続いて me. But Princess Loralie deliberately looked in another direction.
As I wandered about the 噴火口，クレーター I pondered the strange 行為／行う of the princess. What could I have done—or what could Taliboz have told her —to 誘発する her 怒り／怒る and disdain to such a degree that she showed it even when we were both in deadly 危険，危なくする and should have 部隊d 軍隊s against a ありふれた enemy?
I was half oblivious of my surroundings until a hairy paw was laid ひどく on my shoulder. Quickly whirling, I 直面するd a 抱擁する ape about eleven feet in 高さ whose scarred fur was spotted with gray, attesting his かなりの age.
"I am Graak," he said. "Rorg sent me to 料金d you. I have food in my 洞穴. Come."
The old 軍人 turned and I followed him across the 噴火口，クレーター past many ape families, who looked at me curiously, but manifested no special 敵意. Presently we （機の）カム to a rather small 洞穴, the 床に打ち倒す of which was littered with old and malodorous gnawed bones. From the partly devoured 団体／死体 of a 抱擁する ptang, or 巨大（な） sloth with sharp upcurved claws, he carved a slice of raw meat which he 手渡すd me.
"I slew the ptang this morning," he said, "so it is fresh and good."
Casting about for 燃料, I 設立する a pile of 乾燥した，日照りのd fern fronds 近づく the 入り口. After 砕くing a 量 of them, I at length 後継するd in 点火（する）ing them by striking my flint knife against one of the buckles of my leather trappings, and soon have a small cooking 解雇する／砲火／射撃 crackling. Over this I held my ptang steak impaled on a fern frond.
Graak watched me with evident wonder. "You are indeed a sorcerer."
For three days and nights I ate the food which Graak brought me and slept in his 洞穴. Although his manner was surly, he was never 率直に 敵意を持った. But all my 試みる／企てるs at cultivating his friendship failed.
I spend most of my daylight hours searching for the 洞穴 in which the princess was 限定するd, but it was not until the morning of the fourth day that I 設立する her, seated in the doorway of a 洞穴 やめる 近づく my own. She must have been purposely 避けるing me.
I swallowed my 負傷させるd pride, and stepping before her, 屈服するd with 権利 手渡す 延長するd, palm downward. "Prince Zinlo craves a word with Her Highness, Princess Loralie."
She did not answer, but turning her 長，率いる away as if she had not heard me, 演説（する）／住所d something to her 抱擁する 女性（の） 後見人.
Without moving, I repeated my request.
She rose with flashing 注目する，もくろむs. "Begone!" There was withering 軽蔑（する） in the look she gave me. "Annoy me その上の and I will call the apes and have you driven away."
I 屈服するd and 出発／死d. There was nothing else left for me to do.
Just before I reached Graak's 洞穴, I （機の）カム 直面する-to-直面する with Taliboz, walking with his 抱擁する 女性（の） guard. He grinned maliciously and said, "Tomorrow is the first day of the fourth endir."
"Any fool knows that," I retorted.
"Perhaps any fool also knows that on the first day of each endir, Rorg takes a mate. And that if food-men are 利用できる, a food-man is served at the wedding feast." As I 星／主役にするd at him, he 追加するd, "Rorg has just 約束d me that I shall not be eaten tomorrow."
I sat 負かす／撃墜する before Graak's smelly 洞穴. On the morrow, Rorg was to take Princess Loralie as his mate, and there were but two food-men held 囚人 by the 洞穴-apes—Taliboz and myself.
As we breakfasted on fungi and sporepods the に引き続いて day, Graak was more talkative than he had yet been. "Today is Rorg's mating day with the food-woman—if he lives," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"Some of our bravest 軍人s do not want our race to degenerate by intermarriage with weaklings. There has been much talk, and I believe Borg will be challenged."
"Who will challenge the king?"
"It is the 特権 of any 軍人 to challenge the Rogo to a duel to the death on the mating-day. The 軍人 who 後継するs in 殺人，大当り him becomes Rogo in his stead, and takes his 見込みのある bride 同様に as his other wives, children and 所有／入手s."
"But suppose one of your 軍人s who does not believe as Borg believes 殺すs him. What will then become of the food-woman?"
"She will be eaten, and Chixa, who was cheated of her turn, will be taken as a mate."
As Graak and I finished our meal, I noticed that the 噴火口，クレーター was beginning to fill with apes. Young and old, male and 女性（の）, they （機の）カム at first in scattered family groups, but later in 広大な／多数の／重要な droves, until the 抱擁する 炭坑，オーケストラ席 was literally seething with moving brown 人物／姿／数字s.
Presently a tall, yellow-tusked male shouldered his way through the （人が）群がる and stopped at the door of our 洞穴.
"Borg 命令（する）s the presence of Zinlo, the food-man," he said.
As I 追跡するd the 抱擁する ape through the jostling throng, I tried to 明確に表す some 計画（する） of 活動／戦闘 by which the princess might be saved. Although I resented her 態度 toward me, I felt the 勧める to fight in her 弁護.
We （機の）カム at length to the mouth of Rorg's lair in the 広大な／多数の／重要な central 反対／詐欺. Passing through the 砂漠d 洞穴, dimly illuminated by 反映するd light from the exterior, we stepped into a 狭くする 滑走路 which slanted 上向き in a long curving spiral.
As we 進歩d 刻々と 上向き, the way grew so dark that I was 軍隊d to 持つ／拘留する out both 手渡すs to 避ける running against the 塀で囲むs. Presently it became はしけ once more, and in a few moments we 現れるd の上に the flat, 狭くする 最高の，を越す of the 反対／詐欺.
Squatting in a semicircle 近づく one 辛勝する／優位 of the 壇・綱領・公約 were a dozen 洞穴-ape 軍人s. At one end of the semicircle I 認めるd Urg, the 抱擁する ape I had 武装解除するd, leaning on his 広大な／多数の／重要な, saw-辛勝する／優位d club and looking as belligerent as before.
近づく the 縁 just opposite this （犯罪の）一味 of 軍人s stood Taliboz and Princess Loralie. Although their 抱擁する 女性（の） guards stood behind them, I noticed that their tethers had been 除去するd. The traitorous Olban noble 好意d me with a leer as I 現れるd from the 滑走路, but the princess would not so much as notice my coming.
In the very 中心 stood Rorg, evidently を待つing my arrival as he looked 負かす／撃墜する at the 広大な sea of 上昇傾向d 直面するs in the 噴火口，クレーター. I was placed with my 支援する to the twelve 軍人s.
As soon as I had taken my position, Rorg held his sawedged club aloft. 即時に the 広大な murmur of 発言する／表明するs from below was stilled.
"Your Rogo takes a mate," he bellowed, his 深い トンs reverberating from the surrounding 噴火口，クレーター 塀で囲むs. Then he leaped high in the 空気／公表する, brandishing his saw-辛勝する／優位d club until the 空気／公表する sang and whistled through its teeth. Alighting with a loud smack of his leathery feet on the hard 激しく揺する, so that he 直面するd in a direction opposite to that in which he had 以前 looked, he roared once more, "Your Rogo takes a mate." Leaping, whirling, and alighting as he had done before, he made his 告示 in four directions so that all might hear.
He then 投げつけるd his club high above his 長，率いる, caught it deftly as it fell. "Who will fight Borg for his bride? Who will fight Rorg for his kingdom? Speak now, or for another endir, keep silence."
There was a 深い 不平（をいう）ing growl behind me, and, turning, I beheld Urg, fangs 明らかにするd, stepping from his place at the end of the line, whirling his 広大な／多数の／重要な club. "I will fight Rorg," he shouted in a 発言する／表明する as 深い as that of the king-ape.
Borg appeared surprised—annoyed. For a moment he stood motionless, glowering at his 挑戦者. Then, with a bellow of 激怒（する）, his club held high in one 抱擁する paw and his flint knife gripped in the other, he leaped to the attack.
The club descended in a deadly, whistling arc, but did not connect, for with cat-like quickness Urg leaped to one 味方する and struck 支援する. His club bit 深い into Borg's left shoulder, eliciting a roar of 苦痛 and 激怒（する） from the Rogo, who 即時に swung for his 脚s.
Urg sprang 支援する, but not far enough. The flint-toothed point raked one 膝, and 血 spurted 前へ／外へ. As he danced about the larger ape, looking for another 開始, he limped, and the limp grew more pronounced as the fight 進歩d.
Again and again Borg 急ぐd in. How Urg 後継するd in 避けるing those 急ぐs, lame as he was, I was unable to understand. Presently his 脚 became useless, dangling, and he was 軍隊d to hop on one foot.
Over the 残虐な 直面する of Borg there crept a look of 勝利. Deliberately, now, he 前進するd toward his 対抗者, 軍隊ing him backward until he stood on the very brink of the 高原.
He leaped in, and as Urg swung a 削除するing blow for his neck, he ducked, at the same time whirling his club in a low, 水平の arc. It caught the 挑戦者 halfway between 膝 and ankle; there was a snap of 厳しいd bones, and Urg 倒れるd backward to alight on his 長，率いる on the 激しく揺するs seventy-five feet below.
Scarcely had he struck ere the milling horde beneath 急ぐd to the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, brandishing their flint knives. In いっそう少なく time than it takes to tell, the 団体／死体 had been dismembered, and a snarling group of apes was fighting over the fragments.
Again Borg leaped in the 空気／公表する, bellowing 前へ／外へ his 深い-発言する／表明するd challenge. Although there were low growls from the ape-軍人s standing behind me, 非，不，無 answered the challenge.
"Who will fight Rorg for his bride and his kingdom?" The final challenge was flung out by the 勝利を得た king-ape as he looked triumphantly about him. "Speak now, or..."
"I'll fight you, Rorg," I said, 製図／抽選 club and knife and stepping in 前線 of the 巨大（な）. As I did so I caught a (n)艦隊／(a)素早いing glimpse of Taliboz and Loralie. On the 直面する of the 反逆者 was pleased 予期. The 注目する，もくろむs of the princess showed surprise, and something more. Incredible as it appeared from her 最近の 活動／戦闘s, it was undoubtedly 関心 for my safety.
But these were only (n)艦隊／(a)素早いing impressions.
Borg 星／主役にするd incredulously 負かす／撃墜する at me for a moment, evidently unable to believe that I had 現実に challenged the king of the 洞穴-apes. Then he struck at me quickly, but not 発揮するing his 十分な strength, as if I were some insect annoying him.
Instinctively I used my club as if it had been a sword—parrying the blow with 緩和する and 反対するing with a thrust which bit into his furry abdomen, 製図／抽選 血 and eliciting a grunt of 激怒（する） and 苦痛.
Although the club was so 建設するd that I could not hope to （打撃，刑罰などを）与える a mortal 負傷させる by thrusting the sharp flint teeth with which it was 武装した, it could and did 原因（となる） かなりの 苦痛 and annoyance. As the 洞穴-ape system of fighting was 単に that of striking and dodging. I hoped to 相殺する my adversary's enormous advantage of strength and reach by 雇うing the technique of a swordsman.
With an angry bellow, Borg swung a terrific blow for my 脚s. Again I parried, and 反対するd with a neck 削減（する） which would probably have 終結させるd the 約束／交戦 in my 好意 had it not been 封鎖するd by one of his 抱擁する tusks. The tusk snapped off and clattered to the 激しく揺する; but as a result, the club 負傷させるd him only わずかに, 追加するing to his fury.
泡，激怒することing at the mouth and gnashing his teeth in his 激怒（する）, the king-ape beset me with a rain of blows that would have been irresistible to any but a trained swordsman. 後援s and bits of broken flint flew from our clubs as time and again I parried his terrific blows.
After each blow I 反対するd with a 削減（する） or thrust, and soon my 対抗者 was bleeding from 長，率いる to foot; yet his strength and quickness seemed rather to 増加する with each fresh 負傷させる. Had he 所有するd a swordsman's training, I verily believe that ape would have been invincible on his own 惑星 or any other.
Presently I 後継するd in raking him across the forehead with the point of my 武器, so that the 血 ran 負かす／撃墜する in his 注目する，もくろむs, half blinding him. But he wiped the 血 away with the 支援する of one 抱擁する paw and 反対するd with a blow, the 軍隊 of which numbed my wrist and 後援d my club into fragments.
I leaped 支援する, then 投げつけるd the club 扱う straight for the 広大な／多数の／重要な, snarling mouth as he bounded 今後 to finish me. It struck him in the 前線 teeth, breaking off several and momentarily bewildering him.
In that moment I leaped, and with the fingers of my left 手渡す entwined in the wiry hair of his chest and my 脚s gripping his waist, I buried my flint knife again and again in his brawny neck. 血 spurted from his pulsing jugular as he 努力するd to shake me off, to reach me with his sharp fangs, and to 血の塊／突き刺す me with his 選び出す／独身 remaining tusk. But his mighty strength was spent —his lifeblood draining.
A quiver shook the 巨大（な） でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる and like some tall tree of the forest felled by the woodman's axe, he 倒れるd backward, 衝突，墜落ing to the ground.
Leaping quickly to my feet, I 掴むd the club of the fallen ape-君主 and, brandishing it aloft, said, "Rorg is dead, and Zinlo is king. Who will fight Zinlo? Who will be next to die?"
From the throats of several of the ape-軍人s in the semicircle from which Urg had come, （機の）カム low growls, but 非，不，無 前進するd, and the growls 沈下するd as I 選び出す／独身d out in turn with my gaze each of the truculent ones who had 発言する／表明するd them.
Far below me, the 暴徒 of apes was clamoring, "Meat! We want our meat!"
I knew that, spent as I was, the enormous 団体／死体 of Rorg was more than I could raise aloft and hurl to the 暴徒 below, so I had 頼みの綱 to an old 格闘するing trick. 掴むing the limp 権利 arm of the fallen king-ape, I dragged the 団体／死体 to the 辛勝する／優位 of the cliff. Then, bringing the arm over my shoulder in an 使用／適用 of the 原則 of the lever, I heaved the remains of Borg over my 長，率いる.
A moment later the milling beasts below were 涙／ほころびing the carcass to pieces, snarling and snapping over their feast. This custom, I afterward learned, had been 設立するd in consequence of the belief that the flesh of a strong, 勇敢に立ち向かう individual would 会談する strength and bravery on the one who devoured it.
Again I brandished my club aloft, shouting, "Who will fight Zinlo for his kingdom? Speak now, or keep silence for another endir."
This time I heard not even a 選び出す／独身 growl from the 軍人s on the 反対／詐欺 最高の，を越す.
An old 軍人 who had lost both tusks, an ear, and several of his fingers, stepped from the 階級s and 前進するd to the cliff 辛勝する／優位. "Rorg is dead," he 発表するd. "別れの（言葉，会） to Rorg."
に引き続いて his words, a peculiar, quavering cry went up from the throats of the thousands of apes congregated in the 噴火口，クレーター, 同様に as from those on the 高原. So weird and mournful did it sound that I shivered involuntarily.
As the last plaintive 公式文書，認めるs died away, the old 軍人 shouted, "Zinlo is king. あられ／賞賛する, Zinlo!"
A deafening din followed as the ape-horde, brandishing knives and clubs aloft and clattering them together, cried, "あられ／賞賛する, Zinlo!"
I turned in 勝利 toward the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where Taliboz and Loralie had been seated, ーするつもりであるing to 保証する the princess that it would not be necessary now for her to marry the king of the 洞穴-apes. To my surprise, I saw that both of them had disappeared. The two 抱擁する 女性（の）s who had been guarding them sat, 味方する by 味方する, 低迷d against a large 玉石, their chins sunk 今後 on their hairy chests.
Bounding 今後 I 掴むd one of the she-apes by the shoulder and shook her, shouting, "Where are your 囚人s?"
Her limp 団体／死体 sagged 今後, 落ちるing on the ground. The second 女性（の）, when shaken, showed some 調印するs of returning consciousness.
"What happened?" I asked. "Where are your 囚人s?"
Weakly she pointed to a needlelike glass sliver embedded in her arm. 抽出するing it, I 即時に 認めるd it for a tork 発射物 of the type which 一時的に 麻ひさせるs its 犠牲者. In the arm of the other, a 類似の 発射物 was embedded.
Although he had been 武装解除するd by the apes, it was evident that Taliboz had managed to keep his 弾薬／武器 belt, and that during the excitement of my fight with Rorg, he had 設立する the 適切な時期 to 麻ひさせる the two 女性（の） guards and slip away with the princess.
That she had gone with him willingly I could not 疑問, for she had made no 激しい抗議, and her previous 治療 of me had led me to believe that she would sooner have 受託するd Rorg for a mate than me.
I turned away, the sweetness of victory grown bitter in my mouth. I was about to enter the 滑走路 which led to the 洞穴 below, when a small, glittering 反対する attracted my attention. Stooping, I 選ぶd it up and 診察するd it minutely for a moment. Then a 広大な／多数の／重要な light 夜明けd on me.
HURRYING 負かす／撃墜する the 滑走路 into the 広大な／多数の／重要な 洞穴 below, I was about to 急ぐ out into the daylight to 診察する the small 反対する I had 設立する, when a long, muscular arm suddenly went about my shoulders, my 長，率いる was 鎮圧するd against a soft, furry breast, and a pair of pendulous lips caressed my cheek.
With the heel of my 手渡す I 押し進めるd the 直面する of a she-ape from 地雷 and broke her embrace. Surprised, I 認めるd Chixa. She 前進するd toward me again, 武器 outstretched, but I 動議d her off.
"Stand 支援する," I 警告するd her. "What do you mean by this familiarity?"
"But I am your mate," replied Chixa. "You have 殺害された Borg and the other she has run away. Rorg chose me for his mate before the food-woman （機の）カム."
"Rorg chose his own mates, and I'll choose 地雷," I retorted. "What's this you say about the other she running away?"
The food-man and she （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する the 滑走路 together. I let them escape. I did not want the food-woman to take my place."
"But how could they escape when the place is surrounded?"
"The food-man knew of the inner passageway," replied Chixa. "I showed him where it was...Am I not as comely as the other shes of my people?"
"No 疑問 you are the most comely, Chixa, but I will never mate with a 洞穴-ape. You say this she went willingly with the food-man?"
"She did. I think they will be mates."
"Chixa," I said, walking to the 入り口 and 診察するing the small glittering 反対する that I had 選ぶd up, "you have lied to me."
"I lied," 認める Chixa, not one whit abashed, "but how do you know? You must be a sorcerer, as Graak said."
"I know by this small, broken glass needle, one end of which is stained with 血," I replied. "Call it 魔法, if you like, but this needle tells me that the she was carried away by the food-man."
"It is even as you say," 譲歩するd Chixa. "She was unconscious from the 魔法 of the food-man, and her arm was bleeding."
"Show me the 入り口 to the inner passageway," I 命令（する）d.
Chixa sulked, and crouched in a corner.
"Show me the 入り口," I said again, "or I will kill you by 魔法 and 料金d you to the （人が）群がる outside."
Evidently the 脅し to kill her by 魔法—the 恐れる of the unknown —was more potent than any ordinary death 脅し could かもしれない have been, for she rose, and, walking to the 支援する of the 洞穴, heaved a 広大な／多数の／重要な 厚板 of 激しく揺する to one 味方する, 公表する／暴露するing the dark mouth of a 滑走路.
"It was this way they went," she said, "but you will never find them. By this time they will have taken 追跡するs where 非，不，無 but our greatest trackers could scent them out.
"Who is your best tracker?"
"Graak is the greatest of them all."
"Go 即時に," I 命令（する）d, "and bring Graak to me. See that my 命令（する） is carried out at once, or my 魔法 will follow and 殺す you."
"I go," she 答える／応じるd fearfully, and hurried from the 洞穴.
I fidgeted impatiently until she returned with Graak, who unhesitatingly 申し込む／申し出d to obey his new Rogo. Stooping, he entered the passageway. I hurried after him with my 手渡すs outstretched in the inky blackness in 前線 of me to 妨げる dashing myself against the curving 塀で囲むs. We must have gone two miles in this manner before twilight ぼんやり現れるd ahead, followed by daylight, and we 現れるd in the open 空気／公表する on a 狭くする shelf of 激しく揺する against which the topmost fronds of a 巨大（な） tree fern 小衝突d. Around and beyond this mighty fern stretched a forest of its fellows, coming up to the very 辛勝する／優位 of the mountains that held the homes of the 洞穴-apes.
Graak 匂いをかぐd the 空気／公表する for a moment, then leaped for the nearest fern frond, which sagged beneath his 負わせる as he caught it with both 手渡すs. His 広大な／多数の／重要な 団体／死体 swung precariously a 十分な seventy feet above the ground as he went up the slanting frond, を引き渡す 手渡す, until he reached the trunk. After 匂いをかぐing at this for a moment, he descended, feet first, to the ground.
I followed his example, making much more work of it than he, and descending so slowly that he stamped impatiently before I reached the ground. I wondered how Taliboz had been able to 交渉する this 大勝する with his inert 重荷（を負わせる） until I noticed a long, slender cord dangling from the end of one of the fern fronds, its lower end about ten feet from the ground. The traitorous noble had evidently lowered Loralie by means of this cord to within reach of the ground, where he had evidently 削減（する） her loose and carried her off.
While Graak fidgeted impatiently, I leaped and caught the end of the cord. I called him to help me, and together we pulled until the frond broke off and （機の）カム 衝突，墜落ing to the ground. With my flint knife I quickly 削減（する） the cord from the 支店 and, coiling it about my 団体／死体, told Graak to proceed. Feeling that we might have a 旅行 ahead of us, I thought of several ways in which the cord might be useful.
We had not gone more than a mile in the fern forest when the 洞穴-ape pointed to a 始める，決める of smaller 足跡s beside Taliboz's and said, "The she walked from here."
回復するing at this point from the paralysis induced by the tork 発射物, she had gone on with her abductor, willingly or not.
Although the 足跡s led at first toward the west, they presently began to turn 南西, toward the coast.
For many hours we followed the 追跡する without food or drink; then Graak stopped in a clump of bush ferns which furnished us pure, fresh water. He next plucked some sporepods, 割れ目ing them with his teeth. I 分裂（する） some open with my knife. They had a pleasant, nutlike flavor.
We 再開するd our 旅行 until the advent of sudden 不明瞭, when we climbed into the leaf-栄冠を与える of a tall tree fern to pass the night there.
Graak fell asleep at once, but I could not. No sooner had 不明瞭 descended on the forest than the night-roaming carnivora were astir, making the night hideous with their cries—howling awoos, the horrid, mirthless laughter of hyenalike hahoes, the terrific roars of marmelots, the death- cries of the 犠牲者s.
I think the gentle 激しく揺するing of the trees, together with the rustling of the countless millions of fern leaves, なぎd me to slumber. At any 率, I was awakened by the 広大な／多数の／重要な hairy paw of Graak pulling at my arm, which I had thrown across my 直面する—a habit of 地雷 while sleeping. "The light has come," he said, "and Graak is hungry. Let us find food and be gone."
As I followed him 負かす／撃墜する the rough, scaly trunk, I was struck by the contrast of the daylight sounds. I could hear only the buzzing of insects, the silvery トンd warbling of the awakened songbirds, the 時折の snort or grunt of some herbivore feeding, and the peculiar squawking cries of the queer bird- reptiles called aurks.
Graak and I had only traveled a short distance on the 追跡する when he suddenly 強化するd and, looking 上向き, said, "Good food! A ptang!"
に引き続いて the direction of his gaze, I saw a large, hairless slothlike creature hanging upside 負かす／撃墜する on a 厚い fern frond which bent downward beneath its 負わせる. The ptang was unconcernedly munching leaves without so much as a ちらりと見ること in our direction.
The 洞穴-ape bounded to the base of the tree and quickly 上がるd, to climb out on the 四肢 where the stupid creature was feeding, 支払う／賃金ing no attention to the approaching danger.
