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肩書を与える: Bride of the Serpent God
Author: John Peter Drummond
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Date first 地位，任命するd: July 2006
Date most recently updated: July 2006

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KI-GOR, LORD OF THE JUNGLE:
Bride of the Serpent God

by

John Peter Drummond

I. - Treachery

KI-GOR placed a plump, scarlet berry in his mouth, and munched slowly, with much satisfaction. He lay in the 冷静な／正味の shade of a flowering shrub, 完全に relaxed, 明白に at peace with the world and pleased with life in general. The only sounds were the soft hum of insects drawn by the 激しい scent of flowers and the なぎing murmur of the 幅の広い river which flowed a scant twenty paces from where Ki-Gor 残り／休憩（する）d.

Helene, his mate, vibrantly young and alive, stood beside Ki-Gor. She looked 負かす／撃墜する at her lounging husband and feigning 不賛成, she placed 手渡すs on hips and sighed with disgust.

"You lazy thing, Ki-Gor. Are you going to 嘘（をつく） there all day eating berries?" she asked, pouting lips as red and much more 招待するing than the fruit which had 占領するd her ジャングル Lord the past half hour.

The bronzed 巨大（な） stirred only わずかに, and without 開始 his 注目する，もくろむs, he plumped another luscious berry in his mouth, and began chewing contentedly. But a little boy's smile of 犯罪 slowly 辛勝する／優位d his lips, as he opened one 用心深い 注目する，もくろむ to peer at the 告発する／非難するing 人物／姿／数字 of his wife.

"For two days, Mister Ki-Gor, you've been 急ぐing me along like mad, 説 you had an important 会合 here with Tembu George," she said, pointing a meaning finger at the ジャングル Lord. "Now that we are here, I find no Tembu George, no important 会合, nothing but a lot of fruit you 固執する in stuffing yourself with because it is the nearest and easiest thing at 手渡す!"

Ki-Gor's gray 注目する，もくろむs opened wide in a 広大な／多数の／重要な show of innocence. He made a valiant, though 完全に 不成功の, 成果／努力 to show 傷つける 狼狽 that Helene would 疑問 his 動機s for a moment.

"Why, Helene, you know how healthful fruit is, and the fact it happens to be hanging 権利 at arm's reach from me has nothing to do with my eating it," he righteously pointed out. "And you know also how very good 残り／休憩（する） is to build a person up. That's the only 推論する／理由 I am lying 負かす／撃墜する."

The red-haired girl looked at the superbly 割合d 団体／死体 of her mate, and burst out laughing. "You certainly look like you need to be built up, you frail little mountain of a man!"

"井戸／弁護士席, anyway," he grinned, "it is only proper to show 適する 評価 of gifts so conveniently and lavishly 供給するd for us by nature." Stretching out his 手渡す he 勧めるd, "Here, try some of these berries you'll find them delicious."

Helene 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd her red hair in a 限定された 消極的な reply, and 軽く押す／注意を引くd Ki-Gor's ribs with one small foot.

"I will not let you fill me up on those things," she 宣言するd. "You 約束d to catch me some fish for lunch if I would hurry, and I want my fish!"

Ki-Gor shook his 長，率いる apologetically. "Wrong time of day. Never catch fish this time of day. Better wait until morning."

He watched the わずかな／ほっそりした, 簡潔に 覆う？ girl turn with a switch of her hips and walk to where his spear 残り／休憩（する）d on the ground. She bent, 選ぶd it up, and returned to place it across his chest.

"I want fish!" she said.

The white man ちらりと見ることd from spear to river, and 反映するd sadly, "Too muddy. I could never get anything in that muddy water. Besides, Tembu George is 予定 to arrive any minute, and there wouldn't be time to cook fish even if we caught any."

"Fish, Ki-Gor!" Helene 明言する／公表するd, catching the arm of the feebly 抗議するing ジャングル Lord, tugging mightily. With much groaning he got to his feet, and then 突然の he swept Helene up under one arm, and しっかり掴むing the spear with the other, strode toward the river, humming loudly and tunelessly.

"Put me 負かす／撃墜する, Ki-Gor! Don't you dare throw me in that river!" Helene cried, wriggling and kicking as she tried to escape. On he strode, unperturbed by the rising din of her cries. At the very 辛勝する／優位 of the bank, he 停止（させる）d, carefully putting his spear 負かす／撃墜する. He appeared to 審議 as to where to throw the laughing, struggling girl, and then his solemn 直面する breaking into a smile, he carefully 始める，決める her 負かす／撃墜する on the bank.

"Now sit there, and don't go puddling around the river bank," he told her, "because there are some very discerning crocodiles hereabouts who would like nothing better than a red-haired, long-legged young lady for dessert today."

"Yes, sir," she replied. "Now you go to work."

Helene watched the agile grace with which the big man crouched and 選ぶd up the spear. He straightened, threw 支援する his 大規模な shoulders, and walked several steps away to where the bank overhung a 静かな, 深い pool. He 熟考する／考慮するd the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, and then 満足させるd, he bent to one 膝, 持つ／拘留するing the spear ready.

Minutes passed, and the motionless ジャングル Lord was a graven image, his keen, searching 注目する，もくろむs alone betraying the restless energy he held in check. Then the muscles of his shoulder and arm 突然の 緊張したd, as he caught sight of a movement in the water below. A large fish passed with a languid grace up from the depths toward the surface. It swept by within Ki-Gor's reach, but he made no move, for with the subtle judgment of a wild creature, he knew the chances were still too 広大な／多数の／重要な against a 確かな catch.

The big fish turned, and swept up ever closer to the surface, then （機の）カム in の近くに to the bank. The 速度(を上げる） of the ジャングル Lord's 活動／戦闘 bewildered the 注目する，もくろむ. With the smooth sureness of a piston-運動, his powerful muscles sent the spear point true, even before the 冷淡な 雷 in the finny 団体／死体 could pull the fish to safety. The practiced 技術 of a 原始の fisherman showed in the adroit manner in which Ki-Gor spun the 新たな展開ing fish 安全に from the water and deposited it carefully on the 乾燥した，日照りの ground behind him.

Helene gleefully slapped her 手渡すs, watching the success of her husband. "売春婦, 売春婦," she taunted him, "too muddy to catch anything, is it? Now, my vegetarian friend, we begin to make some 進歩. Two more as big as that, and you may go 支援する to your 残り／休憩（する）ing."

She jumped to her feet and ran up the bank to make 準備s for cooking the meal. The ジャングル Lord ちらりと見ることd at her running form, and with a smile turned 支援する to his 患者 仕事. Crouching on one 膝, he again seemed to 凍結する into 石／投石する, so still was his 広大な／多数の／重要な 団体／死体.

Pell mell up the low slope ran Helene in her typically enthusiastic manner. 占領するd with the 事柄 before her, she paid little attention to her surroundings, giving not a ちらりと見ること to the 障壁 of shrubs, 小衝突 and thorn which rose 長，率いる high around the （疑いを）晴らすing where they had made （軍の）野営地，陣営. She bent to select 石／投石するs to be heated red hot in 炎上s as the first step in 準備するing leaf wrapped fish steamed to mouth-watering deliciousness in the native manner. She 選ぶd up one 激しく揺する, and started to reach for another when a low ominous rumble of sound jerked her upright.

There at the 辛勝する／優位 of the （疑いを）晴らすing restlessly moved a big lion, its mane golden in a 有望な 軸 of sunlight. The 抱擁する male ちらりと見ることd arrogantly around, his baleful yellow 注目する，もくろむs coming to 残り／休憩（する） on the girl. Out of the ジャングル behind the sleek male padded a lioness, nervously 実験（する）ing the 空気／公表する.

Fright 燃やすd through Helene with an electric 炎. She kept her 長，率いる, however, and though prickles of 苦悩 ran along her spine, with 審議する／熟考する slowness she 辛勝する／優位d backward one step, then another.

緊張した, evil, yellow 注目する，もくろむs flickered and 燃やすd at her like twin たいまつs. Every instinct 勧めるd her to turn 叫び声をあげるing and 逃げる but with アイロンをかける will she fought off this suicidal impulse. Her greatest hope lay in Ki-Gor's keen senses, for if the lions waited a few more moments before deciding to 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金, she felt it was a certainty her mate would discover something was wrong and in some miraculous manner forestall the 運命／宿命 which 直面するd her.

But now the 広大な／多数の／重要な male grew more restless than ever; his jaws opened and the long 涙／ほころびing teeth glinted whitely against the red cavern of his mouth. 問題／発行するing from his 深い chest （機の）カム a thunderous rumble of hate, and he gathered himself in cat fashion for a swift, 激怒（する）ing 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 at the defenseless woman.

The hideous challenge of the lion struck Ki-Gor's ears like a thunderclap. He spun up and around, his gray 注目する，もくろむs knifing up to Helene and beyond to take in the 状況／情勢 at a ちらりと見ること. The surface 式服 of civilization was torn away by what he saw. His nostrils spread and whitened, his 会社／堅い lips drew 支援する over his teeth in an unuttered snarl. Propelled by a ジャングル fury as 広大な／多数の／重要な as that of the stalking lion, he leaped 今後 to 直面する the beast and 保護物，者 Helene. Before Ki-Gor could reach her, the 抱擁する lion straightened from its crouch and flung with mad 速度(を上げる） toward the girl.

Ki-Gor knew 即時に he could never reach her. There was but one long chance, and he took it. His steel muscles corded as he ブレーキd to a stop, and 製図／抽選 the 激しい spear in his 権利 arm 支援する, he 急落（する），激減（する）d it 今後 with tremendous 速度(を上げる）. The terrible 力／強力にする of the throw sent the 激しい spear hurtling like a weightless 影をつくる／尾行する. It sped past the cringing girl and 衝突，墜落d between the fore 脚s of the 非難する lion, through the beast's chest and 深い into its 決定的なs. The skewered animal in its final 急落（する），激減（する） dashed the spear hilt against the ground 運動ing it in deeper. Then with a last gurgling roar of 苦痛 the big male careened to one 味方する of Helene and fell shuddering and dying in the dirt.

Maddened by the sound of her dying mate, the lioness, slavering with 怒り／怒る and excitement, bounded 今後 to the attack. Ki-Gor had 心配するd this move, however, and the moment he threw the spear he 再開するd his leaping 急ぐ. He swept by Helene, straight at the oncoming lioness. The knife from his belt sheath gleamed in his 権利 手渡す. There was a 攻撃する of 団体／死体s and a blinding melee of dust. The 厳しい grunts of the man mingled with the staccato growling hate of the animal. Through the cloud of dust Helene saw Ki-Gor fasten himself with unbreakable 支配する on the 支援する of the lioness, his left arm tight about the creature's throat, while the 権利 手渡す drove the knife with relentless 力／強力にする again and again into the chest. The 急落（する），激減（する）ing beast staggered and つまずくd and fell lifeless. Ki-Gor stepped 支援する lightly from the inert 団体／死体, and the cruel mask on his 直面する 軟化するd and disappeared. He pulled a 広大な／多数の／重要な draught of 空気／公表する into his 肺s, then bent with 安定した 手渡すs to clean his knife. Thrusting the 武器 支援する in its sheath, he turned, 静める and unshaken, and walked to Helene's 味方する.

"It's all 権利 now," he said.

Her 注目する，もくろむs were still large with fright, but seeing how unperturbed her mate was, she caught 持つ／拘留する of her feelings, and smiling, reached out a small 手渡す to caress Ki-Gor's arm.

She smiled, and her 発言する／表明する was 安定した, as she said, "You really have a time trying to get your wife fed, don't you, Ki-Gor?"

He took her by the arm and guided her の近くに to the riverbank. Selecting a （疑いを）晴らす 位置／汚点／見つけ出す for a 解雇する／砲火／射撃, he 始める，決める about collecting firewood and 石／投石するs for heating. Expertly he arranged the 支持を得ようと努めるd and 石／投石するs, and in the age-old ジャングル manner of 速く 回転するing a 乾燥した，日照りの stick with his 幅の広い 手渡すs, he soon had 炎上s biting their way along the base of the 支持を得ようと努めるd. Helene gathered the proper leaves, long, 幅の広い, 激しい leaves to 包む the fish in, while Ki-Gor deftly 用意が出来ている the fish for cooking.

The ジャングル Lord was busy, his 支援する turned to the river, when Helene, looking up the river suddenly cried, "Here comes Tembu George now!"

"I might know food would bring him hurrying at 最高の，を越す 速度(を上げる）," Ki-Gor said without turning from his 仕事.

保護物，者ing her 注目する，もくろむs, Helene 緊張するd to make out the 人物／姿／数字s in the distant boat which swept 負かす／撃墜する stream に向かって them.

"He certainly is traveling in style," she commented, "that looks like the finest war canoe the Masai ever turned out."

His curiosity 誘発するd, Ki-Gor turned to peer 石油精製, the opposite direction from which the boat approached. In a puzzled トン he asked, "Where is any war canoe?"

"Why, 権利 there," the girl cried.

He looked up the river then and 即時に arose. "That can't be Tembu George. He will come from the other direction."

Gliding 速く with the 現在の, the big （手先の）技術 （機の）カム at a 急速な／放蕩な pace. It was a long, low, rakish boat, seating at least twelve 軍人s. Paddles dipped rhythmically into the glittering water sending the （手先の）技術 along with practiced 技術 and precision. Ki-Gor made out the dark forms of the oarsmen now, and he saw the 黒人／ボイコット carved prow.

明らかに the men in the canoe had sighted the couple on the bank, for they veered in and slackened their pace. There was a 厳しい cry, a flurry of 活動／戦闘 by the rowers, and the big （手先の）技術 slowed almost to a 行き詰まり, and nosed its way up to the bank a few yards from where the ジャングル couple stood. In the manner of 技術d river men, the natives あわてて made the boat 急速な／放蕩な to the shore.