Graak swung by a prehensile foot and 手渡す, and struck with his saw-辛勝する／優位d club, laying the 味方する of the creature's 長，率いる wide open at the first blow. It 中止するd its feeding, but did not 試みる／企てる either to fight or run away, though its powerful 脚s were 武装した with long, 麻薬中毒の claws. Again Graak swung his club. The animal's 長，率いる hung limply downward and a shiver ran through its でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる.
取って代わるing his club in his belt string, the 洞穴-ape drew his flint knife and 調査するd the 麻薬中毒の claws one by one from their 支配する on the 四肢. The ptang 衝突，墜落d downward through the 支店s to the ground.
When we had eaten our fill, the ape and I each 削減（する） off as large a 部分 of the animal as could conveniently be carried, and started once more on the 追跡する.
We had not gone far when Graak pointed out a place where Taliboz and the princess bad stopped to eat, the night before. A little さらに先に on the 追跡する, we （機の）カム to the base of a large tree fern in whose leaf 栄冠を与える they had passed the night. Evidently they were not more than an hour ahead of us.
As we hurried 今後 and the scent grew stronger and stronger, the 洞穴-ape showed all the excitement of a hound on a fresh game 追跡する—which it was, to his mind.
Presently he stopped, tensely 警報, 匂いをかぐing and listening.
"What is it?" I asked in a whisper.
"A marmelot follows them," replied Graak, pointing to the 足跡s in the leaf mold.
Looking 負かす／撃墜する, I saw, いつかs between their 跡をつけるs, いつかs obliterating part of them, the spoor of a gigantic feline, so 激しい that it sank to a depth of nearly a foot with each step.
Then carne the 叫び声をあげる of a woman in deadly terror, only a short distance ahead, followed by the 衝突，墜落ing of under 小衝突 and a terrific rumbling growl which I 認めるd only too 井戸／弁護士席.
Graak 即時に took to the trees, but I unlimbered my club and knife and dashed 今後.
Hurrying as 急速な／放蕩な as I could in the soft leaf mold, dodging through fern-ブレーキs and tripping over creepers, I presently floundered out into a little glade where a most fearsome sight met my 注目する，もくろむs.
Rolling about on the ground, snapping, 涙／ほころびing and clawing at everything that （機の）カム within its reach, was a magnificent marmelot, 明らかに in its death throes.
I had not taken three steps before the creature quivered, 沈下するd, and lay still.
Looking about for the princess and her abductor, I was startled by a 警告 cry from almost 直接／まっすぐに above me, "Zinlo! Behind you!" It was the 発言する／表明する of Loralie.
Whirling, I saw Taliboz standing behind the 幅の広い trunk of a tree fern. In his left 手渡す he held an 反対する which I 認めるd as a clip for tork 発射物s. Balanced in his 権利 手渡す with its base against his palm and its length 平行の with his fingers was one of the needle-like glass 弾丸s, ready to throw. Even as I looked, he 投げつけるd it straight for my 直面する.
I ducked my 長，率いる just in time, heard the 弾丸 strike a fern trunk behind me, and sprang 今後. But he quickly pulled another from the clip and I saw that I could not reach him in time to use my 武器s; nor could I, の近くに as I was, again hope to 避ける the throw by dodging.
With a grin of 勝利 on his features, he swung 支援する his arm, 均衡を保った it for a moment to get his 目的（とする）, then brought it 速く 今後, his fingers pointing 直接／まっすぐに at my breast.
"Die, stripling!" he grated between clenched teeth.
But a strange thing happened. Instead of feeling the sting of the needle in my breast, I saw him go limp and 低迷 負かす／撃墜する in his 跡をつけるs.
I learned the 原因（となる） as I bent over to, 診察する him. The needle 弾丸 which he had ーするつもりであるd for my breast had pierced one of his fingers instead. Rolling him over, I took his tork 弾薬／武器 belt and buckled it about my own waist. I 選ぶd up the clip which he had dropped when he fell, and, の近くにing the ejector, 取って代わるd it in the belt.
Then I looked up in the direction from which the 警告 発言する／表明する of Loralie had come 負かす／撃墜する to me. For a moment only I saw her beautiful 直面する peering 負かす／撃墜する at me between the parted fronds of a leaf-栄冠を与える. Then a 抱擁する hairy arm reached downward, encircled her slender waist, and drew her backward. She cried out in deadly 恐れる as the parted fronds snapped 支援する in place, hiding her from 見解（をとる）.
I caught a glimpse of Graak 開始するing one of the rope-like vines; beneath his left arm he carried the drooping form of Loralie. Then they both disappeared into the 厚い 絡まる of vegetation above.
"Stop, Graak!" I called. "Come 支援する, or I will 殺す you with my 魔法."
No answer.
I leaped for the nearest fern trunk, 意図 on に引き続いて, when suddenly, without the slightest hint of 警告, a long sinuous 反対する whipped through the 空気／公表する and coiled itself about me. With its deadly fangs gleaming in gaping jaws やめる の近くに to my 直面する, and cloven tongue darting 前へ／外へ menacingly, the glistening beady 注目する，もくろむs of a gigantic whistling serpent 星／主役にするd hypnotically into 地雷.
速く, relentlessly, the mighty coils 強化するd about my 団体／死体 while the horrible 長，率いる moved rhythmically 支援する and 前へ／外へ, just above my 直面する. My club was caught beneath the scaly 倍のs of my 加害者, but I managed to jerk my flint knife 解放する／自由な, and with this I struck at the swaying, silver-white throat. But the covering was tougher than I had thought, and I only 後継するd in chipping off a few 規模s.
The muscular coils that encircled me grew tighter. It seemed to me that my ribs must 割れ目 at any moment. My breathing was 減ずるd to short, spasmodic gasps.
Then I thought of the tork 発射物s. With my flint knife I 調査するd the 弾薬／武器 belt up from beneath an encircling coil. Quickly 抽出するing a clip, I opened the ejector, 圧力（をかける）d the button, and a small, sharp needle popped out. I slid it under the 辛勝する／優位 of a 規模 and 圧力（をかける）d. Scarcely had I done so when the 鎮圧するing 倍のs about me began to relax; the swaying 長，率いる dropped limply downward, and I tugged and wriggled until I was 解放する／自由な.
Still gasping for breath, I の近くにd the safety catch of the clip and 取って代わるd it in my belt. I noticed that it was 示すd in Patoa: "Tork 発射物s—deadly."
As soon as I was able to breathe with reasonable normality once more, I climbed the tallest tree fern in the 周辺, and from its lofty leaf-栄冠を与える looked out over the tree-最高の，を越すs in the hope of 位置を示すing Graak and the princess. But although I scanned the forest in every direction I could not catch sight of them.
Far 支援する toward the northeast, the mountains of the 洞穴-apes were barely discernible through the gray-blue mistiness that hung over the ジャングル. Toward the 南西, and closer, was another mountain 範囲—gray, forbidding 頂点（に達する）s much higher than those of the 洞穴-apes.
As he was, by nature, a 洞穴 dweller, I decided that Graak would 結局 捜し出す a mountain home. Having disobeyed me, King of the 洞穴-Apes, he would not dare return to the mountains of his tribe. I might very 論理（学）上 推定する／予想する him to 長，率いる for the other mountains. When I had caught my last glimpse of him he 現実に was starting toward the 南西. I decided to travel that way, zigzagging across my plotted course in the hope that I might 結局 選ぶ up his 追跡する.
Having made my 決定／判定勝ち（する）, I descended to the ground and 始める，決める out toward the unknown mountains.
I was in the middle of my second ジグザグの toward the south when I （機の）カム across the 追跡する of Graak. Dainty but 重要な beside those of the 洞穴-ape were the tiny 足跡s of Loralie. As I followed the 追跡する I twice saw the 記録，記録的な／記録するs of her 試みる／企てるs at escape—where she had tried to run away, but had been caught.
Now travel became far more difficult. My first 警告 of the changed 地形 was when I sank hip-深い into a sticky quagmire, only saving myself from 完全にする immersion in the soft mud by しっかり掴むing a stout vine that hung across my path, and swinging up into firmer ground. I noticed that fungi and lichens were beginning to predominate.
徐々に the tree ferns and cycads were 取って代わるd by gigantic toadstools of variegated forms and colors, and 抱擁する morels, some of which 後部d their 反対／詐欺-like 長，率いるs more than fifty feet in the 空気／公表する. 共同のd reeds 動揺させるd like 骸骨／概要s in the 微風; lichens upholstered rotted stumps and fallen スピードを出す／記録につけるs, and algae filled the 背信の, 沈滞した pools that grew more 非常に／多数の as I 前進するd, making it difficult to tell which was the water and which the land.
It was 慰安ing for me to know that the flight of Graak was 存在 even more retarded than 地雷. He had to 実験（する） each bit of ground before treading on it, while I had but to follow his footsteps.
Suddenly I heard, only a short distance ahead of me, the angry roar of the 洞穴-ape, followed by a woman's 叫び声をあげる of terror.
At first I thought Graak had sighted me, and I dashed 今後 to 会合，会う him with club and knife ready. But before I had taken a dozen steps I heard his 発言する／表明する raised in a howl of 苦痛, and soon he was alternately bellowing and snarling as if in 激しい agony.
I caught sight of Graak and the princess at the same time. The ape, his 猛烈な／残忍な cries now 減ずるd to mere whimpering, was on his 支援する surrounded by a half dozen of the strangest and most horrifying creatures I have ever seen.
Writhing, squirming, 延長するing, 契約ing, they had no 始める，決める form, but could change themselves 即時に from limbless, egg- 形態／調整d 団体／死体s three feet long to the 外見 of snakes fifteen feet in length, or any of the 中間の lengths between the two. They were 粘着するing to the fallen 洞穴-ape with grotesque, three-cornered sucker mouths, and from the 辛勝する／優位s of some of them I could see 血 dripping.
Before I could reach him, Graak's whimpering 沈下するd, his struggles 中止するd, and I knew that he was beyond help. His 加害者s, finding him quiescent, settled 負かす／撃墜する uniformly in the 形態／調整 of 延長するd ovoids about four feet in length, to drain the 残り／休憩（する） of his 血.
From a position of 一時的な safety, the princess looked 負かす／撃墜する in horror. She was on the umbrella-like 最高の，を越す of a toadstool about fifteen feet in 高さ, evidently having been 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd there by Graak when he had been attacked, for there was no way she could have reached that point unassisted. Climbing 速く toward her were two more of the hideous things, leaving slimy 追跡するs on the 茎・取り除く.
Bounding 今後, I swung my club at the nearest creature, 推定する／予想するing to 削減（する） it in two with the sharp, saw-辛勝する／優位 of my 武器. To my surprise and びっくり仰天, the club failed to make the slightest impression, but bounced off as if it had struck 極端に springy rubber, and nearly flew from my しっかり掴む.
The hideous 長，率いる with its three-cornered sucker mouth was 即時に 延長するd toward me, and again I struck—this time from the 味方する. Although the blow made no more impression on the 堅い 肌 of the creature than before, it broke the 持つ／拘留する of the thing on the 茎・取り除く of the mushroom and sent it whirling and writhing a 十分な twenty feet away.
The other thing on the 茎・取り除く stretched out to 掴む me, but I dealt it a backhand blow which sent it squirming and wriggling in the opposite direction.
A quick ちらりと見ること around showed me that the surrounding 沼 was literally alive with these horrible creatures. Evidently excited by the sound of the 衝突—or かもしれない by the smell of 血—they 築くd ugly swaying 長，率いるs to 調査／捜査する, then （機の）カム はうing toward us, leaving slimy 追跡するs in their wake.
There was only one thing for me to do ーするために save the princess, or even to save myself: I must find a way to get to the 最高の，を越す of the toadstool with her. But this was a good fifteen feet from the ground, and the marshy 国／地域 was not 特に 役立つ to high jumping, as it clung to the feet with each step.
As I looked about for some means wherewith to 遂行する my 目的 the （犯罪の）一味 of 攻撃者s の近くにd in on me. Then （機の）カム an inspiration. About twenty feet from the toadstool on which the girl stood was a clump of 抱擁する, 共同のd reedlike growths. Several of them, which reached to a 高さ of more than forty feet, bent わずかに toward it.
I managed to reach them just ahead of the 前進するing army of 攻撃者s and climbed the largest one with an agility of which I had never even imagined myself 有能な. One of the slimy things that sought my lifeblood 即時に 負傷させる its 団体／死体, around the reed and followed, then another and another, until the stalk below me was covered with their snaky forms.
As I climbed 上向き, the reed 徐々に bent over toward the 最高の，を越す of the toadstool, so that when I reached a 高さ of a little over thirty feet, I was 直接／まっすぐに above it. Swinging my 脚s 解放する／自由な, I hung on for a moment with my 手渡すs, then let go. As I alighted on the 中心 of the toadstool cap, the reed 発射 上向き like a steel spring, 投げつけるing its slimy occupants far out across the 沼 as if they had been 発射 from a catapult.
No sooner had I alighted than there was a cry of terror from Princess Loralie. Turning, I saw her crouching in 恐れる beneath the ugly 長，率いる of one of our 攻撃者s, its neck arched and its three-cornered sucking mouth, 武装した with thousands of かみそり-sharp cutting teeth, ready to strike.
I swung my club, knocking the thing to the ground, but no sooner had I done so than another （機の）カム up over the 辛勝する／優位 of the toadstool, quickly followed by two more. Soon the entire 縁 became alive with the swaying, wriggling 長，率いるs, and I was kept busy every second of the time knocking them 支援する to the ground.
"Give me your club, Prince Zinlo," said Loralie after I had been at this strenuous work for some time, "and let me help you. If we take turns with 残り／休憩（する）s between for each, we can last longer. The 押し寄せる／沼地 dwellers are 執拗な, and we are doomed, it seems—but let us fight while life lasts."
"I am not tired," I 主張するd, rather breathlessly, but she （機の）カム and 掴むd the club, making it necessary for me either to use 軍隊 with her or 降伏する it. I 産する／生じるd, watching her to see if she could manage it. にもかかわらず her small size she 証明するd surprisingly strong.
But she soon grew 疲れた／うんざりした, and I took the club once more. It was a hopeless fight; day was 急速な／放蕩な 病弱なing, and in the 黒人／ボイコット, moonless 不明瞭 of Venus we would soon be dragged 負かす／撃墜する to 会合，会う the 運命／宿命 of the 無血の carcass that had once been Graak, now 星／主役にするing sightlessly up into the leaden sky.
I WAS running around the 縁 of the toadstool cap, knocking off the slimy things that sought to drink our 血, and Princess Loralie was crouching fearfully in the 中心, when suddenly I heard a 衝突，墜落ing and splashing through the 沼 behind me, …を伴ってd by queer noises that sounded much like a combination of a bleat and a bellow.
ちらりと見ることing 支援する for a moment between gasps, I saw coming toward us an 巨大な 猫背／ザトウ鯨d reptile 沈むing 側面に位置する-深い in the watery ooze with each step as it 衝突，墜落d through the reeds in its 明らかな 努力する to escape from some mortal enemy, and uttering the queer cries of 苦しめる I had heard. I could see its long snakelike neck curved 支援する as, with its small jaws it would jerk the 押し寄せる／沼地 creatures first from one 味方する then the other.
Coincident with the 外見 of this 抱擁する reptile, the 長，率いるs of the 押し寄せる／沼地 dwellers stopped 再現するing above the 辛勝する／優位 of our toadstool cap. They had abandoned their attack on us in 好意 of the larger quarry.
厚い and 厚い they 群れているd around the 広大な／多数の／重要な dinosaur. For every 血-hungry thing the 巨大（な） lizard 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd in the 空気／公表する, at least ten squirmed up to fasten their sucker mouths on its heaving 味方するs, until the reptile's 支援する 似ているd the wave-投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd 底（に届く） of a 転覆するd ship covered with 巨大な barnacles.
徐々に the 速度(を上げる） of the 広大な／多数の／重要な beast slowed 負かす／撃墜する. It stopped. Then its struggles grew 女性, and the doomed saurian uttered a final cry and sank 負かす／撃墜する in the ooze.
So 吸収するd had I been in this titanic 戦う／戦い that I had momentarily forgotten our own danger.
"Our enemies have momentarily forgotten us," I said then. "Shall we make a dash for liberty?"
"It is our only chance," she replied.
Swinging over the 辛勝する／優位 of the toadstool, I dropped to the ground. Loralie swung her small, 運動競技の 団体／死体 over the 辛勝する／優位 as I had done, and dropped into my waiting 武器.
As I stood there, ankle 深い in the ooze with that shapely young form の近くに to me, I suddenly forgot our danger—forgot everything except that she lay there in my 武器, her 長，率いる thrown 支援する, glorious dark 注目する，もくろむs that were pools of lambent 炎上 looking up into 地雷. But when, intoxicated with her nearness, I would have 鎮圧するd her to me, she suddenly 新たな展開d 解放する／自由な from my 武器 and ran, leaping lightly as a startled fawn in the direction of the mountains to the 南西.
Club in 手渡す I followed her as closely as I could, 一方／合間 keeping a sharp 警戒／見張り for 押し寄せる／沼地 dwellers. But they were too busy feasting.
As we approached the 山のふもとの丘s the ground became drier and firmer, and the character of the vegetation once more underwent a 漸進的な change; cycads and low-growing conifers were mostly in 証拠. Soon we were climbing 法外な hillsides, with the ground continually becoming more rugged and the vegetation more sparse.
During our 進歩 Loralie had not 演説（する）／住所d a word to me, or noticed my presence in any way. I felt I must have 感情を害する／違反するd her by 持つ／拘留するing her over-long in my 武器. Yet for that (n)艦隊／(a)素早いing moment I would have sworn I had seen in her starry 注目する，もくろむs the reflection of emotions akin to my own, and やめる unlike her unnatural aversion to me in the 洞穴s of the ape.
When we arrived in a small 孤立するd copse of water ferns, I decided it was time to 停止（させる） for 残り／休憩（する） and refreshment.
"Here are food and drink," I said. "Let us stop for a while."
Without answering, she sank 負かす／撃墜する wearily on a 塚 of soft moss and turning, buried her 直面する in her 武器. In a moment she began weeping softly.
I broke off a 支店 of water fern and knelt beside her, trying to get her to sit up.
"Don't touch me!" she wailed. "Go away."
"Oh, very 井戸／弁護士席," I snapped, and ate and drank by myself—without much appetite. Then, I 始める，決める about equipping myself with more efficient 武器s.
I soon fashioned a 屈服する, which I strung with a piece of the 堅い cord I had brought with me. Some reeds which I had gathered en 大勝する I made into arrows by tipping them with slivers of 石／投石する bound in place with the cord. I bound bits of fern leaf in place of feathers. A quiver I made from ptang-hide which was wrapped around the piece of meat I had brought with me.
Several hours elapsed in these 追跡s, and my too temperamental companion had in the interval sobbed herself to sleep.
I had scarcely finished cooking some ptang meat when I saw the princess 動かす and open her 注目する，もくろむs. For a moment she seemed startled by the strangeness of her surroundings. Then she sat up, and catching the appetizing scent of my roasting meat, looked hungrily toward it—then resolutely away.
"The Prince of Olba," I said, "would be 大いに 栄誉（を受ける）d if the Princess of Tyrhana would join him at dinner. The 王室の butler is about to serve."
にもかかわらず her 試みる／企てる at severity, I saw a slight smile play around the corners of her adorable little mouth. Then she turned her 長，率いる away once more.
Placing my roast on some 幅の広い, clean leaves which I had spread over the moss for the 目的, I walked over to where she sat.
"I say, young lady," I 発言／述べるd 厳しく. "Don't you think you have carried this foolish perversity of yours about far enough? I can't imagine what makes you 行為／法令／行動する like a 不正に spoiled child. I've a notion to spank you."
She tried to 持続する her dignity, but I saw her lips quivering.
"許す me," I said. "Perhaps it is I who am wrong. If I have done anything to 傷つける your feelings, I'm 心から sorry. I am not desirous of 軍隊ing my attentions on you, but I can't leave you alone in this wilderness. You make it hard, 極端に hard for me to be of service to you."
She looked up at me, her beautiful 注目する，もくろむs brimming—涙／ほころびs 粘着するing to the long dark 攻撃するs. "You are so 肉親，親類d, and so 勇敢に立ち向かう. I wish those other things were not true."
"What other things?" I asked in surprise, sitting 負かす／撃墜する beside her. "Has someone been talking about me?"
"I cannot betray those who have reposed 信用／信任 in me," she said, "nor can I 疑問 the 証言 of many 証言，証人／目撃するs. Yet it does not seem possible."
"I'm sure I don't understand what you are 運動ing at. Pray tell me of what monstrous 罪，犯罪 I am （刑事）被告, and 許す me at least a chance to defend my character."
"You were （刑事）被告...Oh, I cannot say it!" She looked at me reproachfully, then turned her 長，率いる away and swallowed 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業d to keep from crying.
"It must have been horrible. Won't you tell me what it was?"
"Of making love to that Chixa," she 滞るd.
The 証拠 might seem to point that way, I realized, 特に if it were distorted by someone bent on maligning my character. I quickly told her how I had won the she-ape's 武器s and my freedom. "Do you not believe me?" I 需要・要求するd at last.
"On this 事柄 I believe you," she answered with some 救済, "but there is still that other 事件／事情／状勢."
"What other 事件／事情／状勢?" I asked.
"Your 事件／事情／状勢 with the young sister of Taliboz. Why did you betray that 信用ing child—betray her and run away—so that her brother must needs come after you to bring you 支援する at the point of a tork? It was dastardly —臆病な／卑劣な. I 否定するd it—fought against believing it, but there were so many 証言，証人／目撃するs I was at last 納得させるd."
"If Taliboz has a sister, I do not know it, nor have I ever seen her. This story was 捏造する，製作するd from whole cloth. There is not even seeming 証拠 in this 事例／患者 as there was with Chixa."
"But Taliboz himself told me," she 主張するd, "and five of his men 立証するd his story at さまざまな times. I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to disbelieve this thing, but what could I do?"
"You were 納得させるd of a monstrous falsehood, for which Taliboz will one day answer, as he will for his 非常に／多数の other 罪，犯罪s—if he has not already answered, 支援する there in the fern forest, to some ジャングル creature. I 断言する to you that if Taliboz has a sister I do not even know of her 存在."
"It seems strange," she answered, "that the sister of an illustrious noble' of Olba should be unknown to the 栄冠を与える Prince. Surely she must have been much at 法廷，裁判所."
"Perhaps she was. Never having been there myself, I cannot say."
She looked at me in amazement—unbelief so 明確に written on her features that I saw that I had gone too far. I must either tell all now, or have nothing believed.
"In order that you may understand this singular 声明," I said, "I am going to tell you who I really am."
"No 疑問 you are a reincarnation of the god Thorth. Pray do not 疲れた／うんざりした me その上の with lies."
"The story I am going to tell," I answered, "will 税金 your credulity to the uttermost, yet I hope some day to be able to 証明する it to you. I am not of Olba, nor even of this 惑星."
I explained to her, as best I could, how I had been 輸送（する）d from 火星 to Earth and thence to Venus-Zarovia. To my surprise, she seemed not only credulous, but 現実に 井戸／弁護士席 詩（を作る）d on the 支配する.
"You seem to know more about these phenomena than most scientists," I said.
"There is a 推論する／理由 for my 激しい 利益／興味 in the 支配する," she replied. "My uncle Bovard is one of the greatest scientists on all Zarovia. There is but one who is considered greater than he."
"Vorn Vangal?"
"Yes, but how did you know?"
"Vorn Vangal," I answered, "is Dr. Morgan's Zarovian 同盟（する）, the man who made it possible for me to come to this 惑星." "Dr. Morgan? What an 野蛮な sound the 指名する has! Vorn Vangal I know 井戸／弁護士席."
"Then you believe my story?" I asked.
"暗黙に." And she smiled thrillingly at me.
"And you know Taliboz was lying?"
"Of course. Are you going to sit there and question me all day, or will you have the 王室の butler serve dinner? I am famished."