The ジャングル Lord saw the leader of the 軍人s leap 岸に. The man was tall and thin, with a lean hard 直面する and nervous, darting 注目する，もくろむs. Those uneasy 注目する，もくろむs ran quickly over Helene and Ki-Gor, and then the man raised his 権利 手渡す and called out a 迎える／歓迎するing of peace. The words he spoke were ones Ki-Gor knew, but his accents were of some distant locality.

"Welcome, 旅行者," the big white man said, 答える／応じるing to the native's 迎える／歓迎するing. "The war canoe you have there is one to be proud of."

"Aye! I am proud of it," the 黒人／ボイコット man replied. His 注目する，もくろむs flickered past Ki-Gor to Helene and then off up the slope.

"It has carried us far and 急速な／放蕩な this day," he said. "Tell me, is this the country of the Wasuli? It is many years since I was last here and the 地域 has changed, making it difficult for me to be 正確に／まさに sure of my place."

Ki-Gor 公式文書，認めるd that the other natives in the long canoe were now all 岸に, and each man was fully 武装した. With 熟考する／考慮するd casualness, he took in every 詳細（に述べる） of the group, 一方／合間 answering, "Yes, this is the upper 辛勝する／優位 of the Wasuli area, and their 地域 延長するs 負かす／撃墜する river a half-day's ride at least, even in your swift （手先の）技術."

Several of the men scattered up the bank, and though the ジャングル Lord in no way betrayed the knowledge, his searching 注目する，もくろむs knew the men were on the 警戒／見張り for others who might be in company with the ジャングル couple. With 悔いる, he remembered his 屈服する and quiver of arrows lying where he had left them by a shrub, and his 激しい spear 残り／休憩（する）ing against a tree where he had placed it after 派遣（する）ing the lion.

From two of the natives padding about in the （疑いを）晴らすing above them （機の）カム surprised exclamations. They had come on the 団体／死体s of the 殺害された beasts. They called to their leader, and Helene and Ki-Gor …を伴ってd him to the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. He looked at the big 団体／死体s, 熟考する／考慮するing the 負傷させるs, and with a トン of unbelieving 賞賛 in his 発言する／表明する he asked Ki-Gor, "Who did this?"

"I did," the ジャングル Lord 明言する／公表するd 簡単に, without any trace of boastfulness for to him the 行為 was not in the least unusual.

"You are a 広大な／多数の／重要な 軍人 to have done this singlehanded," commented the tall 黒人／ボイコット man, his uneasy 注目する，もくろむs 重さを計るing and appraising Ki-Gor again. "What is your 指名する?"

"I am Ki-Gor," was the answer.

"I am Basru," the native volunteered. "I come from a place of 広大な／多数の／重要な 軍人s, but by the golden moon, I know no other man who could have 成し遂げるd such a 行為 as this."

He turned away to go, barking a 命令（する） for his men to board the canoe. As though trained to obey, the natives turned toward the （手先の）技術. The 敵意 Ki-Gor had sensed lurking in the strangers, he suddenly thought, seemed unwarranted. The bronzed ジャングル man moved to …を伴って the native leader to the riverbank. It was this momentary 緩和 of his 直感的に guard that Ki-Gor was long to 悔いる. As the ジャングル Lord walked along with Basru toward the boat, he paid little attention to the two big natives who ぐずぐず残るd behind their fellows and now ambled slowly along at his 支援する.

Basru raised his 手渡す as though to 一打／打撃 his hair, and at this signal, the two 黒人／ボイコット men who 追跡するd behind flung themselves on Ki-Gor's 支援する. The 完全に 予期しない 猛攻撃 sent the ジャングル Lord 衝突，墜落ing to his 膝s under the shocked 注目する，もくろむs of Helene before he knew what was happening.

But Ki-Gor's trained reflexes changed him into a 激怒（する）ing fury by the time he struck the earth. He made no 選び出す／独身 激しい抗議, but fought silently, 猛烈に, terribly, from the first moment he could bring his 広大な／多数の／重要な muscles into play. His steel-hard 手渡すs caught 持つ／拘留する of one of the native's ankles and the sheer 圧倒的な 圧力 of his 支配する burst the man's 肌 and flesh as he tore him 負かす／撃墜する within closer reach. He snapped the native's neck like a rotten twig and 攻撃するd out with mighty blows that 洞穴d in the ribs of the other native.

The 背信の Basru, seeing that the 大規模な white man was 回復するing his 地盤, 選ぶd up a big 激しく揺する and darted in behind Ki-Gor. The native 粉砕するd the 激しく揺する 負かす／撃墜する once, twice, against Ki-Gor's skull. This 臆病な／卑劣な blow 遂行するd what the two natives had failed to do. Ki-Gor pitched 直面する 今後 like a felled ox. Helene 叫び声をあげるd in horror as she saw her beloved mate lying crumpled, 血 噴出するing from his 長，率いる.

In panic she started to throw herself at Ki-Gor, but ruthless 手渡すs caught her 武器 and drew her 支援する.

Basru's cruel 注目する，もくろむs 転換d from the fallen ジャングル Lord to the sobbing girl. "You'll have no その上の need of him, woman. He's dead, or if he's not, he soon will be."

At an order from Basru, Helene was taken to the boat, but it took three men to 軍隊 the struggling girl along. The hard-直面するd native leader ちらりと見ることd at Ki-Gor's unmoving form, 審議d a moment, then directed the white man also be brought along to the boat.

"The 広大な／多数の／重要な Serpent God will smile on us for this day's work," Basru said in a pleased 発言する／表明する. "Even as the High Priestess ordered us, we have 設立する a worthy sacrifice for the Festival of the Seventh Moon."

The tall leader jumped into the war canoe to see 本人自身で to the binding of Helene's wrists and ankles. She was 軍隊d to 嘘（をつく） 負かす／撃墜する in the 屈服する of the boat, so that her red hair and fair 肌 could not be （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd by anyone watching from shore. 満足させるd that the girl was 安全に tied and placed, Basru ordered the boat cast off. His 注目する，もくろむ ran 負かす／撃墜する the 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of men waiting with paddles ready, and （機の）カム to light on the big form of Ki-Gor. The natives had carried the white man and placed him in the boat, assuming from Basru's directions that he ーするつもりであるd taking the ジャングル Lord along.

"We have no use for that lifeless hulk," he called out はっきりと. "I meant only for you to bring him to the river bank and throw him into the water, thus erasing all trace of his 団体／死体. Quickly now, throw him over the 味方する."

Helene fought at her 社債s, and 後継するd in 緊張するing her 長，率いる up to 嘆願d with Basru. He ignored her 宙返り／暴落するing words, and the two men nearest Ki-Gor, rose and caught 持つ／拘留する of the ジャングル Lord. Through reddened 涙／ほころび-wet 注目する，もくろむs, Helene saw the natives 解除する the limp and unresisting Ki-Gor and 投げ上げる／ボディチェックする him out over the low 味方する of the war canoe. She heard the loud splash as he struck the water. 同時に, Basru's 厳しい 発言する／表明する called out a 命令（する） and the boat jumped 今後 and with 刻々と 増加するing 速度(を上げる） 削減（する） its way Upstream through the 不振の 現在の.

II. - Amnesia

KI-GOR'S long 激しい でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる struck the water hard as the two natives threw him overboard. The flat shock 原因（となる）d an 直感的に reflex in the ジャングル-bred 巨大（な）, a sudden 強化するing of his muscles even though his mind was fogged 深い in unconsciousness. The 誘発する of life in this powerful man was not easily quenched. The will to live 燃やすd in him, conscious or unconscious, more 堅固に than it would in any civilized man, because this will, above all else, was the 支えるing 軍隊 which had brought him through innumerable seemingly hopeless 状況／情勢s.

The shock of the 落ちる, the 緊張したing of his muscles sent a faint 微光 of feeling along his stunned 神経 中心s. The 冷静な／正味の water 圧力（をかける）d その上の 認識／意識性 into his numbed 団体／死体, and then as he sank below the surface, the water bit into the 深い gash on his 長，率いる. This abrupt 燃やすing 苦痛 jerked Ki-Gor 支援する to 半分-consciousness. He awoke in choking blackness, and without 推論する／理由ing, he threw his energies into an 即座の, frenzied fight.

Where it would have seemed impossible for a normal man to have will or strength left for a struggle, Ki-Gor's ジャングル 遺産 決起大会／結集させるd his 病弱なing energies. Flailing ponderously, gulping 広大な／多数の／重要な 量s of water, he fought his 長，率いる above the surface.

The big man's 団体／死体 was an agony of 傷つける and weariness. His 注目する，もくろむs saw nothing. His 肺s labored and fought to 支える his failing strength. But an inner 軍隊 押し進めるd him on, calling 前へ／外へ from his spent muscles another, and still another, 成果／努力. It was an eternity of time, a 燃やすing stretch of aeons, that he floated and sank, and floated again, until through luck, his own unseeing 成果／努力s, and the eddying movement of the slow 現在の, he （機の）カム into a shallow stretch of water 近づく the bank.

Ki-Gor tried to walk in the shallow water, but his 脚s 辞退するd to 支える him. He つまずくd and fell 繰り返して, each time having even greater difficulty in rising again. But each time he did rise. He （機の）カム finally to the low bank, and with one last mighty 成果／努力, he pulled himself up on the 乾燥した，日照りの land, and fell 直面する downward.

The big white man lay in a 宙返り／暴落するd heap, his long 団体／死体 圧力（をかける）d into the gently waving growth of river ferns and grass. 血 from the ugly gash on his 長，率いる ran 負かす／撃墜する over his 直面する and dripped on the warm earth. He slept the 深い, 黒人／ボイコット sleep of utter exhaustion and painful 傷つける. Africa's ever 現在の clouds of venomous little insects sought him out and feasted their greed, but Ki-Gor, wrapped in 黒人／ボイコット forgetfulness, was unconscious of their 拷問ing bites. The slender 影をつくる／尾行するs of the grass fronds 刻々と lengthened across his 団体／死体 as the sun 出発／死d 西方の in a hot and shimmering sky.

影をつくる／尾行するs crept out from the 広大な／多数の／重要な trees along the bank, and slipped over Ki-Gor to dull the surface of the water. A faint 微風 精査するd 負かす／撃墜する the river and with it （機の）カム night. A もや, gray and ominous, rolled along the river, 集会 in 濃度／密度, and rolling out wetly over the banks. Still Ki-Gor lay unmoving in the damp grass, his breath coming with a hard 深い 正規の／正選手 rhythm. .

Once a large buck, followed by two does, （機の）カム out of a 小道／航路 in the forest, and on soundless feet in the soft turf, 選ぶd its way to water. With the man-scent 一面に覆う／毛布d by the もや, the daintily stepping feet of the buck were almost upon Ki-Gor before the 用心深い creature sighted the white form. 即時に the animal froze, his nostrils swelling out in search of danger. 安心させるd by the 絶対の 静かな of the white 団体／死体, the buck soon swerved off to the left and continued to the water's 辛勝する／優位, obediently followed by the two does.

The long night was 合併するing into 夜明け when a 孤独な jackal, after hours of luckless foraging for 平易な prey, （機の）カム panting 負かす／撃墜する to the river to fill its hungry belly with the 冷静な／正味の water. The dirty, bedraggled, ジャングル scavenger 選ぶd its way along in the natural cringing gait of its 産む／飼育する. Slavering in disgruntlement, the jackal padded up to the bank and lapped thirstily. After a 十分な minute, it raised its 長，率いる nervously and snuffled at the 空気／公表する. The fur on the animal's 支援する bristled up at the scent of man, and after a slight wait, the gray form watchfully moved to follow the scent. The evil ghost crept within 用心深い yards of Ki-Gor. The savage brain of the animal sought out and 重さを計るd the man's 傷つける, balancing the 危険 of attack against possible 伸び（る） for its 不平（をいう）ing belly.

The still form of the ジャングル Lord, with its fresh 血 scent, 刺激するd beyond endurance the greedy gnawing of the beast's stomach.

The jackal, sensing life in the sprawling 団体／死体, fought to 負かす／撃墜する its 恐れる of man. With 静かな, nervous steps it padded a wide （犯罪の）一味 around Ki-Gor, its teeth grinning whitely as rising hunger tried to 軍隊 courage into its 臆病な／卑劣な heart.

The soft, 早期に-morning 勝利，勝つd caught the strong smell of the beast and brought it to Ki-Gor's nostrils. For the first time since he had はうd out of the water, the bronzed 巨大（な） stirred. He 転換d uneasily, but did not waken. The jackal 緊張したd at this movement and stood 長，率いる pointed at the man. Again the strong jackal scent 注ぐd into Ki-Gor's consciousness. A primal 保護の sense shook his 神経s from their stunned lethargy, and his gray 注目する，もくろむs flickered open.

勧めるd by the strong scent of danger, Ki-Gor struggled to 焦点（を合わせる） his 注目する，もくろむs. His 見通し in the faint light of 夜明け formed only a 混乱させるing, colorless blur. The jackal growled, sensing the helplessness of the man. Under the 刺激 of this noise, Ki-Gor made out the 脅迫的な 人物／姿／数字 of the scavenger, the beast's form swimming in 輪郭（を描く） against a weaving, 転換ing background. The jackal girded its courage to the 最大限 and 前進するd with stiff, bristling steps toward the ジャングル Lord. Ki-Gor could see now the white fangs of the hated skulker, and a wave of sheer 怒り／怒る at this most 臆病な／卑劣な of all beasts churned enough strength into his 脚s to heave the ジャングル Lord to his feet.

He stood there weaving, fighting off waves of nausea. Try as he might, Ki-Gor could not make his feet 答える／応じる to his will. With 明らかにする 手渡すs he tried to 前進する, but he was unable to walk. The jackal slowed its 前進する, and then 停止（させる）d. A fallen man was one thing, but an 誘発するd one, even though 負傷させるd, was another 事柄. The animal 審議d, emitting low snarls, and then as Ki-Gor at last 達成するd a staggering step 今後, the jackal leaped 支援する, and with one last growling 爆発, turned and darted away.

Ki-Gor watched the animal disappear. 突然の the swimming blur の近くにd over his 見通し again as the sense of danger faded. A numbness crept over the ジャングル Lord, and with a sense of 広大な／多数の／重要な 成果／努力, he slipped to his 膝s and awkwardly stretched out in the wet grass. Dull, aching sleep （機の）カム over him, and his mind shut itself off from the stirring daylight world.

When the ジャングル Lord next roused, the sun stood high in the sky, its scorching rays （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing 直接／まっすぐに on his now 乾燥した，日照りの and feverish 団体／死体. He sat up. He looked about him with 激しい-lidded 注目する，もくろむs, puzzled 注目する，もくろむs that sought an understanding of his 現在の predicament. Slowly he 解除するd an 探検の／予備の 手渡す and felt his aching 長，率いる, 調査（する）ing the gash there.

His brows furrowed in thought, but the terrific blows dealt him had 封鎖するd the delicate memory 機械装置. Events of not only the past few days, but of the past years, 辞退するd to come. The cruel blow had 削減（する） Ki-Gor off from the past, cutting away from him at the same time the acquired veneer of civilization which 接触する with Helene and others of the outer world had brought him.

He stood up and drew a 深い breath into his 広大な／多数の／重要な 肺s. Already his marvelous recuperative 力／強力にするs were at work 回復するing 力／強力にする and strength to his hard muscles. In a few days, with the proper 残り／休憩（する） and no untoward 事故s, he would be as sound and vigorous as before. But there was a vague uneasiness in his mind for he sensed that all was not 井戸／弁護士席. He tried to reach 支援する through the curtain which had fallen so suddenly and しっかり掴む at the memories which troubled him, but which he could not pluck from his subconscious.

Ki-Gor shook his aching 長，率いる and ちらりと見ることd around him. His 注目する，もくろむs 停止（させる）d on the 招待するing water of the river. He walked to the bank and washed the caked 血 and grime from his 長，率いる and shoulders. Then he drank 深く，強烈に. Refreshed, the big man rose and went at a slow gait toward the rising 塀で囲む of the ジャングル. He walked into the darkening 影をつくる／尾行するs of the trees for a distance of about one-hundred yards, and then, selecting a 非常に高い 巨大（な） of a tree, he climbed 慎重に into its upper 四肢s. In the high 支店s of the tall tree, he selected a comfortable perch, leaned 支援する against the trunk and の近くにd his aching 注目する，もくろむs. The gentle sway and movement of the 古代の tree quickly なぎd the big man to sleep. So passed another night and day, with Ki-Gor, except for 時折の trips to the river, 残り／休憩（する）ing and sleeping like any animal 回復するing from its 負傷させるs. The feverish 燃やす left Ki-Gor's 団体／死体, and he shook off the sense of giddy 証拠不十分. Hunger began to prick him into activity. He 始める，決める out in search of food. His keen 注目する，もくろむs searched the ジャングル 床に打ち倒す for the fresh spoor of game, and at length along a 狭くする 追跡する he （機の）カム across 最近の 調印するs made by a small buck.

The ジャングル Lord's long stride lengthened, as driven by hunger, he quickened his pace. He sped 負かす／撃墜する the 狭くする green aisle, eluding the 時折の choking stands of bramble, slipping wraith-like over the bunched undergrowth.

Ever fresher was the scent of the deer. Ki-Gor's 手渡す slipped automatically to the hilt of his knife, the always 現在の knife which had stayed at his waist even during his struggles in the water. The blade gleamed 解放する／自由な in his 権利 手渡す. The ジャングル was silent except for the raucous calls of a few brilliantly plumaged birds.

Ki-Gor's passage was soundless. He was in every sense a cunning relentless huntsman. He was downwind from the unsuspecting buck, and though the animal's scent drew him on like a magnet, his own presence was 保護するd from the 追跡（する）d creature. He glided within yards of where the buck stood browsing.

He sprinted to within arm's reach of the 逃げるing buck, and in a bounding leap, dived on the animal with 鎮圧するing 負わせる. The shock of Ki-Gor's 猛攻撃 倒れるd the buck, and his knife bit 深い into the creature's 決定的なs as it fell.

His appetite 満足させるd, the ジャングル Lord stretched luxuriously and looked about for a 保護するd 残り／休憩（する）ing place. But a strange feeling of 緊急 began to permeate his 存在, and 辞退するd to let him 残り／休憩（する）. Though he was 完全に unable to fathom the 推論する／理由, something within him propelled Ki-Gor 支援する to the river. He gave in to this inner 勧めるing and began moving leisurely 支援する along the 追跡する he had recently 横断するd.

When Ki-Gor reached the river, he hesitated a moment and then swung upstream. It was not long before the cat-treading white 巨大（な） 近づくd the （疑いを）晴らすing where the natives had attacked him and carried off Helene. Ki-Gor did not think at this time of the 背信の 強襲，強姦. He did not 解任する the event, for the dreadful blows he had 苦しむd on the 長，率いる had blotted out even any remembrance of Helene. Buried 深い within his subconscious, however, was the 燃やすing knowledge of his mate and it was this that drew him 支援する to the （疑いを）晴らすing.

Ki-Gor （機の）カム up to the 辛勝する／優位 of the （疑いを）晴らすing along a 狭くする animal 追跡する through a rustling break of tall reeds. He paused, 用心深い ジャングル creature that he was, to 調査する the ground ahead before 前進するing into the open. His keen gray 注目する，もくろむs automatically searched the （疑いを）晴らすing, 警報 for any 調印する of danger.

Ki-Gor's 注目する，もくろむs suddenly 狭くするd and grew 冷淡な. He drew 支援する into the concealment of the reeds, and the powerful muscles along his lean hard 団体／死体 強化するd. There on the river bank, its carved prow drawn up on the green grass, stood a long, grim war canoe.

III. - The 黒人／ボイコット Arrow

Ki-Gor 星／主役にするd long at the war （手先の）技術. The sight of the boat stirred a feeling of 怒り／怒る in him, started the 血 殺到するing through his veins. This instantaneous reaction was a 完全に unreasoning one, for he had no idea why this sight should 動かす such emotions. Soon his careful, 用心深い visual search for any 調印する of life or hidden enemy, 納得させるd him the open 陰謀（を企てる） was 砂漠d.

満足させるd no enemy lurked in 待ち伏せ／迎撃する, the ジャングル Lord glided out of the rustling reeds to the war canoe. The scent of natives, still fresh and strong, was in the boat. Ki-Gor 熟考する／考慮するd the 足跡s about the boat, and then went up the low slope に引き続いて the natives' （疑いを）晴らす 追跡する. At the 最高の，を越す of the slope, he 設立する the remains of a 最近の campfire and scattered 残余s of food.

He was painstakingly 熟考する／考慮するing the ground, when nearby he heard the muffled 発言する／表明するs of natives. Ki-Gor stood still for a moment, 裁判官ing the sound. He turned then and ran lightly to a gnarled tree a few yards away. With one powerful spring, he leapt high in the 空気／公表する, caught a sturdy 支店, and 速く pulled himself up into the leafy 保護 of the upper boughs.

The white man watched 辛うじて as three 武装した natives, tall, brawny men, 現れるd from a ジャングル 追跡する and passed 直接／まっすぐに below him. He saw the 軍人s 停止（させる） and place their spears and 屈服するs against a small tree, and then sit 負かす／撃墜する の近くに together 近づく the 燃やすd out 解雇する／砲火／射撃. His 注目する，もくろむs 熟考する／考慮するd with 利益／興味 the long 激しい knives carried by the men, deadly blades which they did not discard even now when they were 残り／休憩（する）ing.

Although all three of the 黒人／ボイコット men were exceptionally 罰金 physical 見本／標本s, Ki-Gor's 注目する，もくろむs were drawn 特に to the largest and most superbly 割合d of the natives. This man was a 大規模な 軍人, graceful as a panther. There was an 空気／公表する of 静かな 保証／確信 about him. He wore no gaudy 部族の 場内取引員／株価s nor any of the usual native decorations, but there was a 限定された 空気／公表する of 命令（する） about him, a （疑いを）晴らす 指示，表示する物 that he was a chieftain.

The three men sat for a long time, 星／主役にするing moodily at the ground, seldom conversing. Though every stranger in the ジャングル is 潜在的に an enemy until 証明するd さもなければ, Ki-Gor oddly enough felt no 脅し 残り／休憩（する）ing in these men. For 推論する／理由s he could not explain, a sudden 勧める （機の）カム over him to make known his presence. He was 武装した with only a knife, however, and even though he felt there was no danger to be 恐れるd from these 軍人s, he was 用心深い enough to advantageously place himself as の近くに to their discarded spears as possible.

He worked his way silently out along a 幅の広い overhanging 四肢. Then Ki-Gor dropped to the ground on cushioned feet, and moved so 速く and 静かに that he stood before the three sitting natives almost before they sensed his presence. The startled natives looked up in unison, and for a moment their 手渡すs hesitated at the hilts of the 激しい knives. Ki-Gor's 直面する betrayed no 調印する of emotion, but inwardly he enjoyed the bewilderment of the natives immensely. It was a 尊敬の印 to his 知恵, however, that his 権利 手渡す hovered ever の近くに to the 軸 of one man's spear.

The 表現s of alarm on the 軍人's 直面するs quickly changed to bewildered surprise. They seemed unable to believe their 注目する，もくろむs. They 星／主役にするd speechless at Ki-Gor. The 大規模な 軍人 was the first to 回復する his tongue.

"Ki-Gor!" he にわか景気d out in a surprised, unbelieving 発言する／表明する. "But how can it be you?"

The now friendly 注目する，もくろむs of the 抱擁する Negro looked expectantly past the ジャングル Lord searching for another person. He seemed disappointed to find the white man alone.

"But where is Helene?" the 軍人 asked, his 発言する／表明する 反映するing 深い 関心. "Is she 傷つける? Where is she?"

Ki-Gor listened 厳粛に to the man's words. The tongue he spoke was familiar; it was the language of the Masai. Ki-Gor understood the words, but he did not understand what the native spoke about. His 直面する showed 明確に how puzzled he was.

"I come as a friend," the ジャングル Lord said slowly, "but I do not understand your questions. Perhaps you mistake me for some other one you know."

The mouth of the natives' 広報担当者 dropped open at this 半端物 声明 from the 広大な／多数の／重要な Ki-Gor, the 会社／堅い friend of many years, the beloved companion and leader in many exciting and dangerous adventures.

"I-I'm Tembu George! What's wrong with you? Surely you can't be joking."

The ジャングル Lord 熟考する／考慮するd the native's 直面する a moment and then repeated, half to himself, "Tembu George." After a pause, he again 演説（する）／住所d Tembu George, 説, "I have no 推論する／理由 to joke, Tembu George, I don't 解任する seeing you before, and I have no knowledge of the person you call Helene."

Tembu George stood up now, and （機の）カム closer to the white man. The 関心 he felt at Ki-Gor's strange トン was 明らかな. His 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な 注目する，もくろむs, as he （機の）カム closer, 公式文書，認めるd the ugly gash on Ki-Gor's 長，率いる.

"You have 苦しむd a bad 傷つける recently," Tembu George 明言する／公表するd, 公式文書，認めるing every 活動／戦闘 of his friend. "How did you get that 削減（する）?"

Ki-Gor's 手渡す raised to the gash and his brows knit in thought. "Somehow I can't seem to remember" he replied.

"Hmmm. And what did you say your 指名する was," Tembu George asked, snapping the question quickly.

In normal fashion and with every 証拠 of 保証／確信, the ジャングル Lord started to reply, "Why, I am ... I am." He 停止（させる）d and passed his を引き渡す his brow.

"It is a ridiculous thing," Ki-Gor said in a sheepish, yet worried トン, "But I can't for the life of me tell you my 指名する."

Tembu George stood looking 直接／まっすぐに into his 注目する，もくろむs now. "You are Ki-Gor, my friend of many years," he said. "Somehow you have been 負傷させるd and are 苦しむing from a loss of memory. It was over four days ago that I was to 会合，会う you and your mate, Helene, here at this 位置／汚点／見つけ出す."

The 軍人 turned and ちらりと見ることd at his two gaping men. He looked then 負かす／撃墜する the slope to the riverbank for a few moments before turning 支援する to his friend.

"When we arrived there were （疑いを）晴らす 調印するs that a boat had brought men 岸に 負かす／撃墜する there. There was abundant 証拠 you had been here." And now there was a hint of a smile in Tembu George's 注目する，もくろむs, "for we 設立する the carcasses of two lions lying over there."

Ki-Gor listened carefully to the big Negro's words. Instinctively, he felt this man was a friend, a good friend who could be 信用d. "Tell me more," he said.

"井戸／弁護士席, 再建するing the scene from the 証拠 we could find, it is 確かな that a group of natives, 概略で about twelve, （機の）カム 岸に from a war canoe, talked with you and Helene for a period of time, and then there was a sudden 簡潔な／要約する struggle 権利 over there. There were 血 stains 主要な from that 位置／汚点／見つけ出す 負かす／撃墜する to the boat."

Ki-Gor tried hard to 解任する this scene which was 述べるd to him but he could remember no 選び出す／独身 詳細（に述べる）. He shook his 長，率いる, 示すing his 完全にする 欠如（する） of knowledge of the event.

"When we arrived the 調印するs were still very fresh, and we thought you had been carried off by boat," Tembu George said. "We went up river two days' 旅行 but could find no 調印する of a war canoe so we returned to search this place more carefully."

The Masai chieftain 関係のある the 詳細（に述べる）s of his four day search for Ki-Gor and Helene. He knew it was impossible that the marauders had gone 負かす／撃墜する river because he would have 遭遇（する）d them as he approached. The two day search up river was 完全に fruitless, as there was no 証拠 to be 設立する of any （警察の）手入れ，急襲ing party. Without any lead to 援助（する） him, Tembu George therefore returned to the （疑いを）晴らすing to search for その上の 証拠. His men were now （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing the ジャングル approaches to the （疑いを）晴らすing 完全に for any 手がかり（を与える） as to the 身元 of the 攻撃者s or for any 調印する that Helene or Ki-Gor either one might have escaped into the forest.