The roast had grown 冷淡な but was nonetheless delicious. I carved as best I could with my flint knife, and we made out very 井戸／弁護士席, finishing up with the contents of a few spore pods, washed 負かす／撃墜する with 草案s of 冷淡な water from the fronds of the water fern.
"And now," I said, when we had finished dinner, "we must look about for a place of 避難所 from the night-roving meat- eaters."
There were many caverns in the rocky hillsides, but the mouths were too large or too 非常に／多数の to be バリケードd. And an un- バリケードd 洞穴 in the Zarovian wilderness would 証明する to be a 罠（にかける）.
We traveled far before we 設立する a 洞穴 that seemed ふさわしい to our 目的. Without taking time to 調査する its 内部の—for I knew that the sudden 不明瞭 would soon be upon us—made haste to collect 激しい 激しく揺するs for the doorway, 委任する／代表ing Loralie, 一方／合間, to gather sticks for 燃料 which I ーするつもりであるd to keep in the 洞穴 as a fiery 弁護 against possible 攻撃者s.
不明瞭 caught us with our labors unfinished, and I kindled a small 解雇する／砲火／射撃 just outside the 洞穴 mouth that we might 完全にする our work by its light.
I was just rolling up the 広大な／多数の／重要な 石／投石する which was to finish my バリケード when the hideous roar of a marmelot sounded 近づく by. It was taken up, a moment later, by others of its 肉親，親類d, until the echoing hills resounded with the thunderous cries of these 猛烈な／残忍な beasts.
"Quick!" I called to Loralie. "Into the 洞穴 with you!"
She started in, then 支援するd out in terror. "There's something in there now, and it's coming out after us."
Then, as the 脅すd girl cowered against me, I heard a hoarse, にわか景気ing croak from the 洞穴 and saw two glowing, 脅迫的な 注目する，もくろむs moving toward us from the 不明瞭 of the 内部の.
STANDING within the （犯罪の）一味 of light cast by our small 解雇する／砲火／射撃, with Loralie crouching fearfully at my feet, I fitted an arrow to my bowstring. I drew it 支援する to the 長，率いる, took careful 目的（とする） between the two glowing 注目する，もくろむs that were 前進するing from the dark 内部の of the 洞穴, and let 飛行機で行く.
すぐに after the twang of the 屈服する there （機の）カム a 深い bellow of 激怒（する） from the 内部の of the 洞穴.
As I fitted a second arrow in place, there was a terrific roar behind me. Turning, I beheld the gleaming 注目する，もくろむs of a marmelot not more than fifty feet distant. I let 飛行機で行く, and the arrow struck the 抱擁する feline just as the enraged 洞穴 creature （機の）カム 前へ／外へ.
用意が出来ている as I was for the 外見 of one of the 猛烈な／残忍な creatures of the Zarovian ジャングル, a 冷気／寒がらせる of horror ran 負かす／撃墜する my spine when the grotesque tenant of the 洞穴 waddled out into the light.
It was 明白に 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, 武装した with 列／漕ぐ／騒動 upon 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of sharp, 支援する-curved teeth. The other third was a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 解雇（する）, or pouch, 大（公）使館員d to the 支援する of the 長，率いる.
It walked on two short, 厚い 脚s growing from beneath its ears, each 武装した with three sharp talons. There were no forelegs. Both 長，率いる and 団体／死体 bristled with a profusion of sharp spines like those of a horned toad.
"A kroger!" cried Loralie. "We are lost!"
As the thing 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d toward us with enormous jaws distended, I heard the marmelot bounding through the 小衝突 from the opposite direction.
"Come," I cried, taking the girl's 手渡す. Together we leaped across the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and into the 影をつくる／尾行する of the bushes beyond. Scarcely had we 伸び（る）d this place of 一時的な safety ere the two formidable creatures, beast and reptile, met on the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where we had been standing.
The marmelot, 明らかに surprised at 存在 直面するd by this strange anomaly, stopped, spat, and arched its 支援する like a startled cat. But the kroger, undaunted at sight of the 抱擁する king of the ジャングルs, which was easily twice its size, 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d on. With a snap of its 巨大な jaws, the reptile took in at one bite the 長，率いる and neck of the mighty carnivore.
Like a cat caught in a salmon tin, the marmelot alternately shook its 長，率いる, clawed at the scaly throat, or belly—I know not which to call it —and ran blindly about. Presently it rolled over on its 支援する, and 製図／抽選 the 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 団体／死体 of the kroger toward it with its two 前線 脚s, literally scratched it to 略章s with its terrible hind claws. Yet the 巨大な jaws held 堅固に, inexorably; in fact, they seemed to be clamping 負かす／撃墜する tighter and tighter all the time, 沈むing more 深く，強烈に into the flesh of the 広大な／多数の／重要な feline with every move it made.
The struggles of the combatants presently grew 女性, but as the sounds of 戦う／戦い died 負かす／撃墜する the noises in the fern ブレーキs around us grew closer and more alarming. Evidently attracted by the sounds of 戦う／戦い or the smell of 血, the denizens of the hills drew nearer and nearer in an ever-狭くするing 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 影響.
If we did not find 避難所 soon, our 団体／死体s would go to appease the flesh-hunger of one or another of these hunters.
警告 Loralie to keep out of sight in the bushes, I dashed over to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, 掴むd a 燃やすing brand and 投げつけるd it into the 洞穴. As nothing 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d out after me, I peered in. By the flickering light of the 燃やすing stick I could see that the 洞穴 was small and 明らかに empty, except for a pile of 乾燥した，日照りの fern fronds against the 支援する 塀で囲む.
Entering, I 選ぶd up the たいまつ and 調査／捜査するd this. It 証明するd to be a nest about four feet across, in the 中心 of which was a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する egg, covered with a membranous 爆撃する mottled green and yellow—the same color as the outer 規模s of the kroger.
Flurrying out of the 洞穴 once more, I softly called to my companion. "Carry the 燃料 into the 洞穴 at once, while I build our バリケード."
While we both worked in frenzied haste, the sounds in the surrounding 不明瞭 grew ominously closer. The struggles of the marmelot and kroger had 中止するd altogether, and our 解雇する／砲火／射撃 was 燃やすing low.
Perspiring from every pore with my strenuous labor, I presently got the 洞穴 mouth の近くにd except for a 狭くする 穴を開ける on one 味方する barely large enough to 収容する／認める the 団体／死体 of a man.
Loralie had 一方／合間 carried all of the 燃料 into the 洞穴 and was waiting for me in its dark 内部の.
掴むing a 炎上ing faggot from the remains of the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, I squeezed through the 狭くする 開始, then 解除するd into place the 激しく揺する I had reserved for the 目的 while the princess held the たいまつ 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 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and began 涙／ほころびing at the two mighty carcasses which were locked in a death embrace beside it.
As I watched through the interstices between the 激しく揺するs, I saw that these were awoos. The more 臆病な／卑劣な hahoes soon joined them, and there 続いて起こるd a 猛烈な／残忍な medley of growling, snapping and snarling as the beasts fought over their 血まみれの feast.
Because there was no way of ventilating our 洞穴, I disliked building a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 inside; but I felt constrained to do so when a 抱擁する hahoe （機の）カム 匂いをかぐing up to our 激しく揺する 障壁, then threw 支援する its 長，率いる and gave vent to the horrid cry which gives it its 指名する. I piled a few faggots against the バリケード and lighted them with the 炎上ing brand I still held. It was 井戸／弁護士席 I did so, for the cry of the first brute quickly brought a half dozen others and they began 匂いをかぐing and scratching at the loosely piled 激しく揺するs.
The smoke nearly strangled us at first, and got in our 注目する，もくろむs, making 涙／ほころびs stream 負かす／撃墜する our cheeks. But as it 大波d out between the crevices in the 障壁 the 包囲するing beasts sneezed and 支援するd away.
When the moisture had 燃やすd out of the 燃料 it smoked いっそう少なく, and I 設立する that by feeding the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 徐々に I could 削減（する） its smoking 負かす／撃墜する to a 最小限 which, though still disagreeable, was bearable.
ちらりと見ることing across the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 at my companion, I was about to speak to her when I saw that, in spite of her 恐れる, exhaustion had （人命などを）奪う，主張するd her, and she slept. She lay on her 味方する, her tousled 長，率いる pillowed on one white arm, her seductive curves 輪郭（を描く）d in the flickering firelight against the smoky background of the 洞穴's 内部の.
にもかかわらず the tremendous din outside the 洞穴, I presently felt myself growing drowsy. Twice I caught myself wearily nodding, only 存在 able to rouse with an 成果／努力 at thought of what might happen if our watch 解雇する／砲火／射撃 should go out.
Taking a three-foot length of fern frond, I thrust one end into the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and laid my を引き渡す the other. At the 率 these fronds 燃やすd I should catch ten minutes or more of sleep before the 炎上s should reach my 手渡す and awaken me.
I awakened with a start. Daylight was streaming through the crevices in our 激しく揺する 障壁. The 解雇する／砲火／射撃 had 中止するd to smolder, and the frond on which I had counted to awaken me had gone out more than a foot from my 手渡す. Loralie was still sleeping 静かに across from me.
近づく the dead embers of our outdoor 解雇する／砲火／射撃 lay the bones of the marmelot and the kroger, 選ぶd clean. The vegetation was torn, trampled and spotted with 血, but of the flesheaters that had 脅すd us the night before I saw no other 調印する.
Only a short distance away I saw a large clump of water ferns, and toward this I made my way in 追求（する），探索（する） of food and drink. I 設立する these useful shrubs ひどく laden with spore pods and, after a refreshing drink, pulled up a number of fronds to take 支援する with me.
As I was walking 支援する toward the 洞穴 I caught sight of a small animal browsing on the 法外な hillside above me. Silently putting 負かす／撃墜する my water-filled fronds, I 抽出するd 屈服する and arrow from my quiver, took careful 目的（とする） at the animal, and loosed a 軸. Struck just behind the shoulder and pierced （疑いを）晴らす through, it gave a piteous bleat, sank to its 膝s, then rolled over and （機の）カム 宙返り／暴落するing 負かす／撃墜する the hillside to 落ちる dead at my feet.
It was a wild frella, one of the hairless, sheeplike creatures which are such 高度に prized food animals on Venus. I had already tasted the flesh of the 国内の variety in the 黒人／ボイコット Tower.
After returning to the 洞穴 mouth with the spoils of my 簡潔な／要約する excursion, I kindled a new 解雇する／砲火／射撃 on the dead embers of the old one outside, and soon the appetizing aroma of 取調べ／厳しく尋問するing frella steak filled the morning 空気／公表する.
Stepping into the 半分-不明瞭 of the 内部の I saw that Loralie was already awake and intently watching the large nest in the 後部. "I heard something move 支援する there," she whispered, "and I'm afraid."
Club in 手渡す, I 前進するd toward the nest. As I did so I heard a peculiar scratching sound which seemed to come from the 中心 where the 一連の会議、交渉／完成する egg lay. Yet I could （悪事，秘密などを）発見する no 調印する of any movement.
安心させるd by my presence, the princess （機の）カム 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 分裂（する） open and a tiny kroger—like the one 殺害された by the marmelot in every 尊敬（する）・点 except size—rolled out, got unsteadily to its feet, and blinked inquiringly up at us, cocking its 長，率いる to one 味方する.
I swung my club aloft, bent on quickly 派遣（する）ing this miniature monstrosity, but the princess caught my arm. "Don't you dare 傷つける that poor little thing."
The kroger toddled toward her, balanced itself on the 辛勝する／優位 of the nest, and uttered a rasping, mournful croak.
"The darling!" exclaimed Loralie. "I believe it likes me. Isn't it 削減（する）?"
"削減（する）! 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 完全に hungry," I answered, "and the 王室の butler is about to serve breakfast. Will you join me or stay here and play with this walking nightmare?"
She held out her 手渡す to the kroger, which 即時に opened its enormous mouth to 十分な capacity, and gave vent to a 一連の high-pitched croaks. "Poor little 孤児, it's hungry. I couldn't think of eating a morsel without feeding it. Help it to get 負かす／撃墜する, won't you?"
I 延長するd the flat of my club, ーするつもりであるing to 押す it beneath the creature's belly, or throat, whichever it might be, and 解除する it 負かす／撃墜する to the 床に打ち倒す. But it sidled away from the 武器—then hopped 負かす／撃墜する by itself and toddled toward the princess. With a little 叫び声をあげる of alarm she turned and darted out of the 洞穴, the kroger waddling after her.
I squeezed through the 開始 as quickly as I could, getting out just in time to see her snatch one of the deliciously 取調べ／厳しく尋問するd frella steaks which I had 用意が出来ている and 投げ上げる／ボディチェックする it into the cavernous maw of the young reptile. It 即時に clamped its jaws shut, and dropping the grayish film of its eyelids, settled 負かす／撃墜する beside the princess with its chin between its feet to sleep.
"I told you the little thing was hungry," she said as we sat 負かす／撃墜する to breakfast.
When we had eaten, Loralie 主張するd that I make her a 屈服する, arrows and quiver. After I had 削減（する） a number of reeds into the 訂正する length for arrows I 始める，決める her to feathering the 軸s with bits of fern leaf while I 製造（する）d a number of 天然のまま sharp flint slivers for the 長，率いるs.
After I had a 十分な 量 of these rough tips made, I showed her how to 貯蔵所d them to the 軸s, while I 捨てるd, 乾燥した，日照りのd, and rubbed with hot fat a section of frella hide for the quiver. While it was hanging by the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 I made a 屈服する.
This work 占領するd several hours, during which time the kroger slept contentedly beside the princess. When everything was 完全にするd and we were ready to 再開する our 旅行, the hideous baby reptile 敏速に woke up and followed us.
As we did not care to run the 危険 of another attack by the slimy 押し寄せる／沼地 dwellers we planned to follow the mountain 範囲 which 徐々に curved toward the southeast, thus 避けるing the 沼 and 結局 coming out on the coast of the Ropok Ocean. Here we might 会合，会う the 救助（する） 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 武器s and keeping me busy retrieving arrows, we decided to stop in a small clump of water ferns for food and 残り／休憩（する）. 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, 準備の to building a 解雇する／砲火／射撃, when I heard a terrific roar come from over the brow of the hill, followed by the shouting of men, the 衝突，墜落ing of underbrush, and intermittent snarls and growls.
I hurried to the 丘の頂上 to 調査／捜査する, the princess running after me and the kroger waddling behind her as 急速な／放蕩な as its short 脚s would carry it.
Taking cover behind the bushy fronds of a cycad, I peered 負かす／撃墜する at the scene of 争い below. A party of men, about fifty in number, was engaged in a 戦う／戦い with an enormous ramph. The 抱擁する, hairless, 耐える-like creature 後部d up on its hind feet from time to time, 非常に高い above the men around it like a 巨大（な） の中で pygmies.
Half a dozen of the men already lay motionless on the ground, yet the others, 群れているing about the 猛烈な／残忍な beast, seemed 絶対 fearless. They were 武装した with knives and long, straight-bladed, two-辛勝する／優位d 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 耐えるd—an unusual thing on Zarovia, where a 耐えるd, 削減（する） off square below the chin, was a 示す of 流行の／上流の manhood.
As I watched, a man darted in to 配達する a thrust with his sword. Before he could do so the ramph whipped out with a 抱擁する paw and stretched him, 鎮圧するd and still, on the ground a 十分な twenty feet away. Another man who 後継するd in pricking the creature beneath the 権利 shoulder met a like 運命／宿命.
Instinctively I reached for 屈服する and arrow, but remembered that at that 範囲 an arrow could not かもしれない do more than 追加する to the fury of the beast. Then a 計画／陰謀 （機の）カム to my mind which I 即時に put into 死刑執行. 除去するing an 弾薬／武器 clip 示すd Tork 発射物s, Deadly, from the belt I had taken from Taliboz, I 抽出するd one of the needlelike ミサイルs and with a bit of cord, bound it to the 長，率いる of my arrow.
After 取って代わるing the clip in my belt, I took careful 目的（とする） and 解放（する）d the 軸. It struck the ramph in the shoulder and the deadly ウイルス 行為／法令／行動するd almost 即時に; in a few seconds it keeled over, to fight no more.
明らかに mystified at what had killed the 広大な／多数の／重要な beast, the men clustered curiously about the fallen brute, 診察するing it intently. One pulled the arrow from its shoulder and was 即時に surrounded by a group of his comrades, all eager to see and 扱う 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 兵士s of a civilized nation, but one I do not 認める. No 疑問 they will be glad to help us when they know who we are."
I stepped from behind the cycad and shouted the 全世界の／万国共通の Zarovian word for peace—"Dua!"
The entire 武装した 禁止（する）d whirled toward me, and I was horrified at the unhuman 質 of their gaze—as if they were more, or いっそう少なく, than men.
THE leader of the hunters called out "Dua" and Princess Loralie stepped from her hiding place to my 味方する. Together we walked toward them.
"I am Pangar," said their leader, （許可，名誉などを）与えるing us the 王室の salute in deference to the scarlet we wore. He himself, although not 着せる／賦与するd, had a purple 禁止（する）d on his metallic helmet and touches of purple on his accouterments which 示すd him as a member of the nobility.
"I am Zinlo of Olba," I replied, 認めるing his salute, "and this is the Torrogina Loralie of Tyrhana."
"In the 指名する of my 王室の master, Tandor of Doravia, I 企て，努力，提案 Your Highness welcome," he said. "Will you …を伴って me to the palace and 許す my emperor the 楽しみ of 迎える／歓迎するing you in person?"
"We'll be delighted."
"Your indulgence for a moment, then, while I see if any of my men can be 海難救助d."
"海難救助d!" I was struck by the peculiarity of the 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 when 適用するd to men. It brought home to me that there was something 極端に 半端物 about these people. The 動議s of many of them seemed to be やめる stiff and ぎこちない —mechanical, that was it—like the 動議s of marionettes.
Their armor, accouterments and 武器s, too, were not made of ordinary metal, as I had first thought, but were 建設するd from a 構成要素 which 大いに 似ているd glass. The blades of the swords and daggers were やめる transparent. The hilts 似ているd colored glass.
The helmets were also transparent, except for the colored 禁止（する）d at the base of each denoting the status of the wearer. The chain belts and shoulder ひもで縛るs were of the same 構成要素, but lined with ramph leather, evidently to 妨げる their 接触する with the 団体／死体.
Pangar bent over one of the fallen men. "Think you can make it?" he asked.
The stricken one spoke weakly. "力／強力にする 部隊 is low. Was shorted for a time, but I have it 支援する in place now. If someone can spare some 力／強力にする..."
"Who can spare 力／強力にする?" asked Pangar.
A man stepped up. "I can spare five xads."
"Good." From a hook on his belt, Pangar took two coiled tubes that 似ているd 絶縁するd wires with metal sockets at each end. He 挿入するd an end of each wire in each ear of the fallen man and 手渡すd the other two ends to the man standing. The latter 即時に 挿入するd an end in each ear, 一方／合間 watching an 指示する人（物） which was strapped to his wrist. Presently he jerked a tube from one ear, then the other. The fallen man arose, 明らかに 回復するd 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 始める，決める 表現 on his features, as of death or 深い hypnotic sleep. But around the jagged 負傷させる was no 調印する of 血. The flesh, if it was flesh, was a peculiar grayish-red shade. And where the viscera would have been exposed in a normal human 存在, I saw a conglomeration of coils, tubes, wheels and wires, 絡まるd and broken.
Pangar passed him by with but a 選び出す／独身 ちらりと見ること. "No use to try to save this one."
He 速く 診察するd the other fallen men. Two were 選ぶd up and slung over the shoulders of comrades. The 残り／休憩（する） were stripped of their 武器s 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 手配中の，お尋ね者 the hide only, not the flesh, for the 広大な／多数の／重要な red carcass was left lying 近づく the broken 人物／姿／数字s of the fallen men when we went.
Men or machines—which? I pondered the 事柄 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 首脳会議 of the mountain 範囲 and 停止（させる）d there for a few moments of 残り／休憩（する） while Pangar pointed with pride to the さまざまな features of the fertile valley of Doravia which was spread before us. It was oval in form, about twenty-five miles in length, 次第に減少するing 負かす／撃墜する to points at both ends where the inclosing mountain 範囲s ran together.
At the northwestern end of the valley a tremendous water 落ちる, over a mile in 高さ and fully a half mile in width, 宙返り／暴落するd into a spray-隠すd lake. From this flowed a river that 負傷させる through the 中心 of the valley, to 現れる at the southeast end. によれば Pangar, it emptied into the Ropok.
At each 味方する of the 落ちるs a conical, 蜂の巣-形態／調整d structure of 巨大な size towered for some distance above the upper water level. These two enormous buildings were connected by an arched （期間が）わたる that was fully a half mile above the lower water level. Their bases were hidden by the もやs that arose from the 底（に届く） of the cataract.
The banks of the river, as it 負傷させる through the valley, were dotted at 正規の／正選手 intervals by smaller twin towers of 類似の construction. The surfaces of all these buildings glistened with mirrorlike brightness.
In the very 中心 of the valley, on an island of かなりの size around which the river flowed in two nearly 平等に divided streams, was the largest structure of all. 反対／詐欺-形態／調整d like the others, but much larger than any of them, it 後部d its pointed, gleaming 最高の，を越す to a 高さ of fully two miles.
"The 皇室の 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 以前 escaped my 観察. A thin cable stretching beside a long 狭くする 壇・綱領・公約 a short distance below us 延長するd out toward the tower, though it soon dwindled into invisibility. It was composed of the same peculiar glistening 構成要素.
"I have signaled for a car," said Pangar. "It will be here soon."
As I watched, a tiny gleaming speck became 明白な far out over the valley. Its 明らかな size grew larger with amazing rapidity, and in a few seconds I saw that it was a long, octagonal 乗り物, pointed at each end, and 建設するd of the shimmering, transparent 構成要素.
It （機の）カム to a stop beside the 狭くする 上陸 壇・綱領・公約 without any perceptible jar or sound, and we all hurried 負かす／撃墜する to 会合，会う it. When we reached the 壇・綱領・公約 I 設立する that 一連の会議、交渉／完成する doors, hinged above, had been thrown open along the entire length of the 乗り物.
Into one of these the princess and I were 勧めるd by Pangar. The small kroger had kept の近くに 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 壇・綱領・公約, and we never saw it again—to my 救済. The car then started 滑らかに out over the valley. In a moment it was スピード違反 so 速く that the landscape, though far below us, became a mere blur.
It seemed that only a few seconds elapsed before the car slowed 負かす／撃墜する once more and we were entering an octagonal 開始 in the enormous central tower I had 以前 noticed. Before we entered I had a 簡潔な／要約する 見解（をとる） of hundreds of other 類似の 開始s in the tower from which slender, transparent cables radiated in all directions.
The door snapped open, and as we stepped out on the 上陸 床に打ち倒す Pangar said, "I will 行為／行う you すぐに to our Torrogo, as he wishes to 迎える／歓迎する you in person."
"How do you know that?" I asked, puzzled.
"His majesty 即時に communicates his wishes by thought- 移動 to any of his 支配するs."
"Then you communicate with each other here by telepathy?"
"Not with each other," he replied, "except through our Torrogo or a member of the 委員会 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 委員会 whose 義務 it is to watch over my mind. He receives the message and, if he 認可するs, 移転s it to my comrade or to the Torrogo."
As he talked, Pangar led us through a maze of hallways, the decorated 床に打ち倒すs, 塀で囲むs and 天井s of which were all of the same glasslike 実体, but opalescent, so that, with light coming from all directions, we moved without casting 影をつくる／尾行するs. 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 勧めるd into a 抱擁する and magnificent 王位 room, the many octagonal doors of which were guarded by 軍人s with drawn swords, the 天井 of which was fully a mile above our 長，率いるs reaching to the very 頂点（に達する） of the 蜂の巣-形態／調整d building, and my 注目する，もくろむs beheld for the first time the grandeur of the 皇室の 法廷，裁判所 of Doravia, I felt 肯定的な that only in a dream could such splendor have 存在. I pinched myself 繰り返して to make sure that I was awake.