While Ki-Gor listened, Masai 軍人s began to return in groups of two and three to the （疑いを）晴らすing. Any その上の proof needed by Ki-Gor that he was 井戸／弁護士席 known to Tembu George was quickly given by these men. Each native, as soon as he sighted the bronzed ジャングル Lord cried out in pleased surprise and called him by 指名する. These powerful 軍人s, 尊敬（する）・点d the length and breadth of Africa for their grim fighting 質s, すぐに showed a worried sympathy when they learned from their fellows of their 広大な／多数の／重要な friend Ki-Gor's strange 行為.

"This Helene," Ki-Gor said, "but how could I forget my own mate?"

"The mind is a strange thing," Tembu George replied, "but even though 運命／宿命 has struck you such a sudden, unkind blow, we must 延期する no longer than 絶対 necessary our search for Helene."

Ki-Gor nodded his 是認. "Aye, the 追跡する grows 冷淡な as we wait."

Tembu George was somewhat 元気づけるd by Ki-Gor's 返答. The ジャングル Lord was undoubtedly 納得させるd that he spoke the truth and that he was the white man's friend. "Our search 証明するs Helene did not go into the ジャングル, so it is evident she was carried away upstream by boat. Come, let us follow."

Pleased at the prospect of avenging the wrong done Ki-Gor, the rangy Masai 軍人s 速く gathered their war gear and 急いでd to the boat. The ジャングル Lord was 解除するd from his puzzled gloom by the friendly 社債 which he felt ever more 堅固に for these stalwart fighting men. He felt kinship with them, and a hope, that through their company and 援助（する）, the dark blank in his mind would be 治療（薬）d.

Ki-Gor followed the Masai 負かす／撃墜する the slope. He paused as he （機の）カム to the carved prow of the 黒人／ボイコット war canoe. He 星／主役にするd hard at the prow for a long minute. Tembu George saw the rapt 表現 on his friend's 直面する, and （機の）カム over to him. The Masai chieftain looked at the prow, but saw nothing except the familiar panther figurehead.

"The figurehead," Ki-Gor said suddenly. "Somehow the sight of that prow brings 支援する the memory of another war canoe. One with the figurehead of a fanged serpent."

"Fanged serpent," Tembu George repeated thoughtfully after him. "I know the 部族の symbols used throughout this 地域, and that is not one of them. I believe this is the 手がかり（を与える） we needed to find Helene."

Tembu George 協議するd with his men carefully, and in 広大な／多数の／重要な earnestness, they discussed the serpent figurehead 述べるd by Ki-Gor, 結論するing the war canoe must have come from far afield.

Ki-Gor listened to the discussion, then pointed out, "If the symbol is an unusual one, then certainly it will be noticed somewhere along the river, and if we try hard enough we are sure to find those who have seen the boat pass."

The Masai made their boat ready now, and skillfully they cast off and swept upstream in search of the 敵. The muscled 黒人／ボイコットs bent to their work, and in 急速な／放蕩な, smooth rhythm their 幅の広い paddles 削減（する） the placid surface of the wide river. The proud war canoe scudded 今後 at a 急速な／放蕩な, 支えるd pace.

Long, hot hours passed, and still the 幅の広い 支援するs of the Masai resisted 疲労，（軍の）雑役. The paddles rose and fell with deceptive 緩和する as the men labored under the 燃やすing sun. The 有望な green of the ジャングル, 無傷の except for brilliantly colored splotches of flowers, flowed by, an impenetrable sameness that 疲れた／うんざりしたd the 注目する，もくろむ. The merciless 有望な sky dimmed before the approach of evening, and the shimmering glaze over the water 軟化するd and faded. High clouds rolled out across the sky with night. It was now Tembu George who guided the long （手先の）技術 岸に.

The Masai laid 負かす／撃墜する their paddles, and rising stiffly from the positions so long held, stepped on land. The 軍人s 残り／休憩（する）d and ate, taking their 緩和する while they waited for the moon to rise. But beneath their 明らかな 空気／公表する of leisure was a restless undercurrent, for these grim men would not again 残り／休憩（する） 静かに until their quarry was run to earth. Only the silent, moody Ki-Gor, ぼんやり現れるing big in the firelight as he sat apart from the others, was 完全に relaxed.

At last the moon （機の）カム, swollen and yellow, its diffused rays 反映するing silver on the river. The 解雇する／砲火／射撃 was 浴びせる／消すd, and hurriedly the natives took their places in the boat again. The 塀で囲む of the ジャングル on each 味方する of the river rose 黒人／ボイコット and smothering above the canoe. The Masai were soon too busy to feel lost and alone in this canyon of 不明瞭, for Tembu George 始める，決める them a 急速な／放蕩な pace. The sweat gathered on their shoulders and trickled 負かす／撃墜する their 支援するs as with endless repetition they dug their paddles, sending the （手先の）技術 広範囲にわたる through the night.

Not until 夜明け tinged the cloud 集まりs in the east with red did the Masai call another 停止（させる）, but this, too, was only another breathing （一定の）期間, a 簡潔な／要約する pause to 回復する strength. In a short time they 長，率いるd 今後 again, moving toward where the 早期に morning sun hung over the already steaming horizon. The grueling pace continued except for 時折の breathing （一定の）期間s, throughout the day. When night （機の）カム, the worn men went 岸に and flung themselves 負かす／撃墜する to sleep ひどく until midnight.

Three days and nights Tembu George 押し進めるd his men 今後 in this fashion. On the morning of the fourth day, the war canoe nosed up to a 上陸 at a large native village 始める，決める along the bank. Ki-Gor and Tembu George stepped out on the 上陸 and walked through the （人が）群がる of curious natives that quickly gathered. Searching out the 長，指導者, they 設立する him sitting before his hut, directing one of his sons in the fashioning of a spear. After an appropriate 交流 of greetings, Ki-Gor asked the 長，指導者, a gaunt, humped native, whether a war canoe with a fanged serpent on its prow had been seen by any of the 村人s.

The thin native sucked in his cheeks in thought, and then replied, "We have not seen this boat here, but one of my men who has been upriver 述べるd such a （手先の）技術 to me only yesterday."

"It is probable the boat passed this village during the night to 避ける 存在 seen," Ki-Gor pointed out to Tembu George.

Turning 支援する to the 長，指導者, Ki-Gor asked, "Did your men see which way the boat was 長，率いるd?"

"Yes, it was going up the river and was moving 急速な／放蕩な," the 長，指導者 answered, proud to have such ready and 完全にする knowledge at his fingertips.

Tembu George leaned 今後 熱望して now. "And tell us, did your man see a white woman in the canoe?"

The native wrinkled his forehead in thought, and scratched his skinny ribs. "No, he saw no woman in the boat. There were only 軍人s, men not of this 地域."

While the 長，指導者 spoke, a slight wiry man, grizzled with years, but still strong and active （機の）カム up beside him. There were white 場内取引員／株価s painted across his 明らかにする chest and his forehead was disfigured with a crudely tattooed emblem. Around his neck and wrists he wore 禁止（する）d of bones, teeth and 半端物 石／投石するs, and の近くに 査察 showed many of the bones and teeth were human ones. He was the 部族の witch doctor, 恐れるd and 尊敬（する）・点d.

"These strangers come in search of a white woman?" he asked, as though he knew already much of the conversation that had passed between Ki-Gor and the 長，指導者.

"Yes, O wise one," 答える／応じるd the 長，指導者, "and they 捜し出す to trace a war canoe with the 人物／姿／数字 of a serpent carved on its prow."

His 発言する／表明する showing surprise at the witch doctor's knowledge of their search, Tembu George 演説（する）／住所d the old man, "Do you know where we can find the woman?"

The grizzled witch doctor rustled his necklaces with his fingers, and his 注目する，もくろむs looked beyond Tembu George in a far away, unseeing 星／主役にする. The 長，指導者 持続するd respectful silence as the old man pondered. The witch doctor 転換d his 注目する，もくろむs to Ki-Gor and spoke 直接／まっすぐに to him.

"I 認める you as the 広大な／多数の／重要な Ki-Gor, friend of the ジャングル peoples. I would like to give you some 限定された 援助（する）, but unfortunately my poor knowledge makes it possible only to give you a general lead."

The witch doctor paused and wrinkled his brow, as he appeared to 調査（する） his mind for the exact （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） he wished to give Ki-Gor.

"I have heard it said that a strange tribe," he continued slowly, "that worships a fearsome serpent, dwells many days up this river in a 地域 of 広大な lakes. I believe your search would end 首尾よく, if you could find this tribe."

Ki-Gor 表明するd his thanks to the witch doctor, for this slender thread of （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） was the first 肯定的な 手がかり（を与える） he had received as to the 身元 of the marauders. He and Tembu George then returned to the canoes and the wearing pace was 再開するd.

The 燃やすing merciless days 合併するd into hot sweltering nights, as the grim, tireless Masai 軍人s unsparingly 押し進めるd themselves. The grueling 罰 they took did not 鈍らせる the vengeful spirit which 奮起させるd the powerful natives. Through their prodigious 成果／努力s, in nine days the Masai brought their （手先の）技術 into a section of rolling hills. The river now bit its way between higher banks, banks in some places which rose to canyon 割合s. But the river still lay 幅の広い and placid, a muddy, slow-moving thing.

In 中央の-morning on the ninth day, Tembu George selected an even, open place to 停止（させる） for food and 残り／休憩（する）. The boat was made 急速な／放蕩な, and the men 選ぶd out 避難所d places to relax, all except one hot, tired 軍人. This rangy Masai fighting man ambled 支援する to the river and strolled out into a shallow section, splashing the 冷静な／正味のing water over his sweaty 団体／死体. 意図 on the refreshing water, he was careless of his surroundings.

The native neither felt nor saw the 冷淡な, 星／主役にするing 注目する，もくろむs that fastened on him. He failed to see the slimy, gray-green 本体，大部分／ばら積みの of the 抱擁する crocodile lying 近づく the bank like a half-潜水するd スピードを出す／記録につける. The big reptile, with scarcely a 動かす of the water slid 今後, placing itself between the man and the shore. As the creature reached the shallow place where the native entered the water, it used its powerful tail for てこ入れ／借入資本 in climbing.

This abrupt splash roused the 軍人 to his danger. He turned, and with horrified 注目する，もくろむs saw the hideous monster 長，率いるing for him. The man cried out in alarm to his mates. The shout brought all the natives upright 即時に, but in their surprise, they hesitated, groping for a means of saving their fellow. Ki-Gor, who also was brought to his feet by the cry, did not hesitate.

The ジャングル Lord, 後部d to a perilous 存在 which depended on 分裂（する）-second judgment, moved with flashing 速度(を上げる） in this fateful interval. Ki-Gor sped toward the river, scooping up a Masai spear from the ground without breaking his stride. The crocodile was almost upon the native, its gaping jaws opened in 予期 of the kill, when the ジャングル Lord leaped far out over the water 直接／まっすぐに at the reptile. As he descended, Ki-Gor bore his 十分な 負わせる on the haft of the spear and drove the 幅の広い, sharp point under the crocodile's left fore 脚s.

The bronzed 巨大（な）'s unerring 技術 enabled him to send the spear 深い into this いっそう少なく ひどく 装甲の 位置／汚点／見つけ出す on the creature. The dreadful 苦痛 of the 負傷させる sent the monster into an agonized, writhing 急落（する），激減（する） at the defenseless native. With sudden death from the flailing tail hanging over him, Ki-Gor 圧力（をかける）d 今後. He had landed at the very 味方する of the crocodile, and now he dived 今後 on the 支援する of the slimy creature, digging his 脚s around its belly and his left arm encircling its neck. His 解放する／自由な 権利 arm （権力などを）行使するd his long 追跡（する）ing knife, and he drove the steel into the crocodile's hard underthroat. Ki-Gor heard the native shriek in 苦痛, and the sound 注ぐd more strength into his 緊張するing knife arm.

The heaving crocodile 急落（する），激減（する）d 今後 now, mad with 苦痛 and fury, into deeper water. The 深い spear 負傷させる was eating the life from the creature, but its tremendous 力／強力にするs were not easily 分散させるd. The 広大な／多数の／重要な reptile 粉砕するd into the 深い water and dived, rolling as he went, to shake loose the 重荷（を負わせる） on his 支援する. The ジャングル Lord realized his only hope was to 粘着する to the crocodile and 努力する／競う for a mortal blow; for once dislodged he would 落ちる 平易な prey to it in the water.

負かす／撃墜する went the crocodile until Ki-Gor felt his 肺s would burst. In the impenetrable, muddy blackness of the river 底（に届く） the reptile gave another terrific spin. It was impossible for the ジャングル Lord to keep his 持つ／拘留する from 緩和するing. 猛烈に he grappled, catching himself before he was torn 完全に loose. He 設立する he had slipped to one 味方する of the creature, and though choking in his agonized craving for oxygen, he realized this was his 適切な時期.

He gathered his 病弱なing strength, 削除するd 深い into the exposed under belly of the crocodile, laying its stomach open in long ragged 略章s. The crocodile shook violently and suddenly went limp. Ki-Gor's numb 武器 and 脚s 解放（する）d their 支配する and he drove to the surface.

The moment his blond 長，率いる broke the water, the ジャングル Lord greedily sucked 深い breaths into his aching 肺s. When his 団体／死体's painful hunger for oxygen was 満たすd, he turned his attention to the shore. The worried Masai, fearful that their white friend was lost, shouted with 楽しみ when they saw Ki-Gor strike out for land. The 勇敢な 活動／戦闘 of Ki-Gor in leaping すぐに into seeming death to save the Masai 軍人 was only another of many 社債s which welded these indomitable 闘士，戦闘機s to the 味方する of the beloved white leader.