My illusion of unreality, however, was 即時に dispelled as we were led before the 王位. Seated on its scarlet cushions was a powerful and 命令（する）ing 人物／姿／数字 of a man. His high forehead and 激しい eyebrows, joined at the 中心, reminded me of Dr. Morgan, but there the resemblance 中止するd.
The nose was Grecian rather than Roman in type, and the clean- 削減（する） features had the pale beauty of chiseled marble. It was a 直面する which showed remarkable 知識人 力／強力にする and, at the same time, an utter 欠如（する） of all 感情 or human sympathy. Although every other man belonging to this strange race was beardless, the 判決，裁定 君主 wore, at the end of his chin, a 狭くする, sickle- 形態／調整d 耐えるd which curved outward and 上向き, ending in a sharp point.
側面に位置するing each 味方する of the 王位 was a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of six lesser 王位s, on each of which sat a scarlet-decked individual whose insignia 布告するd the 階級 of rogo, or king. These rogos, I 裁判官d, must 構成する the 委員会 of Twelve referred to by Pangar. On still lower 王位s sat the purple-decked nobles of the land, while lining the 塀で囲むs on either 味方する stood the blue- decked plebeians. Beyond these, on the 郊外s of the 王位, as it were, were 集まりd a few of the gray-decked slaves.
Tandor stood up as we were brought before his 王位—a deference 予定 visiting 王族—and smiled, his 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs boring into 地雷 as we 交流d salutations. Although his smile was friendly, there was something about the look of his 注目する，もくろむs which was not やめる human. They appeared snakelike, with a 悪意のある, hypnotic 質 that was far from 安心させるing.
"You find me in the 中央 of my multifarious 法廷，裁判所 義務s," said Tandor, still smiling, "but I shall 終結させる them as soon as possible. 一方／合間, 許す me to 申し込む／申し出 you 残り／休憩（する） and refreshment. Pangar will show you to the ４半期/4分の1s 供給するd for your entertainment. I shall join you presently."
When we were outside the 王位 room, Pangar 問題／発行するd 指示／教授／教育s to a page, who hurried away, to 会合，会う us again 負かす／撃墜する the 回廊（地帯） with a girl who wore the scarlet insignia of 王族, followed by the others whose purple ornaments 布告するd them daughters of the nobility. The six girls were shapely and やめる pretty, but their mistress was beautiful. With a superb 人物／姿／数字, glossy 黒人／ボイコット hair and big 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs, half 隠すd with long dark 攻撃するs, she 競争相手d the beauty of Loralie herself.
Yet, on comparing the two I was struck by a 示すd contrast between them. While the Princess of Tyrhana was the spiritual type of beauty, her every lineament 示唆するing 潔白 and strength of character, this 王室の girl of Doravia appeared voluptuous, 感覚的な and 明らかに with 広大な／多数の／重要な strength of 目的—like an exalted odalisque, or perhaps a fallen houri.
（許可，名誉などを）与えるing us the 王室の salute, to which we 答える／応じるd in 肉親，親類d, she spoke softly with a low musical 発言する／表明する that, while it betokened culture and refinement, yet had about it a 確かな husky undertone which was puzzling. Her 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs, too, I thought had something of that reptilian 質 which had shone 前へ／外へ 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 ４半期/4分の1s can be 用意が出来ている for her."
She held out her 手渡す to Loralie, who took it without hesitation, and the two moved off 負かす／撃墜する a transverse 回廊（地帯） followed by the six handmaidens. Pangar then 行為／行うd me to a luxurious 控訴, whose glasslike furniture was upholstered with chlorophyll green ramph hide tanned to a softness that was almost velvety.
After a bath and a shave I felt 大いに refreshed.
"His majesty is now ready to receive you in his 私的な dining room," Pangar then told me.
A short walk 負かす／撃墜する the 回廊（地帯） brought me to a doorway, octagonal in form, before which two guards stood, sword in 手渡す. At a 調印する from Pangar they drew 支援する two scarlet curtains, and I entered the room. As the curtains dropped into place behind me I beheld my 王室の host seated at an octagonal-topped （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する of translucent scarlet 構成要素 in a high-支援するd golden 議長，司会を務める upholstered with ramph hide, which was also stained a brilliant scarlet. He arose as I entered and tendered me the 王室の salute, which I returned. Then I took a 議長，司会を務める at his 権利 which an unobtrusive servant placed for me.
"I 信用 that you will 容赦 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 始める，決める a 水晶 bowl before each of us. 地雷 was filled with steaming kova, but that which was placed before the Torrogo 含む／封じ込めるd a heavier liquid which seemed to ガス／煙 rather than to steam. It had an acrid smell which reminded me of the odor of a corrosive 酸性の.
"May your years be as many as the 星／主役にするs," 誓約（する）d Tandor as he raised his bowl to his lips.
"And may yours be as 非常に／多数の as the rain 減少（する）s that 落ちる on all Zarovia," I replied, 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするing off a draught of kova.
"Your arrival, O Prince," said Tandor, setting 負かす／撃墜する 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 広大な／多数の／重要な 実験— one which if successful will revolutionize the lives both of my 肉親，親類d and yours."
"That is indeed 利益／興味ing," I replied as a platter of chopped mushrooms and 取調べ／厳しく尋問するd ramph steak was 始める，決める before me. "But—two thousand years?"
A disk-形態／調整d 大型船, 黒人／ボイコット in color, was 始める，決める before Tandor. Coiled about the 扱うs on each 味方する of the 大型船 were two 絶縁するd wires with electrodes on the ends. Uncoiling them, he 挿入するd 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 王位, preferring 科学の 研究 in chemistry, physics and psychology. When I had learned everything the greatest scientists of my time could teach me about these 支配するs, I began to 連合させる my knowledge of the three with a 見解（をとる） to realizing a dream of 地雷 which is perhaps the 全世界の／万国共通の dream of mankind— immortality.
"As I look 支援する on my earlier 成果／努力s I realize how exceedingly 天然のまま they were, but alter countless 実験s and untiring 成果／努力s, they worked." "No 疑問 you have noticed the 広大な／多数の／重要な 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 存在. I also heard talk of 使い果たすd 力／強力にする 部隊s, and I have noticed that you drink a （水以外の）飲料 which smells and looks like ガス／煙ing 酸性の and that your food is evidently transmitted to you in the form of fluid 力／強力にする."
"In other words," said Tandor, "you have deduced that we are a race of automatons—machine men. You are 権利, but I do not believe that there 存在するs anywhere else on any world a race of man-created 存在s with souls. Nearly five thousand years have elapsed since I cast off forever the frail 爆撃する with which nature endowed me to （問題を）取り上げる my 存在 in a more 耐えるing 団体／死体 of my own 創造.
"You are of course familiar with the phenomena of personality 交流 and telekinesis. You are aware that two men can 永久的に or 一時的に 交流 their physical 団体／死体s.
"My problem, then, was to 建設する a duplicate 構成要素 団体／死体 into which my personality could enter, and which would 答える／応じる to the direction of my will by amplifying the 力／強力にする of telekinesis. The first 団体／死体 which I 後継するd in so entering 崩壊（する）d because of 欠陥のある construction, and I barely got 支援する to my own 団体／死体 in time to save it from 解散 and myself from 存在 事業／計画（する）d into the 広大な／多数の／重要な unknown. But I made many others, and when they were at last perfected, I published my 発見 in the Empire of Olba.
"My father had been received into the mercy of Thorth in the 合間, and my brother had 後継するd him to the 王位. I called on him to join me in immortality, and 申し込む／申し出d to make every person in the empire an immortal. To my 広大な／多数の／重要な surprise and 失望, my 申し込む／申し出 not only met with rebuff, but a systematized 迫害 against me and my 信奉者s was begun by the more 宗教的な of the Thorthans.
"影響（力）d by the 宗教的な leaders, my brother presently ordered the banishment of myself and my 信奉者s, who remained faithful to me. With いっそう少なく than a thousand of these I （機の）カム to these shores and その後の 探検s 明らかにする／漏らすd this valley."
I murmured my astonishment at all this.
"The only member of my family to …を伴って me," he went on, "was my sister, Xunia, who had been in sympathy with my 計画（する）s from the first. As 速く as I could, I 用意が出来ている duplicate 団体／死体s for my 信奉者s, it 存在 necessary to give each 団体／死体 the outward 外見 of the 団体／死体 and brain which was to be quitted, else the personality would not enter it.
"I have always kept many 団体／死体s in reserve for myself and for my sister, so we were 用意が出来ている for almost any 緊急. In 事例／患者 the 団体／死体 I 占領するd broke 負かす／撃墜する I could 即時に enter another. If that one broke 負かす／撃墜する or was destroyed, I could enter still another, and so on.
"The slaves were the only class which was never 完全に 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 軍隊d to わびる are of the cruder sort. I am compelled, for the moment, to 申し込む／申し出 you but the fare of slaves."
"It is excellent," I replied, "and やめる good enough for any king's son."
"I will find the means to 改善する it, however, as I 推定する／予想する you to remain here 永久的に. I have planned a 広大な／多数の／重要な 栄誉（を受ける） for you."
"Indeed?"
"I will explain. As you probably have surmised, there has been no such thing as propagation of the race の中で my immortals. This did not bother me in a 構成要素 way. When I lost a 信奉者—which was rarely, as every one has at least one extra 団体／死体 and most of them several—I could すぐに 取って代わる him from the 階級s 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 直面するd me was かなり more difficult than any on which I had 以前 worked, but undaunted, I 急落（する），激減（する）d into my 熟考する／考慮するs. Two thousand years of anatomical, histological, embryological, 生物学の, biochemical and psychological 研究 have brought their reward, so that, although today I 異なる from you 肉体的に as much as ever, I have built into my newest 団体／死体s and into those of my sister the 性の 特徴 of ordinary human 存在s.
"Pangar was sent 前へ／外へ today with the 反対する of bringing me two human 存在s suitable for marriage with 王族. His 旅行 ended almost as soon as it began when he 設立する you and the princess. I therefore 申し込む／申し出 you the 手渡す of my beloved sister in marriage, and will likewise 申し込む／申し出 the half of my 王位 to the Princess Loralie."
"But if we should 拒絶する／低下する the 栄誉（を受ける）?"
"It is 考えられない. Even if you were to 拒絶する／低下する, either of you, I have means at 手渡す which, I am sure, will 原因（となる） you to 再考する 喜んで."
除去するing the electrodes from his ears and draining his bowl, he arose and 召喚するd two pages. To the first, he said, "教える the Princess Loralie to 準備する for my coming." As the messenger sped away he said to the other, "You will 行為／行う His Highness Torrogi Zinlo of Olba to the apartments of Her Highness Xunia, Torrogina of Doravia."
As the little page 行為／行うd me to the apartments of Princess Xunia I turned over in my mind Tandor's strange story and its 反乱ing 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 建設するd as it was, it was yet a mere mechanical contrivance—a thing of wheels and cogs, levers and 軸s, a thing that fed on 電気の energy and drank ガス／煙ing 酸性の.
And I was 推定する／予想するd—命令（する）d with a 非，不，無-too-隠すd 脅し —to make love to this travesty on life.
But Loralie! Somehow I must contrive to live ーするために save her.
The page stopped before an ornate doorway, two guards saluted and opened 大規模な doors. Then a pair of scarlet curtains were drawn 支援する, 明らかにする／漏らすing a luxurious boudoir. "His Highness, Zinlo of Olba," 発表するd the page as I entered the room.
The curtains fell in place behind me. I heard the guards の近くに the 激しい doors.
As I looked at the beauteous dead-alive creature that reclined on a luxuriously cushioned divan in a scarlet and gold decked 休会, a feeling of revulsion swept over me; yet, paradoxically enough, this was 連合させるd with 賞賛. I was 反乱d 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 援助 to Loralie I had a part to play.
Xunia smiled languidly, seductively, as I stood before the raised divan just outside the niche it 占領するd. With feline grace she 延長するd a slender, dimpled 手渡す. Shuddering inwardly, I took it, 推定する／予想するing to feel the 冷淡な clamminess of death. But it was as warm as my own and as natural—from its white 支援する in which a delicate tracery of blue veins showed, to the pink- tipped, 次第に減少するing fingers. I raised it to my lips and 解放（する）d it, but she clung to my fingers for a moment, pulling me to a seat on a low ottoman just in 前線 of her.
"Long have I を待つd your coming, prince of my heart," she said. "Be not afraid to come 近づく to me, for it is my 願望（する） and my 命令（する）."
"To be prince of your heart were indeed an 栄誉（を受ける）," I replied, "yet you 指名する me this, having only seen me today."
"The moment I saw you I knew it was so. 恐れる not, beloved, that there have been others before you. I am, and have ever been, virgin in mind as in 団体／死体. Once I thought I loved, yes, but it was long ago, and then I was but a child."
"You make me very jealous, にもかかわらず," I said, remembering the part I had to play.
"I did not really love him, I 断言する it, dearest." She ran her fingers through my hair in a gentle caress so natural, so womanly, that I 設立する it 井戸／弁護士席-nigh impossible to believe her other than a real princess of flesh and 血. Then, before I realized what she was about, she twined her 武器 about my neck and kissed me 十分な upon my lips.
The kiss did not taste of 酸性の, as I had imagined it would, but was like that of a normal, healthy girl, though it 誘発するd in me a feeling of revulsion which I was at some 苦痛s to 隠す.
"I go now, beloved, to 準備する for your marriage," she said. "を待つ me here."
As I stood up, she took my 手渡す and arose gracefully. The time for 活動／戦闘 had arrived. Yet, as I looked 負かす／撃墜する at the slender, beautiful 人物／姿／数字, the long-攻撃するd 注目する，もくろむs gazing trustfully up into 地雷, I hesitated to carry out the 計画（する） which I had been 熟視する／熟考するing as I sat there on the ottoman before her— a 計画（する） with which I hoped to 遂行する a 二塁打 目的—to rid myself of this machine-monster and to get her brother away from Loralie, for she would probably 召喚する 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 仕事.
掴むing Xunia by her long 黒人／ボイコット hair, I whipped out my 石／投石する knife and 削除するd the 人工的な muscles of the わずかな／ほっそりした white throat. She gave one startled 叫び声をあげる, which ended at the second 削除する of my knife, and went limp as I jerked the 長，率いる backward, 割れ目ing the metallic structure which took the place of cervical vertebrae. Instead of 血, there spurted from the 厳しいd neck a tiny stream of （疑いを）晴らす ガス／煙ing liquid, a few 減少（する）s of which fell on my 手渡す, 燃やすing it like molten metal.
Dropping the sagging 団体／死体, I turned and was about to part the curtains which led out into the hall to see if the coast was （疑いを）晴らす, when I heard a stealthy sound behind me. 速く turning, I saw Xunia, 明らかに 無事の. In her 権利 手渡す was a long, straight-bladed sword drawn 支援する for a thrust. Behind her lay the 団体／死体 I had just destroyed.
I leaped 支援する just in time to 避ける her vicious 肺. Then, jerking my spiked club from my belt, I dealt her a blow which 鎮圧するd her skull like an egg-爆撃する. But scarcely had this 団体／死体 sunk to the 床に打ち倒す ere a パネル盤 opened in the 塀で囲む behind it and a third, 武装した like the second, stepped out to attack me.
"Fool," mouthed the 前進するing 人物／姿／数字. "Think you that you can 殺す one of the immortals?"
This time she swung the sword with both 手渡すs with the evident 意向 of decapitating me, but I struck the 武器 from her 手渡すs. Then I 鎮圧するd the skull of this third 団体／死体.
I leaped through the opened パネル盤, where four more 団体／死体s, 同一の with the other three, lay on scarlet couches. The one nearest me was just sitting up, when I 粉砕するd the skull with my club. I quickly 性質の／したい気がして of the next two in the same manner before they showed any 調印するs of life, but the last rolled from the couch and, dodging beneath my arm, 急ぐd out into the room from which I had just come.
"Brother!" she 叫び声をあげるd. "Brother—he would destroy me!"
As I stopped the screeching of this last 人物／姿／数字 with a blow of my club, the entire 塀で囲む toward which I was 直面するing rolled up like a curtain. On the other 味方する 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 注目する，もくろむs were flashing with 怒り／怒る as she tried to pull away from the 君主, who gripped her slender wrists.
Taking in the 状況／情勢 at a ちらりと見ること, Tandor suddenly 解放（する）d Loralie, who fell to the 床に打ち倒す. Then he whipped out his sword and 前進するd on me.
Forgetting that I held only a 木造の club, I bounded 今後 to 会合，会う him. A sneer crossed his 冷淡な, statuesque features, as with a deft 削除する he 削減（する） my club in two 近づく the 扱う.
"Die, upstart," he snarled, raising his 武器 for the blow that was to end my 存在.
I barely 後継するd in 避けるing death by leaping 支援する, then caught up one of the swords which Xunia had dropped.
But as I attacked he （機の）カム on guard and 反対するd with a 技術 which spoke of 専門家 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 技術 as a swordsman you can do likewise for me. Know, then, witless one, who would try 結論s with the immortals, that in one of the 広大な／多数の／重要な twin towers which 側面に位置する the 落ちるs under constant guard, my sister has twelve more 団体／死体s in reserve.
"Should you 後継する in destroying the six 団体／死体s 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 結局 send you 負かす／撃墜する the unmarked 追跡する you should have taken five thousand years ago."
"You are, I perceive, a braggart 同様に as a dullard," said Tandor. "You realize, of course, that I can call the guard and have you 殺害された at any moment I choose to do so. Yet to make things more 利益／興味ing I'll make a wager with you. If you 後継する in besting me and destroying the six 団体／死体s I have here in the palace, I'll 約束 not to alarm the guard until I return from the tower in one of my reserve 団体／死体s. If I 軍隊 you to 降伏する, you are to become my slave for life, 団体／死体 and soul, to do with as I see fit. Is it agreed?"
"It is a wager," I replied between clenched teeth as I 猛烈に sought for an 開始 in this, the most marvelous guard I had ever 遭遇（する）d.
Tandor laughed as I tried, one after another, the many tricks I had learned in my 盗品故買者ing on three 惑星s.
"You are a good swordsman, 青年, better than any mortal I have ever 遭遇（する）d; yet I, with five thousand years of training, am 単に playing with you. See, I can touch you at will."
And with that, he pinked my left shoulder.
The moment he 延長するd his 武器 he left the 開始 for which I had been waiting. Not knowing on what part of his anatomy I could use my point 効果的に, I dealt him a swift neck 削減（する） with its keen 辛勝する／優位.
The 長，率いる flew from his shoulders and bounded to the 床に打ち倒す, but the 団体／死体 did not 落ちる. Instead, it stooped, and catching up the 長，率いる, tucked it under its left arm and 再開するd the contest. Here, indeed, was a 最高の-mind, which could 支配（する）／統制する, at the same time, 厳しいd 長，率いる and 団体／死体.
"A pretty 反対する," mocked the 長，率いる, while our blades 衝突／不一致d as vigorously as before, "but perhaps not as 効果的な as you 推定する／予想するd. I will tire you out presently. Then will I slice you 負かす／撃墜する, インチ by インチ, until you will be glad to 産する／生じる."
"Not with this 団体／死体," I replied as I got inside his guard for a swift downward 削減（する） on his forearm. Cleanly 厳しいd, it fell to the 床に打ち倒す, the 手渡す still gripping the sword. An instant later the 団体／死体 dropped the 長，率いる and fell. Then a パネル盤 slid up behind it, and Tandor, another sword in 手渡す, 現れるd, 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 地雷, 武装解除するd him, much to his びっくり仰天. This time I not only 分裂（する） his 長，率いる from 栄冠を与える to chin, but 削除するd off his 権利 arm. Then I 急ぐd through the パネル盤 開始 in time to catch a third newly animated 団体／死体 just arising from its scarlet couch. I served it in like manner, but the fourth sprang up before I could strike and （機の）カム on guard with appalling swiftness. Before Tandor could attack in this 団体／死体 I struck two swift blows, splitting the 長，率いるs of the two recumbent forms.
I stepped to one 味方する barely in time to 避ける a powerful downward 削減（する） that would have divided my own 長，率いる had it landed, and before he could 回復する I 厳しいd the sword arm of my 攻撃者 and 分裂（する） his 長，率いる.
急ぐing 支援する into the room where I had left Loralie, I 設立する her plucking a sword and dagger from one of Tandor's 団体／死体s.
"We must get out of here at once," I said. "In a few moments Tandor will be 支援する here in one of his swift 乗り物s. Then, the 条件 of the wager 実行するd, he can quickly have us 逮捕（する）d."
"But where can we go? How can we かもしれない escape?"
"I do not know, but we most certainly can't get away by remaining here. Come."
CAUTIOUSLY parting the scarlet drapes which hid the doorway, I saw that the 激しい doors had been bolted. Tandor had evidently ーするつもりであるd that he should not be 乱すd.
I 推定する／予想するd that there would be guards in the 回廊（地帯）, and therefore decided that a bold 前線 would serve our 目的 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 含む／封じ込めるd はしけ 武器s. Then we walked 静かに to the doors, which I unbolted and swung 支援する. The guards saluted stiffly and の近くにd them after us as we passed out.
"It is the 命令（する） of his majesty," I said, "that he be not 乱すd by messengers or others."
"To hear is to obey," replied both guards in unison as we strolled away 負かす／撃墜する the 回廊（地帯）.
I only knew my way to one part of the building—the 上陸 床に打ち倒す. After threading so many hallways, passageways and ramps that I had begun to think I had lost my way, we （機の）カム out on the central 上陸 壇・綱領・公約, from which radiated the cables that carried the swift-moving octagonal cars to the さまざまな 力／強力にする houses of Doravia.
ちらりと見ることing in the direction of the twin towers, I saw a car 速く 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 味方する of a car which hung on a cable that pointed toward the south, I helped her 船内に—then spoke to the 操縦する. "It is the 願望（する） of his majesty the Torrogo that we 検査／視察する some of the buildings of Doravia. You will first take us to the 力／強力にする 工場／植物 at the 最南端の end of the valley."
He saluted respectfully, then moved a 支配（する）／統制する lever. The doors の近くにd and we glided 滑らかに away from the 壇・綱領・公約. In a moment we were スピード違反 速く southward at a dizzy 高さ above the valley.
One by one we sped past the towers which dotted the river bank, so 速く that each Washed for but an instant in our 範囲 of 見通し. 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 目的地; if he made 調査 at the 上陸 壇・綱領・公約 he would flash a message to the 指揮官 of the southern tower, and we would 直面する 逮捕（する） as soon as we arrived.
I accordingly 緩和するd 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 削減（する） a way through."
As we drew up to the 上陸 壇・綱領・公約 I saw a 得点する／非難する／２０ of guards lined up to 会合，会う us. In 前線 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 今後 and 削減（する） my way through the line of surprised guardsmen with Loralie の近くに behind me. She drew her own 武器, and used it with more 技術 than I had believed possible in a woman.
As we dashed off 負かす／撃墜する a 回廊（地帯） we met two more guards, but they were 天然のまま swordsmen and 拘留するd us but for a moment. On coming to a transverse 回廊（地帯）, we turned, hoping thus to elude our pursuers; but a moment later they 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd the turn, and at the same time I saw a large party of men の近くにing in on us from the opposite direction.
"We're 罠にかける," 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 味方するs of the 回廊（地帯） 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 押し進めるd my companion into the 開始. 審理，公聴会 a 叫び声をあげる 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 設立する myself 事情に応じて変わる 負かす／撃墜する a 法外な spiral incline in total 不明瞭 at a terrific 率 of 速度(を上げる）.
For several minutes I continued my downward course 連続する. Then the incline grew いっそう少なく 法外な and I glided over a 一連の humps which retarded my 進歩. A moment later I 発射 out into the 空気／公表する and daylight, my feet struck a cushioned 塀で囲む, and I fell on a thickly padded 床に打ち倒す.
Springing to my feet, I saw Loralie standing with drawn sword, 直面するing a 抱擁する guard. A short distance behind him wavelets from the river lapped the 辛勝する／優位 of the 床に打ち倒す on which a half-dozen 狭くする, pointed boats made from the transparent metal were moored.
As I dashed 今後, the guard struck her sword from her 手渡す and 試みる／企てるd to 掴む 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 遭遇（する）d in Doravia.
支援する and 前へ／外へ we fought on that moist, slippery 床に打ち倒す, until I 後継するd in 軍隊ing him to the water's 辛勝する／優位. Binding his blade with my own, I 押し進めるd it 上向き, and leaping in の近くに, struck him in the breast with my left 握りこぶし. He 倒れるd 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 武器 in the chute behind us, followed by the thud of a 団体／死体 against the padded 塀で囲むs, then another and another.
Quickly flinging Loralie into one of the boats, I slid it to the water's 辛勝する／優位, leaped in and 押すd off. Four spadelike paddles lay in the 底（に届く）, and 掴むing one of these I managed to get several boat lengths from the shore before our pursuers reached the water's 辛勝する／優位.
The first boatload was not long in putting off after us, and with four paddles working it 伸び（る）d on us 速く. Behind it, another and another left the shore until five in all 追求するd us.
Seeing that it would be only a few moments before we were 精密検査するd, I strung my 屈服する and 発射 an arrow at the 真っ先の paddler. Although it pierced his breast it did not seem to discommode him in any way. He paddled 今後 as briskly as ever, pausing only to snap off the 軸 and fling it into the water. I tried a second 発射, this time 目的（とする）ing for his 長，率いる, but the arrow ちらりと見ることd harmlessly off his glittering, transparent helmet.
Loralie, に引き続いて my example, also strung her 屈服する and tried a 発射 at the second paddler. It struck him in the arm, but he broke off the 軸 and continued his paddling as if nothing had struck him.
"Save your arrows," I said as a 計画（する） suddenly occurred to me. Quickly unwinding a length of the cord I still had with me, I 宙返り飛行d part of it and 削減（する） it in short pieces. Then I took from the 弾薬／武器 belt of Taliboz a clip 示すd "Tork 発射物s—爆発性の." 抽出するing one, I bound it to the 長，率いる of an arrow and 発射する／解雇するd it at the first paddler. He grinned derisively as he saw me raise my 屈服する, but his grin disappeared, together with most of the upper part of his mechanical anatomy when the ミサイル 爆発するd.
Passing several 発射物s and bits of string to Loralie, I quickly 用意が出来ている another arrow and blew a second pursuer out of 存在. By this time the first boat was いっそう少なく than thirty feet from us, and I knew I would not have time to 準備する 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 （機の）カム と一緒に there was only one, as Loralie, having 用意が出来ている 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 後部 of ours. Dropping my sword in the 底（に届く） of our boat, I quickly tipped his boat to one 味方する. The fellow tried to 持続する his balance by throwing his 負わせる in the opposite direction but I had 心配するd this, and as he did so I 逆転するd the 攻撃する of his boat, precipitating him into the water where he sank out of sight.
So 占領するd had I been with our pursuers that I had not noticed whither the swift 現在の 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 潜水するd 激しく揺する, nearly 転覆するing us. I 掴むd a paddle and swung our （手先の）技術 平行の with the 現在の just as we were precipitated into a seething, whirling 早いs, from the 泡，激怒することing surface of which 事業／計画（する）d 非常に／多数の jagged 激しく揺するs.
I bent all my 成果／努力s to the 仕事 of 避けるing the dangerous 激しく揺するs which ぼんやり現れるd ahead as we 発射 今後 with alarming 速度(を上げる）, now on the crest of a 抱擁する wave, now in a hollow so 深い we could not see out of it. As we 前進するd the river became narrower, the 早いs steeper, and the 激しく揺するs more 脅迫的な. It appeared that the River of Life—for such Pangar had 指名するd it to me —might become, for us, the River of Death.
Try as I would, I could not keep our （手先の）技術 from 繰り返して 衝突する／食い違うing with the rough 玉石s that now beset our path. The strength of its transparent metal 味方するs astonished me.
We were nearly through the 早いs, and I was just breathing a sigh of 救済, when the 予期しない happened. Our prow struck a hidden point of 激しく揺する, the boat swung broadside, and we turned over.
I heard a 叫び声をあげる from Loralie as I 急落（する），激減（する）d into the water, 長，率いる first. The metal paddle to which I had unconsciously clung as I fell quickly carried me to the jagged 底（に届く）. I let go and swam as 速く as I could to the surface. Shaking the water from my 注目する，もくろむs I looked around. The swift 現在の had already taken me beyond the foot of the 早いs into deeper water. I could see no 調印する of the princess, though I craned my neck in every direction.
Our overturned boat had drifted past me, and three more boats were 速く descending the 早いs, 底（に届く） up, but behind them （機の）カム two more, in each of which sat four Doravian guardsmen.
Filling my 肺s, I dived for the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す 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 見解（をとる）.
I saw the first boatload of Doravians pass the 底（に届く） of the 早いs 無傷の 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 追いつく me long before I could reach the shore.
Although I was 大いに 妨害するd by the 負わせる of my 武器s, I hesitated to part with them, since I could not かもしれない get to land ahead of that boat, even if I were stripped.
Presently the boat （機の）カム within fifteen feet of me. The 真っ先の guardsman laid 負かす／撃墜する his paddle and drew his sword. Raising the 武器 above his 長，率いる, he leaned out over the 屈服する to 派遣（する） me. At this instant I dived, and 述べるing a 宙返り飛行 under water, （機の）カム up just under the 厳しい of the boat. 掴むing it in both 手渡すs, I 転覆するd the （手先の）技術, 急落（する），激減（する）ing my four 加害者s into the water. 非，不，無 of them 再現するd. The metal men 明らかに could not swim.
By this time the last boat had 交渉するd the 早いs and was paddling 速く 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 支援する, and my first 見解（をとる） of a silticum was 非，不，無 too 安心させるing. It was an enormous reptile with a green lizardlike 団体／死体, serpentine neck, and a 長，率いる of 巨大な 割合s.
I struck out 猛烈に for the shore, and the paddlers 増加するd their 成果／努力s. The noise they made attracted the attention of the reptile. Suddenly swerving, it made for the boat.
As I was やめる 近づく the shore I lowered a foot, struck 底（に届く）, 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 抱擁する saurian 肺d downward, straight for the 中心 of the boat. One of the occupants rammed his sword in that cavernous maw, and two others 削除するd at the scaly neck, but with no 明らかな 影響 on the reptile. It 掴むd the boat in its 巨大な jaws and 解除するing it high out of the water, shook it as a terrier shakes a ネズミ. Hurtling through the 空気／公表する to the 権利 and left, the 団体／死体s 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 楽しみ," I 答える／応じるd, and together we hurried up the bank and 急落（する），激減（する）d into the fern forest.
For some time we ran 今後, 味方する by 味方する, 沈むing ankle-深い in the soft moss that carpeted the forest 床に打ち倒す.
"I'm thirsty," said Loralie, "and hungry. Aren't you?"
"Ravenous. Nothing will 満足させる me but a good big steak. Spore pods are all 権利 for appetizers, but to 満足させる hunger there is nothing like meat."
"I've lost my 屈服する and arrows," she said, ruefully, "along with that clip of 爆発性の 発射物s you gave me. I dropped everything when the boat tipped over."
"Never mind. I still have my 屈服する, plenty of arrows, and another clip of 爆発性の 発射物s. 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 製図／抽選 a comparison between ourselves and 原始の people. The man went 追跡（する）ing, you know, while his mate looked after the 洞穴, or tree, or whatever they lived in."
"His mate? I fail to see the comparison."
"井戸／弁護士席, you know we're 主要な a rather 原始の 存在 just now, and...
"Prince Zinlo," she said, suddenly stopping and 直面するing me, "will you 中止する talking generalities and tell me just what you mean?"
"Yes," I cried 熱心に. "I'll tell you what I mean. I hadn't ーするつもりであるd 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 願望（する）ing you until the 破壊者 of all 願望（する）s puts an end to my 存在."
"I was beginning to wonder," she said softly, "if I would ever get you to say it."
Before I realized the 趣旨 of her words her 武器 were around my neck —her warm red lips 上昇傾向d, 招待するing. I 鎮圧するd her to me, and 設立する her a new Loralie—tender, 産する／生じるing, 熱烈な.
"I've loved you since the very hour we met," she said, "when you 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd my 推定するing cousin into the shrubbery."
Her 手渡す caressed my cheek, roving softly over my rugged 直面する. But as I bent to （人命などを）奪う，主張する the sweetness of her lips, I heard a twig 割れ目 behind me, and I whirled about, 手渡す on hilt.
To my amazement I beheld Prince Gadrimel, standing only a short distance from us. "A thousand 容赦s for this 侵入占拠," he lisped. "By the 耐えるd of Thorth, I could not find the heart to 乱す so pretty a love scene, were it not that 不明瞭 approaches and the （軍の）野営地，陣営 is a かなりの 旅行 from here."
Too astonished to reply, I could only 星／主役にする 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 疑問 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 圧倒するs you—（判決などを）下すs you speechless. Come, 港／避難所't you at least a little cousinly kiss for your deliverer who has come so far to 救助（する） you? You appear to lavish your caresses やめる generously outside the family."
My 血 boiled at his 熟考する／考慮するd insolence, his 空気／公表する of proprietorship, yet I strove to 支配（する）／統制する my feelings as I answered him. "The kisses of the Princess Loralie are her own to bestow. You will do 井戸／弁護士席 to remember that, Prince Gadrimel."
"And you, Prince Zinlo, will do 井戸／弁護士席 to speak only when spoken to." Gadrimel held out a 手渡す to Loralie. "Come, cousin, let us get to （軍の）野営地，陣営 before 不明瞭 落ちるs. By tomorrow we will be 船内に my 旗艦 and 井戸／弁護士席 on our way to my father's palace."
The princess drew closer to me and looked up into my 直面する as she answered, "Prince Zinlo is my fiance. I'll go where he goes."
"This nonsense has gone far enough," said Gadrimel, はっきりと. "売春婦, 軍人s!"
Scarcely had he uttered his call ere there の近くにd in on us from the surrounding fern ブレーキs a 十分な hundred 武装した men of Adonijar.
"掴む and 貯蔵所d this interloper," he 命令（する）d, pointing to me.
When this had been done, Gadrimel 駅／配置するd a stalwart 兵士 at my 味方する. "Remain here with the 囚人, until we have passed out of earshot. Then..." He stepped の近くに to the 兵士 and whispered something to him. "For which," he 結論するd, as he stepped 支援する, "you may have his 武器s, accouterments and anything else of value he may have with him."
Loralie 試みる／企てるd to come to me as I stood there, bound 手渡す and foot, but two 兵士s 妨げるd her.
"What are you going to do to him?" she cried.
"Now, now. 静める yourself, 甘い cousin," said Gadrimel. "I am but sending him on a 旅行. I must 主張する that you hurry to （軍の）野営地，陣営 with me at once, or 不明瞭 will 追いつく us on the way; the night-roving beasts will not be pleasant to 会合，会う in this forest."
In spite of her struggles he dragged her away. Behind them moved the entire company of 軍人s with the 選び出す／独身 exception of the one who had been 教えるd to remain with me. He stood immobile, listening until the sound of 発言する／表明するs and the clank of 武器s had died away in the distance. Then he turned to me.
"I have been 命令（する）d to kill you, Highness," he said, 簡単に. "Never before have I 殺害された a bound and helpless man, but I am a 兵士 of Adonijar and may not disobey the 命令（する） of my prince. However, I was not 教えるd as to how I should kill you, and I 耐える you no malice. By what 武器 do you choose to die?"
"The sword," I replied, "has ever been my favorite 武器. If I must die now, let it be by the sword."
"The sword?" he asked in puzzlement.
"That long straight-bladed 武器 in the sheath at my feet," I answered. "急落（する），激減（する） it into my heart and get it over quickly."
Slowly he bent over and withdrew the sword from its sheath. He 診察するd it curiously, 実験（する）ing the sharpness of its point with his palm and the keenness of its 辛勝する／優位 with his thumb.
"By the 血 of Thorth!" he exclaimed. "This is a beautiful 武器. And it will be 地雷 as soon as I have 殺害された you. Make ready, now, to die."
AS I stood there in the fern forest bound 手渡す and foot and helplessly を待つing the death blow at the 手渡すs of Prince Gadrimel's henchman, I was suddenly knocked flat by the 減少（する） of a 抱擁する, furry 団体／死体 from the 四肢s of the tree above me. Half dazed, I sat up just in time to see a 女性（の） 洞穴-ape 鎮圧する the 長，率いる of my would-be slayer with her sawedged club.
She turned, and as she did so, I 認めるd her features.
"Chixa!" I exclaimed.
"Long have the 洞穴-apes sought their Rogo," she said, "and 広大な／多数の／重要な will be their rejoicing when he returns."
With her flint knife she quickly 削減（する） my 社債s, and I stood 築く once more, stamping my feet and chafing my wrists to 回復する 循環／発行部数, scarcely able, as yet, to understand that I was really alive.
"Do you 洞穴-apes still consider me their king?"
"によれば 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 裁判官ing to be done, we have been searching for you."
"Where are the other 捜査員s?" 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 広大な／多数の／重要な size, she scampered up to the leaf 栄冠を与える 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 さまざまな points far and 近づく.
Then she descended the tree and dropped into the glade beside me.
Presently there （機の）カム swinging through the 支店s a 広大な／多数の／重要な, yellow-tusked male who, as soon as he saw me, roared, "あられ／賞賛する, Zinlo!" and dropped to the ground 近づく me. Another 現れるd from the fern ブレーキs, repeating the salute of the first, and it was not long before I was surrounded by more than two 得点する／非難する／２０ males and about half as many 女性（の）s.
As these shaggy man-beasts sat grouped around me, respectfully waiting for me to speak, their demeanor showed that they 認めるd me as their king without question.
"My 支配するs," 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 全員一致の.
"We will start as soon as I have 問題／発行するd 十分な 指示／教授／教育s."
But the 広大な／多数の／重要な, yellow-tusked male who had first 答える／応じるd to the 召喚するs of Chixa 抗議するd, "There is 裁判官ing to be done. Will you not first do the 裁判官ing, 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 軍人, mighty hunter," he replied, puffing out his 幅の広い, hairy chest. "But I do not question your edicts. I only ask that you 持つ／拘留する the 裁判官ing now."
Before I could answer him there （機の）カム a sharp cry from a 女性（の） who had perched herself in the 支店s above our 長，率いるs in order that she might better 観察する everything that went on.
"Danger! Danger!" she shrieked. "A silticum!"
Every 洞穴-ape 即時に took to the trees, and I heard the 衝突，墜落ing of a 抱擁する creature in the underbrush as it 速く made its way through the forest. Evidently the silticum which had attacked the Doravian guards had seen us, even as Loralie had 恐れるd, and was now on our 追跡する.
Quickly taking the last clip of 爆発性の 発射物s from my belt, I 除去するd two of the needle-like ミサイルs and bound each to the 長，率いる of an arrow. Then I strung my 屈服する and を待つd the coming of the monster.
Chixa called to me from the leaf 栄冠を与える 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 殺害された a silticum."
Although I knew nothing of the ways of this saurian, I had seen its 広大な／多数の／重要な size and knew that if it had 知能 enough to do so it could pull 負かす／撃墜する any tree within my 範囲 of 見通し. In 見解（をとる） of this fact, and also because I could not get about as 速く as the 洞穴-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 殺すs a silticum."
In a few moments I saw the 抱擁する green 長，率いる swaying on the snaky neck at a 高さ of about twenty feet above the ground. It was looking this way and that, 明らかに 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 事業／計画（する）ing 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 爆発性の arrow to my bowstring, and at this moment the monster 秘かに調査するd me. With a hiss like steam escaping from a locomotive, it distended its enormous jaws and 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d straight for me. Taking careful 目的（とする） at the cavernous maw, I drew the arrow 支援する to the 長，率いる and let 飛行機で行く.
The reptile turned わずかに so my 軸 did not strike the 的 squarely, but considering the terrific 軍隊 of the tork 発射物 this did not 大いに 事柄. For although the ミサイル struck the monster in the corner of the mouth, the 爆発 tore off the whole 味方する of its 長，率いる.
I 即時に fitted my second arrow to the bowstring, but instead of 前進するing the 広大な／多数の／重要な saurian swerved to one 味方する and began threshing about in a circle, striking this way and that with its 抱擁する, 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 武器 Of the beast, I 目的（とする）d my second 軸 with a 見解（をとる） to 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうing this appendage, and let 飛行機で行く.
It struck the monster just above one of its 厚い hind 脚s, 爆破ing a 広大な／多数の／重要な 穴を開ける in the 側面に位置する and not only 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうing the tail but both hind 脚s as 井戸／弁護士席.
Upon seeing this, the 洞穴-apes 即時に descended on the 'stricken reptile with yells of 勝利, and were soon 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスing at its heaving 味方するs with their saw-辛勝する／優位d clubs and 調査するing up 抱擁する 規模s with their flint knives ーするために get at the quivering flesh underneath.
"あられ／賞賛する, Zinlo!" the shouted. "Mighty 軍人, mighty hunter, mighty sorcerer! With his 魔法 he 殺すs even the silticum, the terror of stream and forest!"
As I watched the 洞穴-apes at their 血まみれの feast, I 解任するd that I, too, was hungry. 肘ing my way through the growling, snarling, milling 暴徒, I carved a steak from the shoulder with my keen Doravian dagger. Then I made a small cooking 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and 取調べ／厳しく尋問するd my 厚板 of meat. It 証明するd 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 裁判官ing be done before we fight. I have no time for 裁判官ing now, so I am going to let you do it. This shiny club will be your 記念品 of 当局, by which you will do 裁判官ing in my 指名する. Go now, taking the shes with you, 支援する to the 洞穴s. And be ware that your 決定／判定勝ち（する）s are just ones, for I will hear of it, and will come and 殺す you with my 魔法 if they are not."
"But Rogo," he 抗議するd, "I would like to go and fight the food-men with your others."
"You will do as you are bidden without その上の question. Throw away your old club and take this shiny one which 殺すs with its point 同様に as its 辛勝する／優位s."
Silently, and rather sullenly, he 除去するd his club from his belt string and 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd it away. Then he took the sword and 板材d away through the forest, followed by the 女性（の）s.
As soon as they had 出発／死d I called the others together and started off on the 追跡する of Prince Gadrimel. But 不明瞭 overtook us before we had gone more than five miles, and we were 軍隊d to take to the trees to 避ける the depredations of the night-roving carnivora.
Propped in a high leaf 栄冠を与える that swayed with each passing 微風 I didn't get much sleep during that noisy night, 抑圧するd by my constant 恐れる for Loralie in the clutches of her unscrupulous cousin.
It was with a sigh of 救済 that I 迎える／歓迎するd the 夜明け and made my way to the ground. Impatient to be off, I stopped only for a drink of water, then started 負かす／撃墜する the 井戸／弁護士席-示すd 追跡する 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 （軍の）野営地，陣営 which had been 完全に surrounded by watch 解雇する／砲火／射撃s. Most of these were still smoldering as we （機の）カム up.
Of the people of Prince Gadrimel we saw no 調印する, save 跡をつけるs 主要な to the river where there were indentations made by the prows of small （手先の）技術.
I led my ape-men at a trot along the flat, sandy beach for miles. The river bank 徐々に grew more rugged, and at last we climbed to a rocky eminence 命令（する）ing a 見解（をとる） of both sea and river.
錨，総合司会者d not more than an eighth of a mile off this point, and 激しく揺するing in the gently rolling swell, I saw the five ships of Prince Gadrimel. Paddling 速く toward them from the river mouth were a 得点する／非難する／２０ of small boats, in the 真っ先の of which were two scarlet-覆う？ 人物／姿／数字s which I knew must be Gadrimel and Loralie.
Helplessly I watched while his henchmen bundled the princess 船内に the 旗艦, boats were drawn up to their places on the decks, sails were hoisted, and 錨，総合司会者s 重さを計るd.
So, with 緊張するing 注目する，もくろむs, a 広大な／多数の／重要な lump in my throat and a 負わせる 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 支配するs scurry through the forest in search of game, I pondered my predicament. The only thing left for me to do, I 推論する／理由d, was to follow the coast northward as Loralie and I had planned to do. ーするために reach Olba I would pass through Adonijar, but 選び出す／独身-手渡すd I could do nothing against an entire nation.
Once in Olba I felt that I could 説得する the Torrogo to let his supposed son have an 空気／公表する (n)艦隊／(a)素早い for the 目的 of avenging the 殺人未遂 of the 栄冠を与える Prince, and with this I could quickly 説得する the 支配者 of Adonijar to give up the princess.
I dreamed thus futilely until a 広大な／多数の／重要な splash of rain struck me in the 直面する, followed by the patter of many more on the leaves around me. Brought to a sudden 現実化 of my surroundings, I noticed that the gentle wash of the waves against the shore had changed to the にわか景気ing roar of 抱擁する breakers, that the trees were bending before a かなりの 微風, and that にもかかわらず the fact that the day was not yet spent it was growing 刻々と darker.
A terrific peal of 雷鳴, followed by a vivid flash of 雷, made every 洞穴-ape 減少（する） the bone he was gnawing and look toward me as if for 保護 or 指導／手引.
"Zog makes 魔法 in the heavens, Rogo," said Borg, 地震ing with 恐れる. "Zog is angry. Let us hide until he goes away. I noticed a 広大な／多数の／重要な 洞穴 beneath the next cliff when I was 追跡（する）ing."
ちらりと見ることing around at the other beast-men, I saw that Borg was not the only one who had been 脅すd by the peal of 雷鳴. Every 洞穴-ape was shivering in abject terror.
"Lead the way to the 洞穴, Borg," I said. "I do not 恐れる Zog, but there is much rain and much 勝利，勝つd coming from across the big water, and a 洞穴 will be more comfortable."
The 脅すd 洞穴-ape needed no 勧めるing, but hurried off at once, the others after him, while I brought up the 後部 at a more leisurely pace. Peal after peal of 雷鳴 sounded, the 雷 flashed almost incessantly, and rain （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する in 激流s before I reached the 洞穴 mouth.
Entering, I beheld my erstwhile fearless 闘士，戦闘機s 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd together like 脅すd frellas and shivering as if with the ague.
"Every one 恐れるs Zog," explained a young ape.
"Your Rogo does not 恐れる him," I said, "and you should not. Come and help me pile 石／投石するs 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 殺す us with his 魔法 解雇する／砲火／射撃."
"Enough of this. Come over here and help me, every one of you, or I will 殺す you all with my 魔法."
The 悲劇の 恐れる which was in their 注目する，もくろむs was pitiful to behold, but they were not long in choosing between what they believed would be sure death from my 魔法 and possible death from the bolts of the deity they called "Zog." The doorway was soon so 完全に 封鎖するd that no night-roaming beast could enter.
Night having come on by this time, the only light in the 洞穴 was from the たびたび（訪れる） flashes of 雷.
For a long time I stood at the 入り口. Each 雷 flash showed 支店s 飛行機で行くing through the 空気／公表する, fern-trees blown over, and wild things, large and small, scurrying for 避難所.
I was awakened in the morning by a loud clatter and the sound of gruff 発言する／表明するs. Sitting up with a yawn, I stretched my cramped 四肢s as I watched Borg and several other 洞穴-apes dragging the バリケード away from the 洞穴 入り口. Gone was the unreasoning 恐れる that had gripped them the night before.
I rose and followed them outside. The 嵐／襲撃する had 消えるd, and other than the upper cloud envelope which is ever 現在の in the Zarovian sky, the heavens were （疑いを）晴らす. But the still-dripping fern forest plainly showed the 荒廃させるs of the tempest. The ground was littered with leaves and 支店s; trees were bent over, snapped off and uprooted, and many streams of muddy water trickled riverward.