Ki-Gor climbed out on the bank and went to where the 救助（する）d native lay. The man's 脚s were 不正に mangled, but Ki-Gor knew there was a chance through careful nursing to save the man's 四肢s. 雇うing the best means at 手渡す, he 扱う／治療するd the 負傷させるs and stopped the bleeding.

"We will go on to the next village along the river, where perhaps we can find the proper herbs and 薬／医学s for the 治療 of our comrade," Ki-Gor 発表するd to the 組み立てる／集結するd 軍人s.

The 負傷させるd man weakly asked that he be left behind, so as not to 干渉する in any way with the search for Helene. Ki-Gor would not hear of this, and within a 簡潔な／要約する while, the 負傷させるd native was made comfortable in the war canoe, and the trip was 再開するd.

In a few hours, Ki-Gor 秘かに調査するd a 幅の広い path which led out of the ジャングル to the river's 辛勝する／優位. He ordered the boat moored. With the 援助（する） of Tembu George, he quickly fashioned a sturdy litter in which to carry the 負傷させるd Masai.

"This path shows it is used by many people," Ki-Gor 明言する／公表するd, "and probably a village lies just a short distance away. We will take this man there for 治療, and perhaps we can 伸び（る） その上の （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） of the serpent boat."

The 幅の広い, 井戸／弁護士席-trod path was an 平易な avenue through the dense forest. The Masai, 用心深い in this strange land of possible 敵s, 範囲d themselves in a long 小競り合い line, and held their 武器s ready. Ki-Gor 前進するd at the 長，率いる of the column. It was 概略で an hour's 旅行 over the clean winding 追跡する before the 軍人s sighted a large village. The men held 支援する as Ki-Gor walked up to the open 入り口 to the stockade surrounding the cluster of huts. Two natives lounging inside the gate looked up in surprise at the 大規模な white man, but they 証拠d no 敵意. He held up his 手渡す, palm outward, in the 調印する of peace, and the men returned the 迎える／歓迎するing, calling out to him in a dialect that was closely akin to the Wasuli.

"Welcome, O white one, who comes under the 調印する of peace," one of the natives said in a shrill 発言する／表明する.

Ki-Gor 答える／応じるd with the words, "Greetings, O friends, I would see your 長，指導者."

The natives rose without haste and 護衛するd the ジャングル Lord 負かす／撃墜する a 小道／航路 between the huts to a thatched abode somewhat larger than the 残り／休憩（する）. In answer to their calls, the lion's 肌 hung over the door was thrust aside, and the 長，指導者 （機の）カム out. He was a fat, genial native, of medium 高さ with 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 注目する，もくろむs and a 穏やかな, honest 直面する.

"I am Ki-Gor," the ジャングル Lord said 簡単に, "and I need your help in 扱う／治療するing one of my friends who has been 負傷させるd by a crocodile."

The 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 注目する，もくろむs of the native grew even rounder, as he 表明するd his sympathy at this news. "I am Wabumaa. You are welcome in my village. We are a 平和的な people and we welcome in friendship all those who come in peace."

Ki-Gor's trained 注目する，もくろむs already had ascertained that this was not a war-like tribe. There was ample 証拠 these people were friendly and peace-loving, preferring to live a simple, plain, 安全な 存在, instead of the いつかs rich, but always dangerous, 高くつく／犠牲の大きい life of a war-like, marauding tribe.

Ki-Gor thanked Wabumaa and the two went out to 会合，会う the waiting Masai. The roly-poly little 長，指導者 星／主役にするd with frank 賞賛 at the stalwart 軍人s who （機の）カム 今後 at the white man's 動議. The 負傷させるd Masai was quickly made comfortable in a 空いている hut, and a brew of rare herbs was 用意が出来ている to 傷をいやす／和解させる his lacerated 脚s.

疲れた／うんざりした after their days of 緊張するd, unrelenting haste, Ki-Gor, Tembu George and their men soon took advantage of this 適切な時期 for 残り／休憩（する）. They sought 冷静な／正味の, 避難所d 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs and soon were 急速な／放蕩な asleep, all except one man who sat beside the 負傷させるd 軍人. It was nightfall when the 増加するing clatter and bustle within the village roused the Masai one by one. Ki-Gor awakened, 完全に refreshed, and went to search out the 推論する／理由 for the unusual 動かす.

He 設立する the amiable Wabumaa waddling about in a pleased bustle, giving directions 権利 and left. He was 準備するing a feast for the 訪問者s. The 長，指導者, 存在 both a hospitable man and also one who enjoyed 祝賀s, had no 意向 of letting this excellent excuse for a 祝宴 pass unheeded. The 空気／公表する was fragrant with the 満足させるing aroma of cooking meat. The circular area about the 孤独な, big tree which had been left standing in the 中心 of the village was 存在 用意が出来ている for the diners.

Perspiring, but 花冠d with smiles, the 長，指導者 動議d to Ki-Gor and the Masai to take their places. Wabumaa's men joined them, sitting cross-legged in a wide circle around the tree. Wabumaa made a gracious, flowery 演説（する）／住所 repeating in 詳細（に述べる） his briefer welcome of earlier in the day. Tembu George replied in 肉親，親類d, as 要求するd by native etiquette and then the heaping platters of savory game and fresh fruits were brought 今後.

Ki-Gor had hardly begun his meal when there was a sudden, 後援ing thud. An abrupt silence fell over the company. The 注目する，もくろむs of the natives 転換d to a point on the tree trunk about eight feet from the ground. に引き続いて the 長，指導者's gaze, Ki-Gor looked to see a long, 黒人／ボイコット arrow embedded in the tree, its haft vibrating.

Ki-Gor ちらりと見ることd around the （犯罪の）一味 of 星／主役にするing natives. Their gay, happy mood of a few moments before was 完全に gone.

Ki-Gor stood up, walked to the tree, and jerked the long 黒人／ボイコット arrow 解放する／自由な. He turned 支援する to the 長，指導者 and 問い合わせd, "What is wrong with your people? Does this one arrow 発射 by a こそこそ動くing bowman have some evil significance?"

The 長，指導者 rose now, his plump 直面する troubled, as he sought words to answer Ki-Gor. "It is the 黒人／ボイコット Arrow of the Serpent God!" he said fearfully. "It means my two finest 軍人s must go to their death!"

IV. - The Sacrifice of Zaa

HELENE began to believe the long nightmare of the canoe trip would never end. 軍隊d to 嘘（をつく） on the 床に打ち倒す of the boat, cramped by her 社債s, barely 保護するd from the 燃やすing sun, she was worn and exhausted. The 厳しい Basru paid her scant attention except to see she was 井戸／弁護士席 fed, and that she did not want for water.

The red haired girl, 消費するd with her 燃やすing 悲しみ, gave little notice to the rising spirits 展示（する）d by her abductors one morning, and the 新たにするd energy with which they began to ply their paddles. Had she been 利益／興味d, she would have known the men were 近づくing home. The war canoe had left the 幅の広い river and sped up one of its 支流s. By midday the canoe fought through a long, 騒然とした stretch of 早いs to glide out upon a 広大な, blue lake.

An island stood, green and 招待するing in the middle of the lake, and Basru directed his course straight for it. When the island rose の近くに before them, three other （手先の）技術 darted from a hidden cove.

One of the （手先の）技術 drew 近づく and its captain, after careful 査察 called out: "After all these days, surely you don't return empty 手渡すd, friend Basru!"

Basru's hard 直面する broke into a wide smile as he bent and carefully raised Helene to a standing position. With an eloquent gesture, he triumphantly 示すd the precious 貨物 he carried. The captain at this sight swept in very の近くに, and gazed with long 利益／興味 at Helene, who remained breathtakingly beautiful にもかかわらず the hardships she had 苦しむd.

The man nodded his 長，率いる admiringly and called, "You have done 井戸／弁護士席, Basru! This voyage will 勝利，勝つ you the 好意 of the Serpent God."

Helene looked at the 幅の広い lake, the green island, and the 非常に高い mountains which rose in the far distance. This was a strange 地域, an area 完全に unfamiliar to her. She 公式文書，認めるd the island was やめる large and the banks were grown up with 抱擁する trees.

Basru skillfully brought the war canoe in 近づく shore, sending it gliding up a 狭くする inlet into a snug harbor which nature had carefully 偽装するd from outside 見解（をとる）. The boat was soon beached, and for the first time since her 逮捕（する）, Helene was 完全に 解放する／自由なd of her 社債s. When the cramps in her 脚s and 武器 were relieved, the tired girl climbed from the boat.

A smooth, （疑いを）晴らす road led from the beach into the forest. It was up this road Basru and his men 護衛するd Helene past clumps of 星／主役にするing natives with ill-隠すd pride. The ジャングル girl 公式文書，認めるd with 利益／興味 that the avenue was 覆うd with 封鎖するs of wellworn 石／投石する, and was not the usual dirt path 設立する in African villages. Before she could dwell on this oddity, Helene entered the 郊外s of the town.

The village puzzled her even more. First （機の）カム a belt of thatched native huts, the small dingy 肉親，親類d 設立する throughout Africa, but these huts 停止（させる）d at the 辛勝する／優位 of a tall 石／投石する 塀で囲む. The 塀で囲む gave 証拠 of having been built long １０年間s before, and though it remained 一般に strong and 課すing, it was 割れ目d and 落ちるing into disrepair in places.

The road went through a wide, arched gateway 始める，決める in the 塀で囲む and entered a second or inner city. Helene could not 抑える a cry of surprise at the sight which 迎える／歓迎するd her. Within the 塀で囲む, lay a 全く different type of community, a 井戸／弁護士席 laid out city of square 石／投石する buildings. The structures were simple in design, but these solidly built 激しく揺する houses were a unique and astounding sight to find in the heart of 原始の Africa.

This was some 古代の 要塞 city, built by long dead 手渡すs, Helene could easily see. It was 明らかな many of the structures were 砂漠d, and she was impressed by the absence of any 調印するs of life on the streets. Helene's 査察 was 削減（する） short, however, for Basru marched her to a large building, and rapped on the carved door.

Basru 回避するd his 注目する，もくろむs and 屈服するd low when the 幅の広い door swung open. With 疑惑, Helene looked through the open doorway. She was 迎える／歓迎するd with another 全く 予期しない shock. Seven young women, their 肌s almost as fair as Helene's, stood waiting upon the threshold. With their long dark hair and 広大な／多数の／重要な 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs, the women were like exquisite 熱帯の blooms, exotic and 壊れやすい in their delicate beauty. They were oddly dressed, wearing silver breastplates and 簡潔な／要約する girdles, likewise 激しい with silver. Over this scanty dress, each wore a long cape of brilliant yellow, fastened at the 明らかにする throat with a jeweled clasp.

One dark haired woman reached out a graceful 手渡す in welcome. She spoke in a low musical 発言する／表明する and though many of the accents and words were unknown to Helene, Ki-Gor's mate understood the 迎える／歓迎するing to mean, "Enter, O bride to be of the mighty Zaa."

The proud red-haired girl, 自信のない of the 運命／宿命 which lay ahead, but feeling the company of the women in any event to be more 望ましい than 協会 with the cruel Basru, shrugged her shoulders and stepped through the door. Helene turned and looked 支援する at Basru. Both he and his men 屈服するd low and withdrew, walking backwards, so that they still 直面するd the young women respectfully. The big door swung の近くにd, and Helene was guided 負かす／撃墜する a long passage into a large comfortable room.

The ジャングル girl 公式文書，認めるd the rich furnishings of the room. 罰金 tapestries hung from the 塀で囲むs. Strangely fashioned pieces of furniture adorned with beautifully carved 人物／姿／数字s, 示すd a やめる high type of civilization. A low （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する of burnished red-色合いd 支持を得ようと努めるd, inset with gold workings, stood in one corner. The fair young 広報担当者 drew a small （法廷の）裁判 up to this （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する for Helene.

"Be seated, lovely one of the red hair," she said in her soft, warm 発言する／表明する, "and we will bring you food and drink."

Tired, hungry, thirsty, Helene needed no その上の 勧めるing. She sat 負かす／撃墜する, and in a few minutes 大型船s of 手渡す beaten silver were placed before her. The さまざまな dishes were delightfully flavored, and 熟知させるd though she was with the world's finest foods, Helene had never tasted more exquisite cookery. She ate ravenously, and as the pangs of hunger were 満足させるd, her spirits rose.

The women 出発／死d after serving Helene, leaving her to her own 装置s. She 熟考する／考慮するd the 半端物 furnishings for a time and then lay 負かす／撃墜する on a couch to 残り／休憩（する）. She fell into a 深い sleep and awakened only on the return of the women.

"Tell us your 指名する," the dark haired 広報担当者 said, after Helene had rubbed the sleep from her 注目する，もくろむs and looked inquiringly at the smiling 直面するs.

"Helene," answered the ジャングル girl.

"Helene. Helene," the girl pronounced in her 半端物 accents. "It is an unusual 指名する, one I have not heard before, but I like it. I am known as Rannee."

"Who are you?" Helene asked in a puzzled 発言する／表明する.

"We are handmaidens of the High Priestess of Zaa."

Helene's 直面する showed 明確に she did not understand. "Yes, but who is Zaa?"

There was a touch of awe and 恐れる in Rannee's 直面する as she replied, "Zaa is the all-powerful god of my people, the 広大な／多数の／重要な Serpent God. Surely you jest when you say you do not know of Zaa."

Helene shook her 長，率いる slowly. It was difficult to believe that people as 明らかに civilized as these had such a 原始の 宗教, but she had no 適切な時期 to 追求する the 事柄 その上の, because Rannee now beckoned her to follow.

Helene rose and …を伴ってd the seven girls 負かす／撃墜する a 石／投石する passage and into a large, oval room.

The 塀で囲むs 床に打ち倒す and 天井 of the room were of glistening 黒人／ボイコット 石／投石する, so dark and 向こうずねing she could see herself mirrored in it. 始める，決める in the exact 中心 of the room was a rectangular pool of gleaming white marble. Steps led 負かす／撃墜する into the pool, and from gaping mouths of 半端物 figureheads 始める，決める in each corner of the pool 注ぐd 水晶-（疑いを）晴らす streams of water.