Crossing the gulch which separated our 洞穴 from the highest eminence, I climbed to the point where I had been standing the night before when the 嵐／襲撃する struck, to find some spore pods. As I gazed out over the Ropok, now rolling as gently as it had before the 嵐／襲撃する, my munching 終結させるd in a sudden exclamation of surprise.
Lying on their 味方するs far out in the surf with the waves rolling over them, and 明らかに 砂漠d, I saw the 乱打するd 船体s of two of Prince Gadrimel's ships. And 錨，総合司会者d on the 物陰／風下 味方する of the promontory on which I stood, were the other three ships, their spars and 船の索具 in most sorry 事例／患者. The 旗艦, I 観察するd, was the one 錨，総合司会者d nearest the point of the headland, 示すing that Loralie had escaped death, for which I was 深く，強烈に thankful. From where I stood I could see the 乗組員s of the three ships busy 修理ing the 損害賠償金 which the 嵐／襲撃する had wrought.
Crouching in order that I might not be 観察するd, I made my way 支援する into the gulch, where most of my 猛烈な／残忍な 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 警戒／見張り on the 激しく揺する and tried to 明確に表す some 計画（する） of attack. Presently I saw two scarlet-覆う？ 人物／姿／数字s appear on the deck of the 旗艦. The smaller of the two was 絶えず …に出席するd by two 武装した 軍人s. Gadrimel had evidently 設立する it expedient to keep the princess under constant 監視.
But a 計画（する） did not 示唆する itself to me until I saw several boats lowered and a party of officers, 長，率いるd by Gadrimel, put off for shore. Dashing 支援する to the gulch where my 洞穴-apes were grouped, I said, "Some of the food-men are coming 岸に. 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 負かす／撃墜する 近づく the shore at the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す toward which they are coming. With his 軍人s 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 広大な／多数の／重要な distance. As soon as the food-men enter the forest, Borg and his 軍人s will 減少（する） 負かす／撃墜する on them from the trees and surprise them. They can thus be 殺害された before they have a chance to use their 魔法 clubs. Do you understand, Borg?"
"I understand, Rogo," replied the old 洞穴-ape. "The food-men will not see us until we 落ちる upon and 殺す them."
Calling the other 洞穴-apes to follow me, I hurried to the other 味方する of the promontory and descended its 法外な seaward 味方する where we were hidden from 見解（をとる） 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 貯蔵所d these to the 長，率いるs of my 支配するs, spreading them in such a manner that at a distance they would effectually 隠す the 長，率いるs and shoulders of the 広大な／多数の／重要な brutes. Disguising myself in the same manner, I led my savage 信奉者s to the very point of the promontory and into the water.
"You will all keep の近くに together in the water," I said, "and follow me without noise. There are many trees and 支店s floating 負かす／撃墜する 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 （機の）カム to me faintly the yells of startled men and the roars of fighting 洞穴-apes, interspersed with the popping of torks and 衝突／不一致 of 武器s, and I knew that all 注目する，もくろむs on board the ship would be directed toward the scene of 戦う／戦い.
"Now," I said, and 急落（する），激減（する）ing into the water, swam around the point and straight for the 旗艦. Just behind me, in such の近くに 形式 that we must have appeared like a 選び出す／独身, 絡まるd 集まり of floating 支店s, （機の）カム my 偽装するd apes.
The 旗艦 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 速く for the scene of 戦闘 on shore.
We （機の）カム up under the prow of the ship just as the sounds of 衝突 発表するd the arrival of the small boats at the beach where the 戦う／戦い was taking place.
Silently I 掴むd the taut 錨，総合司会者 chain and went up, を引き渡す 手渡す. Just as silently, my ape 軍人s followed. On reaching the 最高の，を越す, I peered 慎重に through the railing. Loralie and her two guards were standing on the starboard 味方する watching the 戦う／戦い on shore. There were three men aloft, 明らかに there to 修理 the 船の索具, but they, too, had their 注目する，もくろむs trained shoreward.
Without a sound, I climbed over the railing, and with sword in one 手渡す and dagger in the other, 前進するd toward the two men. 同時に, I jabbed the point of my dagger in the 支援する of one, and the point of my sword in the other.
"One 誤った move," I said, "and you die. Raise your 手渡すs above your 長，率いるs and keep your 直面するs shoreward."
They 従うd with alacrity. With a little 叫び声をあげる of 恐れる, Loralie turned to see what had happened.
"Zinlo!" she exclaimed. "I knew you would come!"
"Take their 武器s, my princess."
She quickly 除去するd their belts from which depended their torks and scarbos.
Three of the apes had 一方／合間 緊急発進するd aloft after the men in the 船の索具, and the others were searching the ship.
"Bring to me alive those who do not resist," I shouted. "You may 殺す the others."
My words had the 願望（する）d 影響 on Gadrimel's men, for although those in the 船の索具 all carried short scarbos, 非，不，無 申し込む／申し出d to fight. Other than these three and the two I had 武装解除するd, the apes 設立する only the cook and his helper.
When the 囚人s had all been 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd up, I 演説（する）／住所d them.
"All of you who are willing to take orders from me will give the 王室の salute. The others will be quickly 退位させる／宣誓証言するd of, as my apes are hungry."
To a man, they saluted.
"You three," I said, 演説（する）／住所ing the men who had been aloft, "hoist the sails. And you," pointing to the two guards, "heave the 錨，総合司会者."
I sent the cook and his helper 支援する to their マリファナs and pans under guard of two apes. Then I took the 舵輪／支配 with Loralie at my 味方する and as the sails filled, steered for the open sea.
We had nearly passed the point of the promontory when the にわか景気 of a mattork and the sing of its 爆撃する through our 船の索具 発表するd that we had been discovered.
"Can you steer?" I asked Loralie.
"Better than you, landsman," she answered laughingly. "Give me the 舵輪／支配."
Her father 支配するd the greatest 海上の 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 機動力のある on a tripod, stood nearby 列d in its water-proof covering. Beside it was the 事例／患者 which 含む／封じ込めるd the clips of 発射物s with their さまざまな 任命s printed in Patoa: Solid, 麻ひさせるing, Deadly, 爆発性の.
Stripping the cover from the 武器, I chose a clip of 爆発性の 発射物s and 挿入するd it in the breech. By this time two mattorks on each of the 錨，総合司会者d ships had opened 解雇する／砲火／射撃, and 爆撃するs were 叫び声をあげるing around us. One snapped a shroud, and I ordered a sailor up to 取って代わる it. Another burst against our 船体. And still others, ricocheting from the surface of the water, whined plaintively as they sped on their way.
I took careful 目的（とする） at the 後部 mattork on the nearest ship and 圧力（をかける）d the button. But the 武器 was strange to me, and 平等に strange was the experience of 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing a 発射物 from a ship. I saw my 爆撃する strike the water far behind the 示す.
Again I took 目的（とする）, this time 許すing for the 激しく揺するing of the ship. To my surprise, my 爆撃する burst just beneath my 的, 涙／ほころびing the gunner to shreds and knocking the 武器 from its tripod.
I tried another 発射 at the 今後 mattork, but it went wild. Then both boats slipped from our 見解（をとる） as we 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd the promontory.
"My marksmanship is as wretched as my 扱うing of a boat," I said. "But they cannot harry us for a time, at least. Where to now, my princess?"
With one 手渡す she reached for my own, drew my arm around her slender waist. The other still skillfully managed the 舵輪／支配.
"Whither you will, beloved," she replied. "Shall it be Olba or Tyrhana —north or south?"
"Which is nearer?"
"They are about 平等に 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 直接／まっすぐに north. "It will not be long before Gadrimel 始める，決めるs out after us."
"He may have been 殺害された 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 調印する of a turn in the tide of 戦う／戦い, he used his tork, but did not get into the 厚い of the fight. A 用心深い 青年, my cousin."
It was not long before her 予測 was 実行するd. One of the ships nosed around the promontory and （機の）カム after us with all sails up.
I sprang to the mattork and 解雇する／砲火／射撃d. It was a bad 行方不明になる. Again I 解雇する／砲火／射撃d. This time my 発射物 struck the water の近くに to the 的. I was getting the 範囲. But when I would have 解雇する／砲火／射撃d a third time there was an 爆発 in the breech. The 発射物 had jammed and the safety plug had blown out.
Frantically I worked with the recalcitrant 武器, momentarily 推定する／予想するing a ボレー from our pursuers. But 非，不，無 （機の）カム. Evidently the prince had forbidden the use of mattorks because of the presence of Loralie on our 大型船.
Suddenly a terrific 爆発 from the 前線 of our 大型船 knocked me flat. Half dazed, I gripped a 脚 of the tripod for support just as the deck gave a violent lurch 今後.
My prostrate 団体／死体 swung halfway over, and I saw with horror that the 前線 end of the ship had been 完全に blown away and she was 急落（する），激減（する）ing into the waves, nose 負かす／撃墜する. I have never learned the 原因（となる） of that 爆発, but believe that the cook or his helper 設立する a way to outwit their ape guards and destroy the 大型船.
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 速く 沈むing 大型船. "Jump!" she cried. "Jump quickly, or you will be dragged 負かす／撃墜する with the ship!"
I sprang to the rail and leaped over. A moment later I was swimming beside her as we both 緊張するd every muscle in our 努力する to put as much distance as possible between ourselves and the stricken 大型船 before she went 負かす／撃墜する.
But try as we would, we could not escape the mighty suction of the boat as it 急落（する），激減（する）d beneath the waves. Like 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするing corks we were dragged 支援する in spite of our 最大の 成果／努力s. But by the time we reached the 中心 of the whirlpool it had so far 沈下するd that the water was comparatively 静める and we were not drawn under.
Presently bits of 難破 began to come up around us. A 抱擁する 木材／素質 suddenly popped to the surface. We swam to it and 設立する it amply buoyant to 支える our 連合させるd 負わせる in the water.
As we topped the crest of a wave I ちらりと見ることd 支援する. The first ship was within a ４半期/4分の1 of a mile of us, and I caught a glimpse of a scarlet-覆う？ 人物／姿／数字 in the 屈服する, 熱望して scanning the water with a glass.
I was still looking 支援する when a cry from Loralie attracted my attention in another direction. "A 殺し屋 norgal! The 天罰（を下す） of the Ropok has seen us! We are doomed!"
耐えるing 負かす／撃墜する on us at terrific 速度(を上げる）, I saw an enormous fish. Its 団体／死体, fully thirty feet in length, was blue in color, and bristled with sharp spines of a 深い crimson shade. Its 抱擁する jaws, large enough to have swallowed ten men at a gulp, were open, 明らかにする／漏らすing 列／漕ぐ／騒動 on 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of sharp, 支援する-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 木材／素質. Then I drew my sword, puny 武器 indeed with which to 会合，会う such an enemy.
AS we clung to the 木材／素質 there in the 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするing waves, Loralie and I, the 殺し屋 norgal 速く 殺到するd closer and closer. There was no mistaking its 目的. It had seen us and 選び出す／独身d us out for its prey.
Suddenly a dark 影をつくる／尾行する fell on us from above. A 発射 rang out, followed by a muffled 爆発. Where the gaping mouth of the fish had been was only a 血まみれの 集まり of flesh and bone. The mighty carcass lurched, flopped about for a moment, and then turned belly 上向き.
Above us ぼんやり現れるd the 広大な／多数の／重要な 本体，大部分／ばら積みの of an 空中の 戦艦, 速く descending. It hovered only a short distance above our 長，率いるs. A door opened in the 味方する and a 柔軟な metal ladder was lowered to us. I helped Loralie to 開始する, then went up after, を引き渡す 手渡す.
An officer in the uniform of Olba helped me into the ship. He was the mojak, or captain of the 大型船.
Then he 屈服するd low with 権利 手渡す 延長するd palm downward, as did every other man in sight. "Your 指名する, officer," I said.
"Lotar," he answered, "at your highness's service."
"Lotar, you will find ４半期/4分の1s for Her Highness Loralie of Tyrhana, then start すぐに for the 皇室の Palace at Olba."
"I hear and obey," he replied, and dashed off to give the necessary orders.
We 機動力のある to the 後部 turret, the princess and I, and watched the two ships of Gadrimel 急速な／放蕩な disappearing from 見解（をとる）. Why he did not 解雇する／砲火／射撃 at us I have never learned. かもしれない because the princess was on board, but more probably because he 恐れるd the powerful mattorks of the mighty Olban airship.
The princess presently retired to her ４半期/4分の1s to 残り／休憩（する）, and I went 今後 with Lotar, who was directing the 操縦する in the first turret. "How long should it take us to get to Olba?" I asked.
The young mojak 協議するd his charts and 器具s for a moment.
"We should be able to make the palace by nightfall, Highness," he said. "This ship is 率d at a rotation."
A rotation, I 解任するd, meant the 速度(を上げる） at which Venus turns on her axis, だいたい a thousand miles an hour.
"Who sent you after us?"
"Your Highness's father has had the entire 空気／公表する (n)艦隊／(a)素早い of Olba scouring the 惑星 for you since your 見えなくなる from the 黒人／ボイコット Tower. His Majesty 割り当てるd a patrol zone to each ship. I have been 飛行機で行くing above this zone for many days. Attracted by the 爆発 which destroyed your ship, I flew over to 調査／捜査する. With the 援助（する） 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 事柄 for me to kill the norgal with an 爆発性の 発射物."
"It was excellent 狙撃," 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 広大な／多数の／重要な 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 皇室の Majesty, Torrogo Hadjez."
For some time I strolled about the ship, 診察するing her 軍備 and admiring the 高級な of her 任命s. Presently, Loralie （機の）カム out of her 特別室. 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 広大な／多数の／重要な 三日月-形態／調整d harbor of Tureno, and its myriad lights flashed on as did those of Olba. I caught a (n)艦隊／(a)素早いing glimpse of the lighted windows of the 黒人／ボイコット Tower as we hurtled past it. Then the 操縦する gently slowed the ship until we were 直接／まっすぐに above the 皇室の Palace.
As we dropped toward the flat roof a number of guards （機の）カム running toward us. Two of them 掴むd 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 王室の salute. "His majesty will be overjoyed, highness. It was his 命令（する） 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 行為／行うd Loralie and me 負かす／撃墜する the telekinetic elevator.
When it stopped he 屈服するd us into a spacious hall which led to a 広大な／多数の／重要な, arched doorway hung with curtains of scarlet and gold, at each 味方する of which stood two guards 武装した with torks, scarbos and long-bladed spears.
The four guards 屈服するd obsequiously as we （機の）カム up. Then two of them parted the curtains and there stood before us another individual whose 直面する seemed strangely familiar to me. Yet he wore the pompous uniform of a torrango, or 首相, which I 認めるd from my 熟考する／考慮するs, and I knew I had never met the 首相 of Olba.
As soon as he saw me, he 屈服するd low with 権利 手渡す 延長するd palm downward. "His Majesty the Torrogo 企て，努力，提案s you welcome. Whom may I 発表する as …を伴ってing you?"
"Her Highness, Loralie. Torrogina of Tyrhana," I replied.
He 屈服するd once more and 出発／死d. A moment later I heard him 発表するing our 指名するs and 肩書を与えるs. Then a 発言する／表明する, which also seemed familiar to me, said, "You will 行為／行う them before the 王位."
As we followed the 首相 into the large and magnificent 王位 room of Olba, more guards saluted and fell in behind us. A guard of 栄誉（を受ける）, I thought.
I had never seen Torrogo Hadjez, and was curious for a look at his 直面する, but 抑制するd my impatience until Loralie plucked at my arm.
"Look!" she whispered. "Look who sits upon the 王位!"
I raised my 注目する，もくろむs, and the features of my arch-enemy, Taliboz, leered 負かす／撃墜する at me. For a moment I was stunned as I saw him sitting there, arrayed in the 王室の scarlet and wearing the insignia of the Torrogo of Olba. Then my 手渡す flew to my sword hilt and I sprang 今後. But before I could take a second step strong 武器 pinioned my own from behind and my 武器s were ひったくるd from me.
"I 信用," Taliboz said, 屈服するing to Loralie, "that you will excuse this poor 歓迎会, but as your coming was 予期しない we were 全く unprepared to 迎える／歓迎する you with the pomp and circumstance 予定 visiting 王族." He turned to his 大臣. "See that suitable apartments are 用意が出来ている for Her Highness of Tyrhana at once and 行為／行う her there, Maribo. And Vinzeth," he said, 演説（する）／住所ing the mojak who had 行為／行うd us to the 王位 room, "you will also 行為／行う Torrogi Zinlo to the 控訴 that を待つs his coming."
"You fiend!" said Loralie, 直面するing him with flashing 注目する，もくろむs. "What are you going to do with the prince!"
"Have no 恐れる, Your Highness," 答える／応じるd Taliboz. "No 害（を与える） shall come to him. Not now, anyway. Later, his 運命／宿命 shall 残り／休憩（する） in your fair 手渡すs."
I was dragged out a 味方する door by two guards.
They took me 負かす／撃墜する a small elevator which, it seemed to me, traveled into the very bowels of the 惑星 before it stopped. Then I was jerked out of the car and pulled along a 狭くする, dimly lighted passageway that seemed to have been hewn from solid 激しく揺する, until we （機の）カム before a door of 大規模な metal 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s.
One of the guards produced a 重要な with which he 打ち明けるd this door, and I was flung inside with such 軍隊 that I fell sprawling on a 冷淡な 石／投石する 床に打ち倒す and the door clanged shut behind me.
Scarcely had I fallen to the 石／投石する 床に打ち倒す of the dungeon 独房 into which I had been 投げつけるd, when a shadowy form darted from its 薄暗い 内部の and was helping me to my feet.
"Are you 傷つける, Highness?" the man asked solicitously. I 認めるd the 発言する／表明する 即時に, though the features were still indistinguishable to me, my 注目する，もくろむs not having become accustomed to the 半分-不明瞭.
"Lotar!" I exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"I was placed under 逮捕（する） with all my officers and 乗組員 すぐに after you left with the villainous Vinzeth. So far as I know, my men are 限定するd in the 独房s around us."
"But what is the meaning of it all? Where is the Torrogo Hadjez, and how did Taliboz 達成する the scarlet and the 皇室の 王位?"
"At the time of Your Highness's 見えなくなる from the 黒人／ボイコット 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 運動ing one of the swift mechanical 乗り物s which are 製造（する）d in that country. His disguise was 侵入するd by a 兵士 of the 皇室の guard, who placed him under 逮捕（する） and took him before Torrogo Hadjez.
"His Majesty questioned Taliboz about your 見えなくなる, and he told a story which was believed by some and discredited by others—すなわち, that there was a 陰謀（を企てる） on foot の中で the guards of the 黒人／ボイコット Tower to assassinate you as you slept. He said that he, with Vinzeth and Maribo and his men, had fought, 保護するing you from death, until they were driven 支援する, and you were dragged to the tower 最高の，を越す 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 （手先の）技術 and 始める，決める out in 追跡 of your abductors. They finally 衝突，墜落d, he said, in the wild country of the 洞穴-apes beyond Adonijar, where you and your abductors were killed in the 衝突，墜落. All of his men were killed and eaten by 洞穴-apes, and he barely escaped with his life to Adonijar, where he had 購入（する）d a merchant's outfit and 乗り物 with which to 横断する the high road to Olba."
"I have met liars," I said, "on three 惑星s, but Taliboz seems to be prince of them all. This, however, does not explain how the 反逆者 達成するd the 王位. I left him, 麻ひさせるd by a tork 発射物, in a forest 近づく the mountains of the 洞穴-apes. That he escaped the 危険，危なくするs of the ジャングル is little short of miraculous."
"No one could disprove the story told by Taliboz," Lotar pointed out, "as everyone in the 黒人／ボイコット Tower had been 殺害された. Torrogo Hadjez could do nothing but thank him for 試みる／企てるing to save your life, reward him with 高くつく／犠牲の大きい 現在のs, and 回復する to him all the 栄誉（を受ける） and 当局 which had been his before his 出発. That the Torrogo did not believe his story, however, was 証拠d by the fact that his 空気／公表する 海軍 continued to patrol the globe in search of Your Highness."
Someone rapped はっきりと on one of the 大規模な 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s of the 独房 door with the hilt of a 武器. It was one of the guards 割り当てるd to patrol the 回廊（地帯）.
"いっそう少なく noise in there, 囚人s," he growled, then passed on.
"I learned more while we were 存在 held in one of the upper rooms after our 逮捕（する） on the palace roof," continued Lotar softly. "As you are probably aware, every man who を待つd us on the roof was a henchman of Taliboz. Your 皇室の father, Highness, died at the 手渡すs of an 暗殺者 several days ago. The dagger 設立する driven in his 支援する was 証明するd to be that of Arnifek, his 首相. With Torrogo Hadjez dead and your highness 推定では so, there was no 後継者 to the 王位 and it was necessary for a new Torrogo to be elected by acclamation. Taliboz was thus elected. He すぐに had Arnifek, the supposed 暗殺者, 遂行する／発効させるd, made Maribo his 首相, and Vinzeth captain of the palace guards."
"Do you think Arnifek was 有罪の of the 殺人?"
"Of course not. Taliboz—or one of his 道具s—did it with Arnifek's dagger. It was part of his 計画（する） to get 支配（する）／統制する of the Olban 政府. 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 目的 before he sent me from the 王位 room, for I heard him tell Princess Loralie that my 運命／宿命 should 残り／休憩（する） in her 手渡すs. He will 試みる／企てる to 軍隊 Loralie into marriage with him by 脅すing my life—and have me 殺害された once the marriage is consummated."
"You are 権利, Highness," said Lotar. "Taliboz plays for even greater 火刑／賭けるs—to 部隊 the only 空気／公表する 力／強力にする and the mightiest 海上の nation of Zarovia, Olba and Tyrhana, by marriage. Adonijar would probably form an 同盟 with him because her 支配者 is married to the princess's aunt. He would be the wealthiest and most 影響力のある 君主 on the globe. Nor is there a 選び出す／独身 nation powerful enough to …に反対する such a strong 同盟—not even Reabon, with her mighty army. Reabon is far across the ocean, and besides, her 広大な／多数の／重要な warlike Torrogo died recently, leaving his daughter, Vernia, to 支配する in his stead."
"Reabon," I mused. "The 指名する sounds familiar. Ah, I remember. That is the country to which Grandon went."
"Grandon?" he exclaimed, puzzled. "The 指名する has a foreign sound."
"An old friend of 地雷. You would not know him. He is, as you say, a foreigner...Is this Taliboz so popular that the people would 喜んで make him Torrogo by acclamation?"
"Far from it, Highness," replied Lotar, "though he probably 説得するd some of them to espouse his 原因（となる） by 納得させるing them that he had 危険d his life in an 試みる／企てる 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 escape—a secret way which I 疑問 very much whether Taliboz himself knows. But we must first get past yonder 閉めだした door and the 武装した guard in the 回廊（地帯）."
"If that is all," I replied, "I see freedom in the 沖. Follow my 指示／教授／教育s 暗黙に, and we'll soon be out of this."
"You have but to 命令（する）, Highness."
"Very 井戸／弁護士席. When next the guard approaches on his 一連の会議、交渉／完成するs, talk very loudly. No 疑問 he will stop and order you to be silent. When he does this, 侮辱 him."
"But he will only come in and （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 me with the flat of his scarbo, Highness."
"Do as I say, Lotar. I will …に出席する to the 残り／休憩（する）."
It was not long before we heard the 激しい footfalls of the guard in the 回廊（地帯）. I すぐに started a conversation with my companion in a loud 発言する／表明する.
"Silence!" roared the guard. "The other 囚人s want to sleep."
"Be on your way, you clumsy lout," replied Lotar, "and do not in the 未来 forget how to 演説（する）／住所 your superiors."
"My superiors! 売春婦, 売春婦!" jeered the guard. "Very soon will I show you who is superior, a 囚人 or his jailer."
He took a bunch of 重要なs from his belt pouch and fumbled の中で them until he 設立する the one that fitted our door.
"Now see what you have done, Lotar," I exclaimed, ふりをするing 広大な／多数の／重要な 恐れる. "You have got us a （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing 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 適切な時期 to 拷問 a fellow creature, but would 捜し出す such an 適切な時期.
"So, 0 cub of a dead marmelot, you 恐れる a （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing," snarled the guard. "It is 井戸／弁護士席 that a weakling such as you can never 開始する the 王位."
"Were he on the 王位," Lotar snapped, "hahoes like you would be working in the quarries where they belong!"
The guard raised his scarbo for a 激しい blow at the defenseless Lotar. This gave me the 開始 for which I had been waiting. With a 選び出す／独身 bound I was in 前線 of him. Before he could 回復する from his surprise I 工場／植物d a 衝突，墜落ing 権利 hook on the point of his jaw. He went 負かす／撃墜する like a felled ninepin, nor was a second blow necessary.
I gave his tork and dagger to Lotar, but 保持するd the scarbo myself. It took us but a few moments to 貯蔵所d and gag the prostrate guard with the ひもで縛るs of his own accouterments. We dragged him 支援する into a corner, の近くにd and locked the 独房 door, and tiptoed stealthily 負かす／撃墜する the 回廊（地帯）, the young captain in the lead.
"Let us 解放（する） your men," I said.
"Your Highness's life is too precious to 危険 for them. Still, if it is your Highness's 命令（する）...
"It is."
Pausing before the first 独房 door, Lotar peered within.
"Here are six of them," he whispered, 実験（する）ing his 重要なs in the lock.
Looking over his shoulder, I saw six shadowy forms on the 床に打ち倒す, and could hear their breathing as they slept.
When he had 設立する the 権利 重要な, Lotar opened the door 静かに and stepped within. One by one he awakened the sleeping men, 警告を与えるing silence.
We went from 独房 to 独房 until we had 解放（する）d forty-five men— all but five of the 乗組員 of Lotar's 空中の 戦艦. He was 開始 their 独房 door when we heard the clatter of footsteps, the clank of 武器s and the sound of talking. 武装した men were approaching by way of a transverse 回廊（地帯）.
"Quick, into this 独房, every man of you," I ordered.
Silently our forty-five とじ込み／提出するd into the 独房 with the remaining five. When all were inside there was standing room only.
"Now, Lotar," I whispered, "let us go to 迎える／歓迎する our 報知係s."
He whipped out his dagger and followed me to the 交差点 of the two 回廊（地帯）s, where we crouched, breathlessly を待つing the approach of the enemy.
AS Lotar and I crouched against the 回廊（地帯） 塀で囲む in the dungeon beneath the 皇室の Palace of Olba we could hear our unseen enemies 製図／抽選 nearer and nearer in the transverse passage way. How many there were, or how 井戸／弁護士席 they were 武装した, 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 ネズミs.
Two guards, fully 武装した, suddenly 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd the turn 直面するing us. Out （機の）カム the scarbo of the one nearest me, but before he could use it my point had 設立する his throat. He went 負かす／撃墜する with a queer gurgling sound. Lotar had, 一方／合間, sprung on the other guard like an enraged marmelot, burying his dagger in his breast. 同時に, we withdrew our dripping 武器s, thinking this was all, when suddenly a third guard 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd the corner.
This time we had no element of surprise in our 好意, for he had seen us as quickly as we had him.
He quickly clapped his 手渡す to his tork, at the same time raising his 発言する／表明する to alarm the guards. "Help! Two pris—"
He said no more, nor had he even an 適切な時期 to 圧力（をかける） the tork button, for with 雷 quickness that the 注目する，もくろむ could 不十分な follow, Lotar had 投げつけるd his 血まみれの dagger straight at the enemy's 直面する. It entered his opened mouth with such 軍隊 that the point protruded from the 支援する of his neck and the hilt clicked against his teeth. With a look of amazement and horror on his 新たな展開d features, he 低迷d to the 床に打ち倒す.
"Get their 武器s, Lotar," I ordered, and hurried to 召喚する our men. With the 武器s of the three guards we partly 武装した six of them, and once more hurried away under the 指導／手引 of Lotar.
But we had not gone far when there was a 広大な／多数の／重要な clamor and much shouting behind us, and we knew our escape had been （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd. We bounded 今後 now, without any 試みる／企てる at silence. A moment later Lotar called a 停止（させる） before a 抱擁する, cylindrical 中心存在 about three feet in 直径, which to all outward 外見s was 正確に／まさに like the many other 中心存在s which supported the 石／投石する roof of the 回廊（地帯）.
Whipping out his dagger, he 圧力（をかける）d the point into a tiny 割れ目 in the 床に打ち倒す in 前線 of it, その結果, much to my amazement, I saw that the 中心存在 was turning やめる 速く, and as it turned, moved up into the 激しく揺する above it like a gigantic screw. In a few seconds its base was above the 床に打ち倒す, and beneath it there yawned a 黒人／ボイコット 井戸／弁護士席.
"Into it, every man of you, quickly," ordered Lotar.
The man nearest the 塀で囲む paused gingerly on the 辛勝する／優位.
"Leap," ordered the captain. "It is not far."
In he went, and we could see that the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where he had landed was scarcely seven feet below the 床に打ち倒す level. After him, as 急速な／放蕩な as they could find room, （人が）群がるd the other men. But 一方／合間, the sounds from behind us told us that our pursuers were 危険に 近づく.
It seemed an age before the last man leaped into the 穴を開ける, followed quickly by Lotar and me.
Stooping 負かす／撃墜する, the young mojak 圧力（をかける）d a lever in the 床に打ち倒す. The 中心存在 started downward, the direction of its turning 逆転するd, and soon we stood in total 不明瞭. 裁判官ing from the sounds above, the thing had been 遂行するd just in time. The large party of guards above clattered on past without even stopping to 調査／捜査する.
"They do not 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う," said Lotar, "which is 井戸／弁護士席. It may be that we shall want to pass this way again. Come, I will lead the way."
As 非，不，無 of us had the means to make a light, we moved 今後 like blind men, に引き続いて the 発言する／表明する of Lotar, who seemed to know the way by heart. "A 法外な 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 明らかに been hewn through the 激しく揺する stratum that underlay this part of Olba. How it was ventilated I had no means of knowing, but though the 空気／公表する was 冷静な／正味の and moist it seemed やめる fresh.
When we had traveled for more than an hour in this fashion, I asked Lotar how much さらに先に we had to go.
"We are but a third of the way, Highness," he 答える／応じるd. "This tunnel leads to the 黒人／ボイコット Tower."
"And whom do you 推定する／予想する to find in the 黒人／ボイコット Tower?"
"Friends. It is hardly likely that Taliboz has 乗組員を乗せた it with his henchmen so soon, but even if he has, some of us are 武装した and we have the advantage of surprise on our 味方する."
"Unless," I 観察するd, "he discovers that we have come this way and 始める，決めるs a 罠（にかける） for us."
"It is not likely. The guards in the dungeon were 完全に baffled. By now I 疑問 not that the traitorous Taliboz is exceedingly mystified and furiously angry."
It was nearly ten Earth miles from the 皇室の Palace to the 黒人／ボイコット 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 目的地, Lotar 警告を与えるd silence and groped about in the 不明瞭 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 長，率いるs —most welcome after three and a half hours of 激しい 不明瞭.
Gripping the 辛勝する／優位 of the 床に打ち倒す, Lotar drew himself up and peered 慎重に about. Evidently 満足させるd that he was unobserved, he clambered on out of the 穴を開ける, beckoning to us to follow. It was not long before we had our entire company lined up in a large room, the 天井 of which was supported by 中心存在s 類似の to the one which had been raised to let us in. Lotar then 圧力（をかける）d the hidden button that started the 中心存在 回転／交替ing in the opposite direction, and watched it turn 支援する into place, leaving no 調印する of the way by which we had come.
There were three windows in the room through which the first faint streaks of 夜明け were 明白な. There were also three doors. Lotar slowly and carefully opened one of these. But scarcely had he looked out ere a sharp challenge was 投げつけるd at him from the 回廊（地帯）.
"Move and you die! Who are you?"
"Lotar, Mojak in the 皇室の 空気／公表する 海軍," replied the young officer.
"What do you here?"
"That," replied Lotar, "I will tell your mojak if you will fetch him. Who is in 命令（する） here?"
"Pasuki 命令（する）s," replied the guard.
"A good and loyal 兵士. Take me before him."
He 動議d with his 手渡す for us to remain in the room. Then he stepped out, の近くにing the door after him. Evidently the guard had not the slightest 疑惑 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 黒人／ボイコット Tower Guards, easily distinguished by the small replica of the tower worn on the helmet and the same 装置 in 救済 on the breastplate.
The old 兵士 屈服するd low with 権利 手渡す 延長するd palm downward.
"Pasuki is yours to 命令（する） as of old, Highness," he said, "and overjoyed that the 報告（する）／憶測 of Your Highness's death was 誤った."
I did not, of course, remember Pasuki, but it was やめる evident that he remembered the former Zinlo. "You were ever a true and loyal 兵士, Pasuki," I replied. "See that these men I have brought with me are fed, housed and 武装した."
After a 簡潔な／要約する order for the 処分 of Lotar's men to a mojo who waited outside, Pasuki 行為／行うd us to the telekinetic elevator and by it to my apartments.
"I'll send for you men soon," I told them. "一方／合間 we must try to 工夫する some 計画（する） of attack on this wily Taliboz, and find a way to 救助（する） Her Highness of Tyrhana."
Pasuki and Lotar 屈服するd low and withdrew.
After a bath and a change of 着せる／賦与するing, I was served with the usual 抱擁する and variegated breakfast with which Zarovian 王族 tempts its appetite, to the accompaniment of gold service and scarlet napery.
But ere I had 完全にするd this meal, a page （機の）カム to 発表する that a man who had just been 認める to the tower, craved 即座の audience with me. "Who is he?" I asked.
"He gave the 指名する of Vorvan to Pasuki, who questioned him and seemed 満足させるd of his 忠義," replied the page.
"Then show him in," I answered. The 指名する Vorvan had a familiar （犯罪の）一味, and I was trying to remember where I had heard it before when a man 覆う？ in the 従来の blue garb of a tradesman entered.
He appeared about fifty years of age, and his square-削減（する） 耐えるd had an unnatural 赤みを帯びた tinge, as if it had been dyed. His eyebrows were 類似して 扱う／治療するd, and a 包帯 was drawn across one cheek and the 橋（渡しをする） of the nose, as if he had been recently 負傷させるd. I could not remember ever having seen the man before, yet there was something about him that was strangely familiar.
He 屈服するd low, 権利 手渡す 延長するd palm downward.
"I have a message for Your Highness's ears alone," he said, with a 重要な 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 拒絶する／低下する, as I have already breakfasted. There is much to be done, and time 圧力（をかける）s." Again he ちらりと見ることd impatiently at the servants.
With a wave of my 手渡す, I 解任するd them.
"The page told me you gave the 指名する of Vorvan," I said when they were gone. "Both the 指名する and yourself seem somehow ばく然と familiar, yet I cannot remember having heard it, nor having seen you before."
"Then my disguise must be 効果的な, Highness," he answered, with a smile which was also familiar. "I am Vorn Vangal."
The smile and the 指名する 即時に 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 広大な／多数の／重要な nobleman, scientist and psychologist of Olba—the man who had welcomed me to Venus with the 同一の smile he was now wearing.
But at that time he had been attired in the purple and the glittering bejeweled panoply of a 広大な／多数の／重要な noble, and his 耐えるd and hair had been アイロンをかける gray. A bit of dye, a 包帯, and the 着せる／賦与するing of a tradesman had wrought 広大な change in his 外見.
"I'll try to answer Your Highness's questions in 予定 order," Vorn Vangal said. "I returned from Reabon one week after I left you in the 黒人／ボイコット Tower, 推定する／予想するing to find you here, 安全な and sound. You may imagine my astonishment when I learned that you and Taliboz had disappeared, that your guards had been 殺害された, and that a number of dead henchmen of Taliboz had been 設立する here.
"I すぐに 設立するd telepathic communication with Dr. Morgan who was to keep in constant 和合 with you, and from him I learned what had happened to you. Then I went to Torrogo Hadjez and 説得するd him to patrol the area where it might be 推定する／予想するd that you would be 設立する. You were moving about so much that it was impossible for the airships to find you in any 明確な／細部 場所 I might 指名する. Part of the time you didn't know where you were, hence your subjective mind could not 知らせる Dr. Morgan, and through him, me.
"Of course I knew the 報告（する）／憶測 of Taliboz was a 嘘（をつく） when he said you had been killed, but I did not dare to so 知らせる Torrogo Hadjez. He would have 需要・要求するd to know the source of my knowledge, which would have 軍隊d me to 公表する／暴露する the fact that his son was on your world and you were taking his place here.
"I decided to 本人自身で 行為／行う a search for you in an 空中の 戦艦, and Torrogo Hadjez 供給するd me with one for the 目的, but we 遭遇（する）d a terrific 嵐／襲撃する before we had gone far, and the ship was 軍隊d to land, hopelessly 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうd, 近づく the Olba-Adonijar 国境. I すぐに took a モーター 乗り物 支援する to Olba, but was placed under 逮捕（する） as soon as I entered the city gates, for Torrogo Hadjez had been assassinated and Taliboz was on the 王位.
"He 非難するd me to die as a 反逆者, and 押収するd my city palace as 井戸／弁護士席 as my lands, 広い地所s and treasure. With the 援助（する） of a few faithful friends, I managed to escape before his 宣告，判決 could be carried out, disguised myself as a tradesman, and （機の）カム here, having learned through Dr. Morgan that this was where you were to be 設立する."
"And now," I asked, "have you any 計画（する）s for 救助（する）ing the Princess Loralie and 配置する／処分する／したい気持ちにさせるing of Taliboz?"
"The only method I can think of will be a 血まみれの 革命. Most of the men who 守備隊 the palace and the city are men of the usurper. The men who 以前 filled these 階級s have been sent to work on and guard the 私的な 広い地所s of Taliboz, far to the north of Olba. If we were to 布告する your return, Taliboz would すぐに 公然と非難する you as an impostor, a price would be placed on your 長，率いる, and you would be 追跡（する）d by every 軍の man under his 命令（する）.
"The best way, I believe, will be for you to remain here until I can 誘発する the 愛国的な 国民s of Olba, 内密に telling them of your presence here. You can then come to Olba in disguise, and we can make a 一致した 成果／努力 to 逮捕（する） the palace and do away with the 反逆者 who sits on the 王位."
"But that will take かなりの time," I said, "and in the 合間, what of Loralie?"
This question went unanswered, for at this moment one of my guards entered with the 声明 that Pasuki and Lotar craved 即座の audience as they had a communication of the 最大の importance.
"収容する／認める them," I said.
Both saluted hurriedly as they （機の）カム in, and seemed 大いに agitated. "Your Highness's presence here has been discovered," said Lotar. "We must get you away at once."
"I am sorry to 知らせる you that there must have been a 反逆者 の中で my men," said Pasuki, "工場／植物d there, no 疑問, by Taliboz to 秘かに調査する on my doings. One of my faithful servants, however, was watching Taliboz, and has 派遣（する）d a messenger to me with the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） that the usurper has 動員するd an army of five thousand men who are already marching on the 黒人／ボイコット Tower."
AS I sat 直面するing the three men, Pasuki, Lotar, and Vorn Vangal, all faithful to me, but with no 計画（する）s for 会合 the 緊急 created by the 前進する of the army which was ten times the strength of the 守備隊 of the 黒人／ボイコット Tower, an idea （機の）カム to me.
"Will Taliboz …を伴って the army, Pasuki?" I asked.
"It is probable, Highness, but I cannot be 確かな ."
"How many men in your 守備隊?"
"Four hundred and fifty, not counting Lotar's fifty. We could not 持つ／拘留する the tower long against the attack of five thousand. It is best that we 解散する the 守備隊 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 信奉者s are willing to fight both for her and for me, I have a 計画（する）—a 不安定な one, but possible of 死刑執行—for saving her and dethroning Taliboz."
They 誓約（する）d their 忠義.
"Very 井戸／弁護士席," I said. "準備する, 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 準備する for the 弁護 of the 黒人／ボイコット Tower at once with all your mattorks and men. You, Lotar, will keep your men 武装した and ready for my call, but out of sight. See that every one of them is 供給するd with a portable light, and that there are several extra lights. Vorn Vangal will remain at my 味方する for the 現在の."
The two men hurried away to carry out my 命令（する）s, and I leisurely finished my breakfast, while Vorn Vangal kept anxious watch out the window.
"They draw 近づく, Highness," he said excitedly, "and Taliboz is with them, for I see the personal 基準 of the Torrogo in their 中央."
"Good." I went to the window. Taliboz was bringing up a mighty host indeed, compared to our small 守備隊. When they were within a thousand yards of the 塀で囲むs that surrounded the tower, they （軍隊を）展開する，配備するd to the 権利 and left. A man 耐えるing a 旗，新聞一面トップの大見出し／大々的に報道する on which was written in large letters the Zarovian word "dua"—which, under the circumstances meant, "a 一時休戦"—left the 階級s and marched toward the main gate of the tower 塀で囲む.
"A 先触れ（する）," said Vorn Vangal. "Taliboz would 扱う／治療する with us."
"Let us go to the 最高の，を越す of the tower."
We quickly took a telekinetic elevator.
"We are 完全に surrounded now," said Vorn Vangal. "There will be no escape. Even if we were to try to get away in the airships we should すぐに be 発射 負かす／撃墜する by their mattork 乗組員s."
"We are not yet ready to 試みる／企てる an escape."
The 先触れ（する） stopped 近づく the gates and shouted a 命令（する） to Pasuki to 配達する to His 皇室の Majesty, Taliboz of Olba, "the usurper who calls himself Zinlo of Olba." He 申し込む／申し出d a 解放する／自由な 容赦 to Pasuki and his men.
"You will return to His Majesty," replied Pasuki, "our 悔いるs that we are unable to 従う with his order, as we have no usurper in the 黒人／ボイコット Tower."
"Who is that man in scarlet I see standing on the roof of the topmost segment?" 需要・要求するd the 先触れ（する）. "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 企て，努力，提案 him come and bend the 膝 to the man whose 王位 he has stolen." Turning contemptuously, Pasuki walked away from the parapet.
"Pasuki has played his part 井戸／弁護士席," I 知らせるd Vorn Vangal. "Now, 除去する your disguise; if possible get rid of that villainous-looking hair dye; array your self in the purple that 控訴s your true 駅／配置する, and then 報告（する）／憶測 to me in my apartments."
"I will carry out Your Highness's 命令（する）s at once," replied Vorn Vangal, and hurried to the elevator.
I watched the 先触れ（する） as he 選ぶd his way through the encircling army to a point some distance behind it where a man stood, garbed in the 王室の scarlet, surrounded by officers and courtiers. I knew that he must be Taliboz.
Scarcely had the 先触れ（する） 屈服するd before him ere he sent a number of officers scurrying toward the 前線 lines. A mattork spoke. The 爆撃する went 叫び声をあげるing past the tower only a few feet from my 長，率いる. A second 爆撃する 爆発するd 近づく me, 涙／ほころびing away part of the battlement.
As our mattorks replied, a general 砲撃 started, and the 兵士s of the encircling army took advantage of natural cover when it was to be had, or threw themselves flat and dug in. I 裁判官d that they planned to 砲撃する the tower before 試みる／企てるing to 嵐／襲撃する it.
爆撃するs were 動揺させるing like あられ／賞賛する against the upper battlements when 'I took the elevator and descended to my apartments. Here I 設立する Vorn Vangal, once more the 広大な／多数の／重要な Olban noble I had first seen.
Together we entered the elevator once more and descended to the fifth 地下組織の level, where Lotar's men were 動員するd. The young mojak saluted and then stood を待つing my orders. Even at this depth the thunderous sounds of the 戦う／戦い （機の）カム faintly from above, and I could see that both men and 指揮官 longed, even as did I, to be in the 厚い of it. But I had other work for all, which might 証明する as exciting and far more dangerous.
"Have you the lights, Lotar?" I asked.
"Every man has been 供給するd 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 （機の）カム. Hurry!"
Lotar quickly 手渡すd us a light each, and then led us to the 中心存在 from beneath which we had entered the 黒人／ボイコット Tower. I led the way into the 炭坑，オーケストラ席 beneath it as soon as it was raised, closely followed by Vorn Vangal, and leaving Lotar to の近くに the 入り口 and bring up the 後部.
Traveling with lights, it was 平易な to 持続する a pace much faster than our previous one when we had walked in total 不明瞭.
"How many guards do you think there will be in the palace?" I asked Vorn Vangal as he jogged along beside me.
"普通は there are a thousand 絶えず on 義務 in the palace and grounds. However, it may be that Taliboz has taken some of these with him in order to fill the 階級s of his あわてて 組織するd army. If this is the 事例／患者, 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 事例／患者 we will be tremendously より数が多いd, but we have the advantage of surprise in our 好意."
When we reached the palace, I called a 停止（させる） to give the men a 残り／休憩（する）, and passed 支援する word for Lotar to come up.
As soon as he joined us, I told him my 計画（する）s for taking the palace. Then I pulled the lever which operated the 中心存在 above us, and we all snapped off our lights.
When the 中心存在 was high enough I drew myself up and peered over the 辛勝する／優位 of the 床に打ち倒す through the 薄暗い light of the dungeon. Only one guard was in sight, and he was walking away from me. Silently I threw a 膝 over the 辛勝する／優位, stood 築く, and 調印するd for the others to follow me. When every man was out, Lotar 圧力（をかける）d the hidden button which の近くにd the 塀で囲む.
At the suggestion of Vorn Vangal, our torks were 負担d with the 発射物s which 麻ひさせる for several hours but do not kill unless they happen to strike a 決定的な 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. By using these 弾丸s we could （判決などを）下す our 対抗者s helpless without 現実に 殺人，大当り them, and would not be bothered with guarding 囚人s.
As Vorn Vangal had surmised, Taliboz 'had taken a number of the palace guards with him when he started for the 黒人／ボイコット Tower. We 設立する only one man patrolling the 回廊（地帯）s of the level we were on, and he was quickly put out of the way. On the next level we 設立する two guards, and on each of the three dungeon levels above it, two. Although they were not taken 完全に by surprise, having heard our 発射s, they were easily 打ち勝つ.
On the ground level, Lotar took twenty men and started out in one direction while his 中尉／大尉／警部補 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 設立する only a dozen men on guard, and quickly 発射 負かす／撃墜する all but one, who 降伏するd in terror, for he did not know that we were not using the deadly 弾丸s in our torks. There were six 空中の 戦艦s on the roof but 乗組員s in 非，不，無 of them. I also noticed several small, one-man airships. One of these suddenly rose and started for the 黒人／ボイコット Tower, but Vorn Vangal leaped to a mattork and 発射 it 負かす／撃墜する. It 衝突，墜落d in one of the busiest streets of Olba, 製図／抽選 a 広大な／多数の／重要な （人が）群がる and 停止（させる）ing traffic.
Quickly searching the other airships, we 設立する them untenanted.
By 尋問 the man we had 逮捕（する）d, we 設立する 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 支配（する）／統制する 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 広大な army, and that quickly. They may not all be trained 兵士s, but every male Olban knows how to use a tork and scarbo."
"Then you will remain here in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the roof, 保持するing five men at all times to defend the stairway. The other five you may use as messengers to 召喚する your friends. As all these men are from an 空中の 戦艦, I assume that they know how to 扱う the small airships."
"They do," replied Vangal.
I then sent for the 囚人. When he was brought before me I asked him where the Princess of Tyrhana was 拘留するd.
"I do not know, Your Highness," he replied.
"Have a care how you 嘘（をつく） to me," I 警告するd him.