Rannee pointed to the 招待するing pool, 説 to Helene, "It is the hour for your first 儀式の bath of purification."

The 予期しない splendor and 高級な of the gleaming 黒人／ボイコット room took Helene aback. The unrealness of this scene 始める，決める in the heart of a dense, 原始の ジャングル fastness 圧倒するd and 混乱させるd her, and she gave small attention to the meaning of this 儀式の. In her 乱すd 明言する／公表する of mind, she hardly cared in any 事例／患者. She 申し込む／申し出d no 反対, therefore, when Rannee （機の）カム 今後 and gently 補佐官d her to slip out of the ヒョウ 肌 brassiere and breechclout.

Helene walked 負かす／撃墜する the white steps into the （疑いを）晴らす water, shivering with 楽しみ as the refreshing coolness slipped up to cover her 団体／死体. She bathed hurriedly, 支払う／賃金ing little attention to her 静かな audience. The pleasant 高級な of the bath, the feel of the water on her smooth, young 団体／死体, soothed and 残り／休憩（する）d Helene. Reluctantly, at last, she 現れるd from the pool. The handmaidens waiting to dress her exclaimed admiringly at the radiant beauty of her graceful form, and Rannee murmured in deepest 誠実, "You are very lovely, Helene, you will be the most beautiful bride taken in my memory by the 広大な／多数の／重要な god Zaa."

Helene, though not unpleased by the compliment, was 乱すd at its 関わりあい／含蓄s. But before she could speak, Rannee called out to her sisters and two of them （機の）カム with woven towels and care fully 乾燥した，日照りのd the ジャングル girl. Next they brought silver flasks 含む／封じ込めるing rare and exquisite scents which they 適用するd. Rannee herself put breastplates delicately fashioned from gold and gleaming with rare gems on Helene, and fastened about the ジャングル girl's shapely hips a girdle of worked gold likewise resplendent with jewels. About Helene's shoulders was thrown a cape of purest white, exceedingly soft and 罰金 to the touch. Small gold sandals were placed on her feet.

The seven handmaidens drew 支援する to 調査する their handiwork, and their 直面するs amply 反映するd the 楽しみ and 賞賛 with which they regarded the red haired girl. Helene, in returning the looks of the handmaidens, 設立する it hard to believe these fair, gentle women were 準備するing her as some sort of sacrifice or 申し込む／申し出ing to this Serpent God they worshipped.

For a moment, she felt the 勧める to 涙／ほころび the soft white cape from her shoulders and throw it at their feet, and 申し込む／申し出 抵抗 to these superstitious fools. But the memory of her beloved Ki-Gor going to his death （機の）カム 支援する to her, and a 黒人／ボイコット despair laid 持つ／拘留する of her heart.

What did it 事柄 what became of her, she thought. There was no life for her without Ki-Gor and if these 半端物 people meant to send her to her death, then perhaps all was for the best. Ki-Gor's 武器 would never 持つ／拘留する her again, nor would she ever again hear his teasing, laughing 発言する／表明する. Life held no attraction. What was the sense of resisting.

Helene was 護衛するd 支援する 負かす／撃墜する the 石／投石する passages and into a square high 天井d room. It was an outside room, but the windows were small and placed high up on the 塀で囲むs, 井戸／弁護士席 beyond her reach. The afternoon sun filtered through these small 開始s softly illuminating the rich, but 古代の, 内部の.

Rannee and her companions left Helene to her thoughts. The despondent girl, 打ち勝つ by her grief, now that the dreadful shock of 最近の events had abated and her mind again 機能（する）／行事d, threw herself on a couch and sobbed 激しく. She 解決するd in her unhappiness to 率直に welcome whatever means of death the snake people planned for her.

Helene was 支配するd for the next two days to the same 静かな ritual. The seven women, always together, brought her superb meals and saw to her 慰安, 乱すing her little, except to 主張する on the luxurious bath taken in the 広大な／多数の／重要な 黒人／ボイコット room. It was midmorning the fourth day that the dark haired girls （機の）カム to 召喚する Helene, and Rannee, their 広報担当者, said with 抑えるd excitement, "You have 完全にするd the formal 儀式 of purification and the time has come for you to enter the 寺 and be 現在のd to Dian, High Priestess of Zaa."

The occasion, which 明白に excited the handmaidens, stirred no emotion in Helene. Without 反対, she rose and followed them out through the wide doorway to the flagstone street, where they turned their footsteps east. The warm morning sun 強調するd the extreme age of the village, and although there was an impressive beauty to the place, Helene felt a sense of death and evil, an indefinable atmosphere of decay over everything. This was a place out of the past, she thought, a pale 残余 of a long-dead civilizations, a decadent holdover forgotten by time.

Few people were about as the party 負傷させる through the eerie, 砂漠d streets toward a 広大な 石／投石する structure that rose in the 中心 of the village. The 広大な building was impressive in size, but the most striking feature was its 完全にする ugliness. Everything about it was too 激しい, too big. The tremendous 石／投石する columns which jutted up to support the 激しい roof were bulbous, obscenely 抱擁する.

Helene walked across the flagstone 中庭 and 機動力のある the 幅の広い, worn steps. Through the open doors of the 寺, she looked into the tomblike 内部の, and from the dense gloom, broken only by the faint light of flickering たいまつs, there rolled out an intangible sense of evil. The red haired girl drew her white cloak more closely about her, took a 深い breath and crossed the portals into the inner dimness.

Helene's attention was drawn as though by a magnet to a 広大な／多数の／重要な yellow square of 石／投石する placed in the 中心 of the 寺. This flat 厚板, 始める，決める on a 演壇 of 黒人／ボイコット marble, sent a 冷気／寒がらせる over the red haired girl; this, she knew, was the sacrificial 石／投石する of the pagan 寺. The uneven light of the sputtering たいまつs 明らかにする／漏らすd long lines of squat, 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, 石／投石する 議長，司会を務めるs 延長するd along the 権利 and left 味方するs of the 寺, 直面するing the yellow altar of the Serpent God.

The sound of a 激しい gong reverberated ominously as Helene 近づくd the 激しく揺する 厚板. When the waves of sound from the gong fell away, the shrill, high 詠唱するing of women's 発言する／表明するs seeped into the 寺. The thin, sing-song 公式文書，認めるs （機の）カム nearer, 刻々と growing in intensity, until the pagan 詠唱する filled the 空気／公表する with its weird pulsation.

A faint radiance wavered in the 不明瞭 behind the 広大な／多数の／重要な 石／投石する. The baleful fluorescence 燃やすd more brightly, until in a sudden burst of light, a 二塁打 とじ込み／提出する of torchbearers, walking in slow, 手段d step, appeared through an arched doorway at the 前線 of the 寺. 持つ／拘留するing the ひどく 燃やすing たいまつs high, the two とじ込み／提出するs of 詠唱するing handmaidens 分裂（する）, one going to the left, and one to the 権利 of the smooth, glistening 石／投石する altar 厚板.

Helene watched the rapt, 意図 直面するs of the singers, white and unreal above their yellow capes. Her 注目する，もくろむs were drawn 支援する with resistless attraction to the 大規模な 激しく揺する, which in her fancy, appeared to glow dully at first, but with 増加するing intensity as the long seconds dragged by. Helene shook her 長，率いる and 解除するd her 注目する，もくろむs by sheer 軍隊 of will from the hateful, inanimate 石／投石する.

The singing 突然の 中止するd. The curious 詠唱する did not reach a 最高潮 of any 肉親，親類d before 停止（させる）ing, nor did it 落ちる away softly; instead, the 発言する／表明するs rose in 十分な 容積／容量 at one breath, and at the next were 絶対 stilled. Silence, eerie and startling in its suddenness, burst over the 抱擁する 寺 like a thunderclap.

Helene's 注目する，もくろむs followed those of the torchbearers to the door. A dark-haired, fullbreasted woman, a woman of incredible, 燃やすing beauty, stepped 今後 into the 中心 of the light. Her cape was flung 支援する over her 明らかにする shoulders, 明らかにする／漏らすing the exquisite curves of her 会社／堅い, lithe 団体／死体. All attention 焦点（を合わせる）d on this magnetically beautiful woman as she moved with liquid, feline grace toward the altar.

Rannee, who had stood 静かに all the while, now 屈服するd 深く，強烈に, 説, "あられ／賞賛する, O All-Powerful. Dian, High Priestess of the Mighty Zaa. As the 古代の 令状s 定める／命ずる, we bring before you the chosen one, whom Zaa will take into himself at the Festival of the Seventh Moon."

The High Priestess looked 直接／まっすぐに at Helene during this formal speech. Then as Rannee finished speaking, Dian raised her 権利 arm high, and 解除するd her 注目する，もくろむs toward the shadowy gloom which enfolded the high 天井 of the 寺. Her lips moved soundlessly in this 古代の 儀式 of 受託するing Zaa's bride-to-be into the 保護 of the 寺.

Helene 熟考する／考慮するd in this interval the haughty, 野蛮な 人物／姿／数字 of the High Priestess. Dian stood during the ritual with 長，率いる thrown 支援する, dark 注目する，もくろむs half-の近くにd, her 団体／死体 taut with emotion. Her raised arm, both 命令（する）ing and beseeching, was encircled at the wrist with a bracelet wrought in the likeness of a coiled serpent. Dian's 会社／堅い, 十分な breasts were cupped by loose, 明らかにする／漏らすing gold coils, cleverly encrusted with green gems. The 簡潔な／要約する, jeweled girdle she wore was made up of the same green 石／投石するs worked into the gold.

It was the woman's 直面する, however, that most attracted Helene's attention. It was a cruel, exotic 直面する. The white, smooth 肌 was doubly-fair 始める，決める as it was against the cloud of raven hair. The forehead was high, and the lips 十分な, scarlet, and 感覚的な. Dian's 会社／堅い chin and strong cheekbones 明確に were those of one born to 命令（する）. But the 注目する，もくろむs of the High Priestess were her most 支配的な feature, for they were large, dark, 燃やすing pools, so 黒人／ボイコット as to be almost luminous, so 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d with inner 解雇する／砲火／射撃 they were electric in their intensity.

Dian 結論するd at length the 初期の part of the ritual and roused from the 近づく hypnotic （一定の）期間, in which she had communed with Zaa. She 演説（する）／住所d Rannee and the handmaidens, 説 throatily, "Zaa will be pleased with his people for bringing him this fair one. You have 扱うd your 信用 井戸／弁護士席, and I 企て，努力，提案 you welcome now into the sacred inner portals of the 寺."

The handmaidens who had cared for Helene the past three days 屈服するd 深く，強烈に, and the weird 詠唱する of the torchbearers was 再開するd. The High Priestess 前進するd around the 石／投石する altar to within arm's reach of Helene. Behind her （機の）カム a young girl 耐えるing in 延長するd 手渡すs an ornate ivory box. Dian spoke again in a soft undertone, and because of her nearness, Helene could hear many of the words, but they were in a strange tongue, some forgotten language reserved now by these people only for their formal 儀式s. When the speech was ended, Dian turned and opened the small box held by the girl, and 解除するd out a slender, gold headband, 始める，決める with rubies.

The High Priestess placed this slender 禁止（する）d on Helene's 長，率いる, stepped 支援する one pace, made a mystic symbol with her 手渡す, and after one last ちらりと見ること at the ジャングル girl with those 激しい, glowing 注目する，もくろむs, said, "The 寺 now receives you, O 約束d of Zaa!" Rannee placed a 手渡す on Helene's arm at these words and 勧めるd her 今後 after the 退却／保養地ing 人物／姿／数字 of the High Priestess. The 詠唱するing handmaidens fell in behind Helene, とじ込み／提出するing after her toward the archway beyond the altar.

Helene had the look of a sleepwalker as she went through the door. The incredible events which had piled up in her life, one on another, in such a short （期間が）わたる of time had dazed and shaken her. The world was suddenly too grotesque to seem real. Her pale 直面する 反映するd a soul weariness as she 前進するd half-bravely, half-unbelieving, into the musty, 暗い／優うつな inner sanctum of the 寺.

V. - The Mysterious 軍人

Ki-Gor balanced the 黒人／ボイコット arrow of the Serpent God in his 権利 手渡す. He 星／主役にするd long and thoughtfully at this ominous ミサイル which had spread 恐れる and びっくり仰天 の中で the natives. His 注目する，もくろむs traced and retraced the writhing serpent carved about the arrow's polished, 黒人／ボイコット 軸. The ジャングル Lord turned a thoughtful gaze on Wabumaa, the 長，指導者. The laughter and happiness were gone out of the fat, good-natured native, for the わずかな／ほっそりした arrow had wrought a fearful change in Wabumaa. The man's color was a sickly yellow, and his plump jowls trembled as he nervously sought to moisten 乾燥した，日照りの lips with his tongue.

"You mean your two strongest 軍人s will be sent as a sacrifice to the Serpent God, 単に because someone shoots a 黒人／ボイコット arrow into your village," Ki-Gor asked in an incredulous 発言する／表明する, finding it difficult to comprehend the abject submission of the tribesmen to such tyranny.

"Aye, I dare not do さもなければ," the 長，指導者 said fearfully. "A tribe to the north of us tried once to 反乱 against this old, old custom, and the people of the Serpent God （機の）カム with spear and 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and wiped them out."

Never had Ki-Gor brooked 独断的な 活動／戦闘 or words from any man, so there was scornful 怒り／怒る in his 発言する／表明する as he snapped, "You have many strong, young men in your tribe! It is hard to understand 軍人s who won't 戦う／戦い for their 権利s."

The 乱すd 黒人／ボイコット man shook his 長，率いる helplessly. "We are a 平和的な people and fighting is not our calling. For many 世代s before us, our fathers followed the custom of sending the 要求するd two men." Wabumaa saw there was still no understanding in Ki-Gor's 厳しい 直面する, so pointing for 強調 to an unhappy group of his people standing nearby, he 宣言するd with finality, "Is it not better these two should be given up that the 残り／休憩（する） of us may live in peace? 抵抗 to the Serpent God would mean the 破壊 of all my people. Aye, all this was settled and 決定するd long ago by my fathers."

明確に the 長，指導者 had no thought of resisting the Serpent God's 召喚するs, so Ki-Gor asked how often the sacrifice was 要求するd.

"Always at this season," was the thickly muttered reply. "Always when the moon grows swollen and 激しい with the approach of the 広大な／多数の／重要な rains, this 召喚するs comes from the hated Serpent God."

Tembu George, who had shouldered his way up in time to hear part of the conversation, questioned, "Where do these snake people live, and what sort of 儀式s do they 持つ／拘留する?"

"I don't know," Wabumaa answered. "The two men must go out alone and 非武装の along a 追跡する to the north. It is タブー for us to go into that 地域. What happens to them I don't know, but 非，不，無 has ever returned."

Ki-Gor toyed with the arrow, while his mind 重さを計るd a desperate 計画（する）. He felt 確かな the serpent worshippers were the marauders he sought. It was typical of him to 捜し出す direct 活動／戦闘, heedless of 圧倒的な 半端物s and danger. A grievous wrong had been done him by these people, his mind darkened by a 臆病な／卑劣な blow, his wife stolen, and here he 設立する その上の 証拠 of long-standing 罪，犯罪s against these submissive natives.

The ジャングル Lord's 発言する／表明する was as 審議する／熟考する as though he 問い合わせd about the 天候 when he asked calmly, "You would not 反対する if some one took the place of one of the men you must send to the Serpent God?"

This soft-spoken 発言／述べる could have had no more 素晴らしい 影響 on the fat native if it had been a thunderclap of sound. Bewilderment and 不信 （人が）群がるd into Wabumaa's 直面する.

"No one has ever made an 申し込む／申し出 of that 肉親，親類d," he said, and then as the rising wails and laments of his tribesmen fell on his ears, he hurriedly 追加するd, "but it would make no difference to the Serpent people that I can see."

The big Masai Chieftain, Tembu George, turned and scrutinized the ジャングル Lord closely, the significance of the white man's 声明 slowly 夜明けd on him, and a gleam of 賞賛 （機の）カム into the 大規模な fighting man's 注目する，もくろむs.

"Then I will 取って代わる one of the 犠牲者s!" the ジャングル Lord 宣言するd.

The fat 長，指導者 felt the white man certainly was mad to make such an 申し込む／申し出, but it was with 悔いる in his 発言する／表明する that he pointed out the 提案 was impossible in Ki-Gor's 事例／患者. "I do not believe the snake people would 受託する you because your 肌 is fair. They would think it was a trick and would know you were not my 部族の一員. If you were a native, I do not think it would 事柄 to them."

This 反対 had not occurred to Ki-Gor. As he frowned, and cast about for a 解答, Tembu George broke in to agree with the 長，指導者.

"That's 権利. White men are 不十分な in this 地域 and I don't believe those snake worshippers would take kindly to your 外見."

The big 軍人 paused a moment, and ちらりと見ることing out of the corner of his 注目する，もくろむ at Ki-Gor, 前進するd another suggestion. "They would find nothing 怪しげな in my looks, so I will go."

"Yes, yes, that's true," the 長，指導者 was quick to 勧める, happy to think one of these foolhardy men would 任意に save the life of one of his tribesmen.

There was a faint smile on Ki-Gor's lips when he looked at Tembu George, an 表現 of 楽しみ at the 忠義 and courage of his friend.

"You may go if you like, my young lion, but you do not get rid of me やめる so easily," Ki-Gor chuckled meaningly. "Give me a few hours' time and the Serpent God himself will 断言する we are twin brothers."

For the first time in many days, Ki-Gor laughed heartily. He slapped Tembu George on the shoulder, turned on his heel and strode away, his にわか景気ing laughter startling the 嘆く／悼むing natives. Ki-Gor heard their laments change to shouts of happiness and 賞賛 behind him when their 長，指導者 発表するd the two strangers would 申し込む／申し出 themselves up as a sacrifice to the Serpent God.

After searching through the ジャングル several hours, Ki-Gor returned to the village. He carried a leaf-wrapped bundle 含む／封じ込めるing さまざまな herbs and 工場／植物s, which he すぐに placed in a large urn. The ジャングル Lord filled the urn with water and placed it の中で hot coals to boil. He squatted by the mixture, stirring and watching it carefully, until 実験（する）s 納得させるd him it was 適切に done.

He then 冷静な／正味のd the concoction and carried it into a hut with him. After a long while, a big 人物／姿／数字 ぼんやり現れるd in the doorway of the hut. It was Ki-Gor, but it was a 徹底的に changed Ki-Gor. Where a tall, superbly muscled white man had entered the thatched abode, a 黒人／ボイコット man （機の）カム out whose ebony 肌 glistened in the sun. The long, blond hair was 取って代わるd by a の近くに-cropped 黒人／ボイコット 長，率いる of hair, stiff and わずかに kinky.

The altered ジャングル Lord strode through the village 捜し出すing Tembu George. The gleaming, velvety 黒人／ボイコット of his 肌 accentuated Ki-Gor's tremendous muscular 開発. His freshly oiled 肌 shone in the light, 明らかにする／漏らすing in every 詳細（に述べる） the play of the steely muscles along his 大規模な でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる. Natives turned to gape at the strange 軍人 walking so confidently through their village, wondering at the 身元 of this awesome 黒人／ボイコット fighting man.

Lounging idly 近づく the central campfire, Tembu George noticed with 利益／興味 the approach of the big native buck. He watched with good humor the swagger of the native, smiling to himself at this affectation, but in no way resenting it, because as a chieftain of real fighting men, he 井戸／弁護士席 understood the overdose of pride and self-satisfaction experienced by many young 軍人s. He did not 認める Ki-Gor, and little knew that this swagger was part of a show 存在 put on for his 利益.

With (a)手の込んだ／(v)詳述する 無関心／冷淡 to Tembu George and the 星／主役にするing groups of natives, the ジャングル Lord stooped and 選ぶd up a charred piece of 支持を得ようと努めるd from the 辛勝する／優位 of the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. He walked casually to the 孤独な tree that stood nearby, the same tree in which the 黒人／ボイコット arrow had been embedded, and reached up to 示す three 黒人／ボイコット crosses on the trunk. Standing 支援する, he 調査するd the three charcoal crosses placed one beneath the other at intervals of a foot. In the same casual manner, Ki-Gor strode a few steps to where two 屈服するs with 部分的に／不公平に filled quivers had been left by returning hunters.

"Would you 危険 当惑 by matching your 技術 with the 屈服する against 地雷!" Ki-Gor barked suddenly at Tembu George in a loud, rough 発言する／表明する. This 陳列する，発揮する of arrogant self-信用／信任 by the strange 黒人／ボイコット man 誘発するd a momentary flash of 怒り／怒る in Tembu George. Considering the 示唆するd contest, however, the Masai chieftain, conscious of his own ability with the 屈服する, 回復するd his good humor, thinking it would be a good lesson to teach this upstart 巨大（な） some manners. He heaved his muscled 本体，大部分／ばら積みの up and walked toward the strange 軍人. Hardly looking at his friend, Ki-Gor pitched a 屈服する and three arrows to Tembu George.

Ki-Gor 抑制するd his laughter with difficulty, and half turning his 支援する to the Masai leader, he barked again in the assumed 厳しい 発言する／表明する. "Three arrows apiece, making one 発射 for each cross. You may shoot first."

It would be a 楽しみ to 粉々にする the 熟考する／考慮するd 無関心／冷淡 of the big native, Tembu George thought, so without a word, he fitted an arrow to the 屈服する and raised it easily, almost carelessly. The bowstring twanged and like a gleam of light the arrow sped to the 最高の，を越す cross 示す. There was a 割れ目 of sound and the arrow dug into the tree trunk. A cry of 是認 went up from the watching natives. The arrow was embedded not half an インチ from the exact 中心 of the cross.

Outwardly solemn, but やめる pleased with himself, Tembu George lowered the 屈服する. "Let the swaggering buck （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 that," he said to himself. But before he had an 適切な時期 to really enjoy his pride of marksmanship, he heard the big fellow say, "Would you like to try that 発射 over? It is so wide, perhaps your foot slipped."

"That 発射 stands! 支払う／賃金 more attention to the contest, and いっそう少なく to the wagging of your tongue," the Masai Chieftain growled, unable to 抑制する his 怒り／怒る this time.

"I have no 願望（する） to show you up, old man, if you are not at your best," 布告するd the delighted Ki-Gor, "so if you prefer, we can forget the contest."

"Stop your loud gabbing and get on with it!" roared the now infuriated Tembu George.

Having never yet deigned to look straight at his Masai comrade, the ジャングル Lord sighed audibly, shrugged his shoulders, and raised the 屈服する in one smooth 動議, let 飛行機で行く an arrow. The arrow struck the tree so hard the 衝撃 割れ目d like a ピストル 発射. A gasp went up from the onlookers. The barked 軸 was driven 深い into the exact 中心 of the cross.

The ジャングル Lord pursed his lips, and squatted native fashion on the ground, 明らかに 深く，強烈に 利益／興味d in his big toe. It was all he could do to 抑える the 強風 of laughter that 脅すd to burst from his throat.

The 激しい brows of the Masai leader touched in a 深い frown. It was （疑いを）晴らす this upstart was not to be taken lightly, so Tembu George dropped his casual 空気／公表する, and tensely 用意が出来ている for the second 発射. He would show him this time something about Masai marksmanship. Perhaps the fellow's first 発射 was 単に a lucky one anyway. The 大規模な Negro 目的（とする）d with 広大な／多数の／重要な care, and then with exacting 技術 解放（する）d the barb. Delighted cries went up. The arrow vibrated 正確に in the 中心 of the second cross 示す.

"井戸／弁護士席, that slight 勝利，勝つd helped 権利 your 目的（とする） this time," 宣言するd Ki-Gor, showing only casual 利益／興味 in the 正確 of the 発射. He took わずかに longer 目的（とする） himself this time and then sent his arrow flashing at the 示す. The superhuman 技術 of the ジャングル Lord was never better shown, for his arrow 分裂（する） the 軸 of Tembu George's barb cleanly, and sent the pieces 飛行機で行くing.

He turned a quick ちらりと見ること at the 直面する of the Masai Chieftain, and seeing the びっくり仰天 in the big man's 表現, he was unable to 支配（する）／統制する himself any longer. He shouted with delight, slapping his thighs and laughing until the 涙／ほころびs （機の）カム.

This 陳列する，発揮する of poor sportsmanship on the part of his 競争相手 brought Tembu George up short, his mouth open to 配達する a challenge. Then as he listened to the familiar トン of that 嵐／襲撃する of guffaws, he 星／主役にするd in bewilderment at his 黒人／ボイコット 敵, hardly knowing what to believe.

A sheepish grin suddenly appeared on Tembu George's 直面する as he comprehended the joke played on him. "Ki-Gor, I should shoot you with this last arrow. How on earth did you 装備する yourself up like that? You look more like a native than those fellows standing over there." The 大規模な Negro joined Ki-Gor in the laugh had at his expense.

Now Ki-Gor drew Tembu George aside, and explained his 計画（する） to enter the realm of the Serpent God. The two men would probably be 直面するing 確かな death, and they would have no means of 保護 for Wabumaa had 警告するd them they must go 前へ／外へ 完全に 非武装の, they were to travel straight along the 指定するd path to the east until met by 軍人s of the Serpent God. Ki-Gor 警告するd Tembu George not to resist no 事柄 what 誘発 was 申し込む／申し出d. The two men must 企て，努力，提案 their time for the one 孤独な chance when they might have an 適切な時期 to either 解放する／自由な Helene, or if it were too late for that, at least to avenge her.

The Masai 軍人s were called in and the 計画（する） explained to them. They were unhappy at the prospect of 存在 left behind, and argued long to be 許すd to go. When they finally understood this was impossible, they made a 反対する-提案 agreed to by Tembu George. The 猛烈な／残忍な fighting men exacted the 約束 from their leader that a （疑いを）晴らす 追跡する he left for them to follow. The idea of 侵害する／違反するing the タブー 地区 観察するd by the 地元の natives in no way 乱すd them. These 広大な／多数の／重要な 軍人s would fight the devil himself if need be to 援助（する） either the White Lord of the ジャングル or their chieftain.

It was agreed the Masai would follow after an interval of a day, and using their own discretion, would decide on some feasible 計画（する） to 援助（する） in 救助（する）ing Helene. The 負傷させるd 軍人 would be left in the village, and if by the time he 回復するd, the others had not returned, then he would go downriver and gather the 十分な 軍隊s of the Masai nation. This 厳しい people brooked no 侮辱 or 傷害, and as surely as night follows day, if it became necessary, long とじ込み／提出するs of grim Masai 軍人s would 捜し出す out the snake people and exact 十分な vengeance.

The fat, little 長，指導者 waddled up to 警告する Ki-Gor it was time to 出発／死. Without 儀式, the two uncommonly hale and hearty 犠牲者s rose and strode after the plump native. He led them into the ジャングル a distance and pointed out the 追跡する they were to follow.

He 圧力（をかける）d the 黒人／ボイコット arrow into Ki-Gor's 手渡すs. "It is necessary to take this dreaded thing with you," he muttered.

Wabumaa ちらりと見ることd あわてて at the two men with a mixture of 賞賛 and 悲しみ. He gulped in an 不成功の search for words, and his 注目する，もくろむs turned fearfully 負かす／撃墜する the shadowy 追跡する which lay ahead of these two madmen. A （軽い）地震 of fright ran over the fat 長，指導者 and he turned and ran 支援する toward the safety of his village.