"I 断言する it, Highness. I have no idea of her どの辺に."
"粘着する to your falsehood, knave! We shall see if it will 支える you in 中央の-空気／公表する. Pitch him over the battlements, men."
The two 軍人s who had brought him すぐに began dragging him toward the battlements. He struggled unsuccessfully to break away from them, feet threshing, 注目する，もくろむs rolling in terror.
"Wait!" he shrieked. "I know! I will tell!"
"Bring him 支援する," I ordered. "He shall have another chance."
Once more they brought him before me, this time trembling with terror and 完全に cowed.
"Speak," I said. "And tell the truth this time."
"Her Highness has apartments on the 床に打ち倒す just beneath us," he said quaveringly. "The last 床に打ち倒す at which the elevators stop."
'And how is she guarded?"
"Two men guard her door, and she has two 女性（の） attendants."
I did not wait to hear more but dashed 負かす／撃墜する the stairway. After 横断するing several 回廊（地帯）s, I saw two guards standing before a door draped with scarlet, and knew I had the 権利 place. One of the guards saw me as soon as I saw him, and our torks spoke in unison. His 弾丸 struck my sword hilt, but 地雷 stretched him, unconscious, on the 床に打ち倒す. The other guard wheeled just in time to receive my second 弾丸 and 株 the 運命／宿命 of his companion.
急ぐing 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 重要なs in the belt pouches of either.
Arising, I rapped loudly and called the 指名する of Loralie.
A woman's 発言する／表明する answered me from within. It was the 発言する／表明する 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 重要なs in here."
"Then I'll break it 負かす／撃墜する," I answered. "Stand away from it."
支援 across the 回廊（地帯）, I ran at the door, 投げつけるing my 団体／死体 against it, but it was sturdily fashioned from 厚い planks of 堅い serah 支持を得ようと努めるd, and my 単独の reward for my 猛攻撃 against it was a bruised shoulder.
Again and again I 投げつけるd myself against it with the same result.
Then I whipped out my scarbo, 解決するd to hew my way through it, when I suddenly heard the sound of men running behind me. Wheeling, I beheld the 残虐な, leering features of Vinzeth. Behind him （機の）カム a dozen palace guardsmen. I reached for my tork, but before my 手渡す touched it, his spoke. There was a 急に上がるing 苦痛 in my already bruised shoulder, a dizzy nausea swept over me, and all went 黒人／ボイコット before my 注目する，もくろむs.
When I 回復するd consciousness after 存在 発射 負かす／撃墜する by Vinzeth, I had a furious 頭痛, a terrific 苦痛 in my shoulder, and a tremendous かわき. I was lying on a mattress on the roof, with Vorn Vangal bending over me, 持つ／拘留するing a phial of some pungent liquid beneath my nostrils. Lotar was standing 近づく by.
"Where is Loralie?" asked. "Have you 救助（する）d her?"
"Here, drink this," said Vorn Vangal, 除去するing the phial from beneath my nostrils and 持つ／拘留するing a steaming bowl to my lips. "Then I will tell you." I 認めるd the fragrant aromatic smell of kova, and drank 深く，強烈に. The hot, 刺激するing （水以外の）飲料 sent the 血 coursing 温かく through my veins.
When I had drunk, Vorn Vangal said, "Lotar and his men not only 征服する／打ち勝つd the guards 駅／配置するd on every 床に打ち倒す they （機の）カム to, but 敗北・負かすd the fifty guards which Vinzeth took 負かす／撃墜する from the roof to …に反対する them, 運動ing them 上向き from 床に打ち倒す to 床に打ち倒す until only a dozen remained with their mojak. Evidently ーするつもりであるing to get the princess and escape in one of the airships, Vinzeth 退却／保養地d with his twelve men while Lotar was 征服する／打ち勝つing the guards 地位，任命するd on the 床に打ち倒す that is second from the 最高の，を越す. This took only a short time, but when Lotar reached the 最高の，を越す 床に打ち倒す he saw Vinzeth standing over you with a scarbo, ready to give you the death blow.
"He 即時に opened 解雇する／砲火／射撃, その結果 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 重要な from his belt pouch he 後継するd in 開始 it and getting inside with two of his men. The others were 発射 負かす／撃墜する by Lotar and his 軍人s.
"Finding you were not dead, but only 一時的に 麻ひさせるd, Lotar had you brought up to the roof by two of his men, and with the others who were with him, 需要・要求するd that Vinzeth 降伏する and give up the princess. But Vinzeth 辞退するd to 降伏する, and swore that if the door were broken 負かす／撃墜する the princess should be 即時に 殺害された."
"How long ago was this?"
"It occurred about three hours ago. The 影響 of the 麻薬 in the tork 弾丸s 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 殺害された. Vinzeth is a desperate character."
"You are 権利. We must find some way to outwit this Vinzeth."
"We have not been 不成功の in other ways," said Vorn Vangal. "Already I have raised a 国民 army of twenty thousand men, and more volunteers 注ぐ into our 階級s 絶えず. The city is in the 手渡すs of the loyal 指揮官s I have 任命するd, and a thousand men who are 信頼できる guard the palace from roof to dungeons."
"What about Pasuki in the 黒人／ボイコット Tower? I had ーするつもりであるd to have you send him 増強s by way of the tunnel as soon as you could get them, but forgot it."
"In this I 行為／法令／行動するd without Your Highness's 命令（する）, guessing your 意向s," said Vorn Vangal. "Five thousand men have already traveled to the 救済 of Pasuki through the tunnel. When all get there, his men will より数が多い those of Taliboz. And they will have a decided advantage any time he decides to 嵐／襲撃する the tower. The twenty thousand 国民 軍隊／機動隊s are 動員するd 近づく the south gate, を待つing 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 遠くに見つけるing our group, ran toward us.
"I have just come from Tureno," he 発表するd. "A mighty 戦う／戦い (n)艦隊／(a)素早い is in the harbor—the (n)艦隊／(a)素早い of Tyrhana. And in the 旗艦 rides 広告, Torrogo of Tyrhana, who 需要・要求するs that his daughter be 配達するd to him 安全な and sound, or he will すぐに 減ずる Tureno and march on Olba. With him, also, are two ships, in one of which is Prince Gadrimel of Adonijar. He 脅すs an 即座の 宣言 of war by his nation if his cousin, the Princess of Tyrhana, be not すぐに returned 無事の to her 皇室の sire."
"Never mind Prince Gadrimel," I told the messenger, "but 飛行機で行く at once to the 旗艦 of Torrogo 広告. Tell him that his daughter has been kidnapped by one of the mojaks of Taliboz, and we are trying to 救助（する） her. Tell him その上の that if he cares to, he is welcome to land his army in Tureno, and that such 国民s of Tureno as are 利用できる and can 耐える 武器 will march with him and 補助装置 him if he is bent on attacking the army of the man who 誘拐するd his daughter and usurped the 王位 of Olba."
The messenger made obeisance and 出発／死d.
I turned to Vorn Vangal. "Send another messenger at once to the King of Tureno. Tell him it is my 命令（する） that he 許す the 兵士s 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 命令（する） of the 国民 army that waits at the south gate of the city, starting すぐに for the 黒人／ボイコット 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 限定するd?"
"Yes, Highness."
"First send for a long, strong rope," I 命令（する）d. "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, 示すing one almost 直接／まっすぐに beneath us, "opens on the 歓迎会 room of her apartment. The one to the left opens on her bedroom, the 権利 on her bath."
At the sound of footsteps behind us we turned. Two 兵士s 耐えるing a large coil of stout rope saluted.
"Put 負かす／撃墜する the rope," I ordered. "Now you, Lotar, go 負かす／撃墜する in 前線 of the door of the princess's apartment. Make a 広大な／多数の／重要な noise, 需要・要求する the 解放（する） of the 囚人, 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 負かす／撃墜する the door."
With a 静かな smile, which showed his 十分な comprehension of my 計画（する）, Lotar hurried 負かす／撃墜する the stairway.
Making a tight 宙返り飛行 in the end of the rope, I brought it over the parapet at a position 直接／まっすぐに above the window which opened on Loralie's bedroom. Then, telling the two 兵士s to let me 負かす／撃墜する until I held out one 手渡す for them to stop, I swung over the battlement, and with one foot in the 宙返り飛行 and both 手渡すs gripping the rope, was 速く and silently lowered. As soon as I was opposite the window, I signaled the men to 中止する lowering me. Because of the 発射／推定 of the battlements, I hung about three feet from the window ledge. Below me was a sheer 減少（する） of about a hundred feet to the balcony roof of the next segment.
Gripping the rope with both 手渡すs, I worked it as a child 作品 a swing until it began to move 支援する and 前へ／外へ, 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. 慎重に dropping to the 床に打ち倒す, I 設立する the room 砂漠d and the door の近くにd. From beyond the door （機の）カム men's 発言する／表明するs raised in altercation.
Scarbo in 手渡す, I tiptoed to the door and gently opened it a little way. Standing 近づく the large central window, but looking toward the 入り口 to the 回廊（地帯）, were Loralie and her two handmaidens. Just in 前線 of them, and also 直面するing the door, were Vinzeth and his two men.
I had no idea whether the two maids with Loralie were friendly to my 原因（となる） 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 恐れる which 原因（となる）d me to snatch at my tork, but it went unnoticed by the three men because of the clamor in the 回廊（地帯）.
動議ing the girl into the bedroom, I touched her companion in a like manner, and also 後継するd 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 注目する，もくろむs, but it was 即時に 取って代わるd by one of infinite tenderness when she 認めるd me. She went with me quickly enough into the bedroom, but when I started out again she threw her 武器 around my neck to 拘留する me.
"Don't go, please," she whispered. "They will kill you. の近くに the door and stay in here."
I smiled, kissed her, and 押し進めるd her away.
"Lock the door after me," I said in a whisper. "In 事例／患者 I lose the fight, Lotar will break in from the 回廊（地帯） before Vinzeth can 害（を与える） you."
Then I stepped out and softly の近くにd the door after me. At this instant one of the men, turned, 直面するing me. For a moment he 星／主役にするd incredulously; then he reached for his tork. But 地雷 was already leveled at him, and I 解雇する／砲火／射撃d.
At the sound of the 発射, Vinzeth and the other ruffian swung about. I 発射 the latter, but the mojak of Taliboz was too quick for me. Without pausing to draw a 武器, he sprang in so の近くに that I was unable to use 地雷, and we went 負かす／撃墜する in a heap, kicking, clawing, striking and gouging each other like a pair of wild animals.
The 回廊（地帯） door, 一方／合間, was 後援ing from thunderous blows on its exterior. Although the 厚い serali planking was exceedingly 堅い, it was evident that it could not much longer withstand the terrific 強襲，強姦. Lotar had evidently 設立する something that made an efficient 乱打するing 押し通す.
All this （機の）カム to me subconsciously as I fought, for I was too busy with my powerful and wily antagonist to think of anything else. 支援する and 前へ／外へ we struggled, rolling over and over, 衝突，墜落ing against furniture and pulling 負かす／撃墜する hangings, each man kept so 占領するd by the other that he was unable to use a 武器.
Presently I managed to get a short arm 揺さぶる to Vinzeth's jaw, which partly dazed him, and was about to repeat the 過程 when he suddenly caught me in the solar plexus with his 膝. With the 勝利，勝つd 完全に knocked out of me, I sank, gasping, to the 床に打ち倒す.
He uttered a yell of 勝利, and whipping out his scarbo, swung it aloft with the evident 意向 of splitting my skull.
But ere he could bring it 負かす／撃墜する, there was a final, rending 衝突，墜落 from the 回廊（地帯） doorway, followed by the 割れ目ing of a tork. With a look of horrified unbelief on his features, Vinzeth dropped his scarbo and pitched 今後 on his 直面する, his 団体／死体 lying across me.
Lotar quickly dragged him off me, and flung him into the corner as if he had been a 解雇（する） of 穀物. I sat up but was unable to talk.
When I 回復するd my speech I called to Loralie, telling her that it was now 安全な to open the door. 認めるing my 発言する／表明する, she （機の）カム out and knelt beside me, pulling my 長，率いる 負かす／撃墜する on her breast and asking me where I was 負傷させるd.
But I 安心させるd her, and a moment later, having managed to 回復する my breath, I stood up. "Man one of the 空中の 戦艦s at once, Lotar," I said. "We're going to 支払う／賃金 our 尊敬（する）・点s 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 黒人／ボイコット Tower.
Lotar sent us each a glass, and with the 援助（する） of these, we could watch what was transpiring.
The 国民s' army which had started out from Olba was now いっそう少なく than two miles from the tower and spread out in an 巨大な 三日月. Marching from Tureno, and almost as の近くに to the 包囲するd tower, was an army almost as large as that of Olba, （軍隊を）展開する，配備するd in the same manner. On account of his low position and the rolling 形式 of the ground, Taliboz had not yet seen his approaching enemies. His men, who had evidently been 以前 撃退するd, 裁判官ing from the 団体／死体s that lay before the 塀で囲む, were forming for a new 強襲，強姦 on the 黒人／ボイコット Tower.
We were watching the horns of the two 三日月s draw together when Lotar called to me, "The ship is ready, Highness."
LORALIE and I boarded the 空中の 戦艦. It was the same one that had 救助（する）d us from the 殺し屋 norgal and brought us to Olba, 乗組員を乗せた in part by the same 乗組員, and 命令（する）d by Lotar.
By my 命令（する） he 操縦するd the ship to a point 直接／まっすぐに above the 黒人／ボイコット Tower, and hovered there. The armies from the north and south had, by this time, 完全にするd their encircling movement and were 速く の近くにing in on the unsuspecting army of Taliboz.
Zinlo of Olba, to Taliboz:
You are surrounded by an army of forty thousand 軍人s. As the 黒人／ボイコット Tower is 守備隊d with five thousand men, you cannot hope to take it. You have your choice of 無条件の 降伏する or annihilation. If you 降伏する, lay 負かす／撃墜する your 武器 and raise the "dua" pennon. If not, you alone are 責任がある what will follow.
Zinlo
Rolling it up and 負わせるing it with an empty tork clip, I 投げつけるd this message
負かす／撃墜する at the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where the 皇室の 基準 of Olba ぱたぱたするd in the
勝利，勝つd.
With the 援助（する） of my glass I watched its flight downward, and saw it 落ちる 近づく one of the officers, who carried it to his 指揮官.
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 大臣. After the latter had read it, the two engaged in a 非常に長い argument in which several of the others joined.
I 裁判官d from their 態度s that the other officers 味方するd with Maribo, and that Taliboz stood alone in whatever 決定／判定勝ち（する） he had made. While the argument was going on, the first 小競り合い line of the encircling army opened 解雇する／砲火／射撃.
Suddenly wheeling and walking away from Maribo and the others, I saw Taliboz shout something to a mattork 乗組員 and point toward our ship. A moment later a 爆撃する 叫び声をあげるd past me. This was his answer.
A gunner in our 今後 turret 敏速に replied, wiping out the 乗組員 of the mattork from which the 発射 had been 解雇する／砲火／射撃d.
But Maribo and the other officers 明らかに did not 認可する of the way Taliboz had replied to our missive. With 肯定的な 敗北・負かす 星／主役にするing them in the 直面する, they appeared to be 部隊d in 好意 of 即座の 降伏する. At least they did not 干渉する with Maribo when he ran up behind Taliboz just as the 反逆者 was ordering another gun 乗組員 to 解雇する／砲火／射撃 on us, and deliberately stabbed him in the 支援する.
Scarcely had the stricken 反逆者 sunk to the ground ere Maribo gave an order to the 基準 持参人払いの. 即時に the 旗，新聞一面トップの大見出し／大々的に報道する of Taliboz was lowered and the pennon of peace raised, while the shout of "dua" went around the lines. The fighting 中止するd almost 即時に, and with their 武器s on the ground and their 手渡すs clasped behind their 長，率いるs in 記念品 of submission, the 軍人s who had 始める，決める out so confidently that morning to 減ずる the 黒人／ボイコット Tower, were taken 囚人s.
"Now that they have 降伏するd," 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 基準s of the Torrogo of Tyrhana, the Torrogi of Adonijar, and my Rogo of Tureno ぱたぱたするd in the 微風, then descended.
As Loralie and I got 負かす／撃墜する from the ship, three men （機の）カム to 会合，会う us. All wore the scarlet of 王族. The 真っ先の I 認めるd 即時に by his mincing gait as Prince Gadrimel. The other two I did not know except by their insignia.
Loralie flung herself into the 武器 of the taller of the two, a straight, 運動競技の-appearing 君主 with snapping brown 注目する，もくろむs and a square 削減（する）, jet 黒人／ボイコット 耐えるd. I 裁判官d 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 長，率いる to foot. "My little girl. I can scarcely believe it is you, alive and 井戸／弁護士席. Rather had I lost my empire and my life than that 害（を与える） had come to you."
"This is Zinlo of Olba, Father," she said, 示すing me. "Prince Zinlo, my father, Torrogo 広告 of Tyrhana."
"You have placed me 深く，強烈に in your 負債 by bringing my daughter to be 無事の," said 広告.
"Had there been a 負債, Your Majesty," I replied, "it would have been 取り消すd long ago by the 楽しみ of Her Highness's company."
Gadrimel （機の）カム up and 屈服するd 正式に, muttering something about 存在 感謝する to me for having 救助（する）d his dear cousin and fiancee. The other in scarlet was the Rogo of Tureno.
I asked that he arrange for the entertainment of all 兵士s and sailors of Adonijar and Tyrhana, in his city, at the expense of the 皇室の 政府 of Olba.
広告 and Gadrimel then got 船内に with us. We flew to the 黒人／ボイコット Tower, where we took Pasuki on board, and to the （警察，軍隊などの）本部 of the 国民s' army, where we 選ぶd up Vorn Vangal. Then we flew to the palace.
When ４半期/4分の1s had been 割り当てるd to our guests, Vorn Vangal enthusiastically undertook the 仕事 of 監督するing 準備s for a 広大な／多数の／重要な feast to be held that evening. I met my guests in the 皇室の 歓迎会 room, where I ordered kova served.
Gadrimel was so attentive to Loralie that I scarcely had an 適切な時期 to speak to her. So I called her father out on the balcony, told him I loved Princess Loralie, and asked him for her 手渡す in marriage.
広告 looked astonished. "耐えるd of my grandfather!" he 雷鳴d. "What's this you say? Her 手渡す 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 追加するd, "Excuse us a moment, Gadrimel."
Loralie （機の）カム out through the window, visibly a little 脅すd at his トン.
"I hope," he said 厳粛に, when she stood before him, "that you will 否定する, 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 長，率いる, but for a moment only. Then she raised it proudly, and with 涙／ほころびs brimming in her glorious 注目する，もくろむs answered, "Father, I love him, and have told him so."
On the dark brows of 広告 a 嵐／襲撃する of 怒り／怒る was 集会.
"By the 血 and bones of Thorth!" he roared. "Do you thus 反抗する me —me, your father? You ingrate! I 断言する by my 長，率いる and 耐えるd that I'll 結婚する you to Gadrimel at once and take you to Adonijar."
"Father, please!" 広大な／多数の／重要な 涙／ほころびs were streaming 負かす／撃墜する her cheeks now.
"Your Highness," 広告 said to me すぐに, "you will 会談する a 好意 on me by leaving us."
I 屈服するd and 出発／死d, 努力する／競うing to 隠す my bitter 失望 as I entered the room where we had left Gadrimel. The prince had a most unwonted grin on his effeminate 直面する, and I had no 疑問 but that he had been listening a moment before at the window.
He 即時に began a lisping chatter about our many adventures together, and his own heroic 偉業／利用するs 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 発言する／表明する of her father. Suddenly 広告 appeared to lose his temper again, for he roared, "He did, did he? Why, of all the..."
He strode to the window, his 直面する a thundercloud of wrath. Loralie hurried after him. I leaped to my feet, 推定する／予想するing physical 暴力／激しさ.
But he did not even look at me. Instead, he walked to where Gadrimel was sitting and, 掴むing him by the scruff of the neck, jerked him 築く.
"You insolent cub!" he roared, shaking the prince until his teeth 動揺させるd and his 注目する，もくろむs nearly popped from his 長，率いる. "You mincing, lisping, addle-長，率いるd popinjay! So you would 誘拐する my daughter and 軍隊 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?" 雷鳴d the Emperor of Tyrhana, and 発射 the princeling through the window by 適用するing his toe to the 青年's 中心 of gravity. Nor did he return, but slunk away through another room.
A look of serenity 徐々に settled over 広告's clouded brow. "Your Highness, like all men, I いつかs change my mind."
"It is a 示す of greatness," I replied, 屈服するing.
"Tonight at dinner, my children, I will 発表する your betrothal."
Before either of us could reply a guard entered and 発表するd that Vorn Vangal, Pasuki and Lotar craved 即座の 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 専門的事項 to be （疑いを）晴らすd up," he answered. "Taliboz was only 負傷させるd and not killed as we thought. He has escaped. Under the 法律 he is still Torrogo of Olba because he has been 合法的に so acclaimed, thus taking 優先 over your さもなければ perfectly 合法的な succession to the 王位. Knowing all the circumstances the people of Olba now wish to acclaim you Emperor, so there will be no 複雑化s hereafter."
I walked to the balcony. The palace grounds were thronged with a の近くに-packed, 殺到するing populace. The streets were jammed with people, and every window ledge, balcony, housetop and 塀で囲む in sight was packed.
As soon as I appeared above the battlements a hundred thousand scarbos flashed aloft in the 手渡すs of the men, and a hundred thousand white scarves were waved above the mighty sea of humanity by the women and girls. A 広大な／多数の／重要な 元気づける rose, swelling in 容積／容量 until it seemed that it must shake the very palace.
"あられ／賞賛する Zinlo, Torrogo of Olba!"
I 屈服するd in acknowledgment of this tremendous ovation, その結果 every 発言する／表明する was suddenly stilled.
"I thank you, my people," I shouted 負かす／撃墜する to them. "I will ever 努力する／競う faithfully to 実行する the 信用 you have placed in me."
Once more the scarves and scarbos flashed aloft. Once more a thunderous 元気づける rolled up. 屈服するing, I returned to the room and the congratulations of my friends.
With the deepest satisfaction I 任命するd Vorn Vangal 首相, and gave the 命令（する） of army and 空中の 軍隊s to Pasuki and Lotar. My three loyal friends made obeisance and 出発／死d, leaving Loralie, 広告 and myself alone.
"Sine you have made so 解放する／自由な with your 好意s, Your Majesty," smiled Loralie, "what have you left for me? Am I not also to be 栄誉（を受ける）d?"
"Why, yes," I answered, as, unmindful of her father's presence, her 武器 went around my neck. "As soon as you 認める me leave, I'll make you Torroga, 皇后 of Olba."
"It's the highest 栄誉（を受ける） an empire can bestow," laughed 広告, "for be he in palace or hovel a man is ever 支配する to the 甘い will of his wife."
"Agreed," I replied. "And now, little wife to be, what is your 楽しみ?"
"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 設立するd as Zinlo, Torrogo of Olba. However, lest the perceptive reader remind me that this 安全 was 不安定な at the very least —since Borgen Takkor had 単に 交流d personalities with Zinlo of Venus, who was 一方／合間 on Earth in the 団体／死体 of the man known as Harry Thorne —let me 保証する him that I have not forgotten this fact.
Robert Grandon was in 正確に／まさに the same position, in Reabon, at the の近くに of his story, which is told in "The 惑星 of 危険，危なくする." Those who have read that story know that the 決意／決議 of Grandon's difficultyS in this regard also solved Borgen Takkor's problem. So I will only について言及する here that neither Grandon nor Takkor had to worry about 存在 taken from their wives and 王位s and returned to their Earth 団体／死体s; but how this （機の）カム about you will have to read the novel について言及するd above to discover.
—The Author.
"(The) Prince of 危険，危なくする," エース 調書をとる／予約するs, New York, 1963
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