VI. - A 戦う／戦い for Life

THE TWO MEN spoke little as they traveled the 狭くする choked 追跡する. Their minds were 占領するd with the dangers ahead, but にもかかわらず, those dangers, their 切望 to match wits and strength against 軍人s of the Serpent God made it necessary for them 繰り返して to slacken pace. It would be unwise to appear to 招待する the coming ordeal, so the two men played the 役割 of 脅すd and 非，不，無-too-anxious sacrifices.

The 追跡する bored an uneven way through the wild and overgrown ジャングル. 広大な／多数の／重要な trees interlaced their 支店s tightly 総計費, cutting off any sight of the sky. 新たな展開d vines, 範囲ing in breadth from the size of a man's waist to slender threads, 新たな展開d and clung, in an endless, choking 戦う／戦い for 生き残り. Ki-Gor に先行するd Tembu George along this dank, sunless 大勝する, when suddenly on 一連の会議、交渉／完成するing a sharp turn in the 追跡する, they 直面するd a group of ひどく 武装した 軍人s.

Ki-Gor 停止（させる）d, and 直面するd the 軍人s in silence. These men, he knew, were guards sent to 護衛する the cringing natives, whom he and Tembu George had 取って代わるd. With an 空気／公表する of 明らかな 辞職, the ジャングル Lord held out the 黒人／ボイコット arrow to the flat-nosed, ape-like, 黒人／ボイコット man in 命令（する） of the 軍人s. The native 前進するd with a 激しい, splay-footed gait, his hard 直面する sneering at these sheep who （機の）カム so meekly to be 虐殺（する）d, and 受託するd the proffered arrow.

He wasted no words on his 捕虜s, 単に calling out, "Come! Don't stand there like 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうd monkeys, the 追跡する ahead is long."

The group 始める，決める off すぐに, with Ki-Gor and Tembu George 挟むd in the 中心 of the とじ込み／提出する of 軍人s. It was a long 旅行, 要求するing the better part of four days, with most of the ground covered at a dogtrot. At no time were the 捕虜s bound or mistreated, but a careful watch always was kept on them.

It was a 疲れた／うんざりした, travel-worn party that struggled out of the smothering ジャングル in the late afternoon の上に the beach of a sparkling, blue lake. The 軍人s dragged a long canoe from its place of concealment in the undergrowth, and slipped it into the （疑いを）晴らす water.

The ジャングル Lord's 注目する，もくろむs 狭くするd coldly when he saw the canoe. The fanged serpent carved on the prow made him bristle instinctively. With one 幅の広い 手渡す he rubbed his cropped 長，率いる, struggling to break through the gate which 閉めだした his memory. にもかかわらず the careful, 詳細（に述べる）d 輪郭（を描く） given Ki-Gor by Tembu George, the past remained 調印（する）d in the inner 休会s of his mind. He strove 絶えず to break this 監禁，拘置 of his memory, 捜し出すing 特に to conjure up the 直面するs of those 責任がある his 現在の troubles.

The sight of the serpent figurehead moved him 深く，強烈に, bringing almost within reach the image of a man he felt was the one who tried to kill him. He remembered ばく然と a loud, arrogant 発言する／表明する associated with uneasy 転換ing 注目する，もくろむs, but he could not adequately visualize the man or the circumstances. Ki-Gor felt somehow he would 認める this 重要な 人物／姿／数字 if only he could come 直面する to 直面する with him.

A large island formed a shimmering splash of green far out on the lake. The ape-like 黒人／ボイコット leader hurried his 捕虜s into the canoe and 始める，決める course for the island. With the goal of his search in sight, Ki-Gor could not help thinking how tremendous a 賭事 this 投機・賭ける was, and he felt a twinge of 悔いる that Tembu George was 伴う／関わるd in the dangerous 請け負うing out of friendship for him. Tembu George, however, was certainly no 人物／姿／数字 to 招待する 関心 for he sat without an 明らかな worry in the world, stolidly gazing at the 速く approaching island much like a bored tourist on a boat ride.

The canoe reached the island with a final burst of 速度(を上げる） and darted into the small harbor. Over a 得点する／非難する／２０ of natives were busy on the bank, and they gathered about the canoe when it beached, turning curious 注目する，もくろむs on 抱擁する Ki-Gor and Tembu George.

"These two look better than the usual run of cattle you bring 支援する from Wabumaa," an onlooker said in a 事柄-of-fact 発言する／表明する to the guard leader.

The ugly 軍人 replied with disgust, "These two are 単に larger than the usual 産する／生じる from that tribe of jackals. These fellows are as meek and 穏やかな as all the 残り／休憩（する）, and I 疑問 their 業績／成果 will 追加する anything to the Festival of the Seventh Moon."

Tembu George 辛うじて watched Ki-Gor, half 推定する／予想するing the ジャングル Lord to throw off his 空気／公表する of 辞職 and make a sudden break for freedom, now that they had entered the realm of the Serpent God. Ki-Gor realized, however, any move on his part would be valueless until he knew 正確に／まさに how to search out the 捕虜 ジャングル girl, so he let himself be herded along the same cobbled road over which Helene had passed. He experienced Helene's surprise when he passed from the outer village of thatched huts into the strange, 砂漠d, inner city, but to his captors he evinced no flicker of 利益／興味.

The とじ込み／提出する of natives threaded its way through the silent streets to a 孤独な, 石／投石する building, different from the 残り／休憩（する） only because it was more formidably 建設するd. The ジャングル Lord and Tembu George were taken 負かす／撃墜する a long flight of stairs, and through groaning, age-blackened 木材／素質 doors. The doors opened on a low-天井d passageway which sloped 負かす／撃墜する はっきりと to a second 木材／素質 障壁. Two stolid 軍人s stood guard before the 激しい door, and on the approach of the 捕虜s, they silently 解除するd the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 and the 囚人s were impatiently 押し進めるd into a darkened room.

Ki-Gor was 即時に 警報 as the door の近くにd behind him. His 見通し adjusted itself with catlike swiftness to the semidarkness. He saw eight natives bunched together on the far 味方する of the rectangular room. He 認めるd すぐに in their listlessness the 空気／公表する of men who live without hope. These, then, were more unfortunates sacrificed by their tribes to appease the Serpent God.

The strong, muscular natives were 罰金 looking 見本／標本s, やめる evidently the 選ぶd men of their individual tribes. A 殺到する of 怒り／怒る went through the ジャングル Lord at the thought of numberless men like these cruelly and supinely sacrificed by their tribes as 尊敬の印 to the Serpent God.

Ki-Gor and Tembu George moved 今後 and joined the natives, 存在 quickly and easily 受託するd by this group brought together in a ありふれた misfortune. The eight men, Ki-Gor learned, had arrived in pairs that same day. 明らかに the 黒人／ボイコット arrows were 配達するd on a carefully planned schedule, so the 犠牲者s would arrive at だいたい the same time. The conversation of the moody natives soon died away, and rose again only at the scuffling of feet outside the door, 先触れ（する）ing the approach of その上の 犠牲者s.

When the door clicked open, two more 人物／姿／数字s were 押し進めるd into the damp room. Ki-Gor looked at the two newcomers who stood at the door, muttering nervously while they strove to adjust their 注目する，もくろむs to the 不明瞭. One native was 普通の／平均（する） size, 井戸／弁護士席 built, but in no regard unusual, but the other man was of tremendous 本体，大部分／ばら積みの. This 巨大（な） Negro was one of the most 大規模な 黒人／ボイコット men Ki-Gor had ever seen. He was almost neckless, with smooth shaven 弾丸 長，率いる 始める，決める の近くに on 広大な／多数の／重要な sloping shoulders. His 武器, as 厚い, hairy and muscled as a gorilla's, were abnormally long. The man's trunk, grotesquely big, was supported by 対応して large and muscular 脚s.

A 迎える／歓迎するing was called out to the newcomers, and 安心させるd that the nameless horror of the Serpent God was not yet to 迎える／歓迎する them, the two 軍人s 前進するd. The smaller man was 明白に happy to find the company of his 肉親，親類d, but to, all 外見s, his hulking companion did not 株 the same 感情s. Ki-Gor sized the 巨大（な） up 正確に now when he could 見解（をとる） him at の近くに ４半期/4分の1s. Although the fellow was a 巨大（な） insofar as muscular 開発, his brain had in no way kept pace with the growth of his 団体／死体.

Except for a low, animal cunning, the man gave no 証拠 of 知能. Even in the 直面する of death, the big native was a boastful いじめ（る）, mean tempered, his evil little 注目する，もくろむs looking for trouble. His loud bellows and brutish arrogance grew more insufferable as the minutes passed, and the 穏やかな dislike Ki-Gor first felt for the native grew by leaps and bounds.

Ki-Gor in no way was 脅迫してさせるd by the 黒人／ボイコット man's size, for 恐れる had no part in the ジャングル Lord's 存在. Except for a 不本意 to create a 騒動 which would bring the guards 負かす／撃墜する upon all the natives, he would have すぐに crossed the 軍人. He held himself in check, however, until one final 行為／法令／行動する of the overbearing いじめ（る） was too much to swallow.

The occasion was the bringing of food to the 囚人s. Guards opened the door and placed inside a large 大型船, which 含む／封じ込めるd food for the entire group. A 囚人, out of 儀礼 to his fellows, stepped 今後 and 選ぶd up the 大型船, ーするつもりであるing to place it in the 中心 of the group for all to 株. As the man bent to place the コンテナ on the 床に打ち倒す, a brawny, hairy arm scuffed him aside and the hulking 巨大（な） took 所有／入手 of the food.

"I will eat first," he 宣言するd belligerently, "and when I am finished, you jackals can paw over the remains!"

An angry chorus burst from the natives at this 甚だしい／１２ダース 陳列する，発揮する of arrogance and greed. The 巨大（な） 黒人／ボイコット pulled the food closer, and growled contemptuously at the natives.

"If any of you have different ideas, let him come 今後 and we shall soon decide whose word is 法律 here," rumbled the いじめ（る）, swelling his 広大な chest, parading his hugeness before the others.

The natives realized crossing the man would 急落（する），激減（する） them into 非武装の 戦闘, and a 手渡す-to-手渡す struggle with the gorilla-like creature, 明白に, was an 招待 to death. The cries of 抗議する 中止するd, bringing an ugly smile to the 巨大（な）'s 厚い, animal lips. With かなりの show, he 用意が出来ている to reach one 手渡す into the 大型船, already pleased at the prospect of gorging himself before the hungry 注目する，もくろむs of the others.

The pawlike 手渡す moved 負かす／撃墜する to select a piece of meat, but was 停止（させる）d in 空中 by Ki-Gor's 冷淡な, steel-hard 発言する／表明する. "I would not touch that food, if I were you!"

"Eh," grunted the 黒人／ボイコット man, his evil, little, red-flecked 注目する，もくろむs peering up in surprise at this 暗示するd 対立.

"We will all 株 alike here, and その上に, I have heard enough of your blustering." The ジャングル Lord's 安定した 発言する／表明する 攻撃するd out again. "Either you will stop 事実上の／代理 like an animal, or I will see that you are given the 治療 予定 one."

When the meaning of this 声明 trickled into the slow mind of the brutish native, he swept the food 大型船 aside with a 非難する of his 手渡す. 激怒（する） and contempt boiled up in his 直面する to hideously 新たな展開 his flat, oily features. He drew his lips 支援する in a sneer, 明らかにする／漏らすing uneven, yellow tusks, and a driblet of saliva slipped 負かす／撃墜する the corners of his mouth. The elephantine native drew to his 十分な 高さ, swaying slowly as 怒り／怒る pulsed through him.

The 人物／姿／数字 of the 黒人／ボイコット man, grotesque and 残忍な in the shadowy light, 完全に dwarfed Ki-Gor. The watching natives gave the 静める, 静かな ジャングル Lord little chance before the 巨大（な） and they were spellbound at his 審議する／熟考する 姿勢. Tembu George alone の中で them realized Ki-Gor's deceptive 静める masked a dreadful fury, 火山の and terrible once 抑えるのをやめるd. The natives fell 支援する, leaving the two antagonists to 直面する each other. Still Ki-Gor stood there, every muscle in delicate balance, his 安定した 注目する，もくろむs never leaving the big man's 直面する.

"You dare challenge me, Brogar! You dare 侮辱 Brogar!" the 巨大（な） bellowed. "You sniveling dango, you die for this!" he 叫び声をあげるd, throwing his 広大な 本体，大部分／ばら積みの 今後 in a headlong 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金.

The ジャングル Lord, 警報 for this move, flicked aside from the ponderous 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金, and with the 爆破ing 力／強力にする of a pile driver, struck the native's 寺 with the open palm of his 権利 手渡す. The blow from that 激しく揺する-hard 手渡す, which would have felled most men, only jarred Brogar. The enraged 黒人／ボイコット man 粉砕するd at Ki-Gor again, moving with an agility startling in a person of such 山地の 割合s. He kept 急ぐing Ki-Gor, 努力する／競うing to catch the smaller man in his flailing 武器, but the ジャングル Lord 首尾よく 避けるd him. Ki-Gor was 軍隊d to 退却／保養地, but he dealt terrible, punishing blows for every step he gave ground.

Brogar was accustomed to 鎮圧するing his smaller 対抗者s without undue trouble, and this experience of 存在 mauled by the evasive ジャングル Lord sent him insane with 血 lust. The 巨大（な） 軍人 was terrible to behold as he （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 his chest savagely, a stream of guttural, animal sounds 注ぐd from his frothing lips.

Flailing, clawing, 急ぐing, he drove Ki-Gor 支援する 刻々と into a corner of the room. The one thought in his mind was to box the nimble ジャングル Lord up where he could get his 手渡すs on him, then he would show him what the hate of Brogar meant.

Ki-Gor realized he was 存在 軍隊d into an unfavorable position, and he put 前へ／外へ every trick he knew to turn and コースを変える the 激怒（する）ing 巨大（な）. The white man knew he could not 対処する with the 広大な 本体，大部分／ばら積みの of the 軍人, once the 適切な時期 to 作戦行動 was gone. Brogar would not be コースを変えるd, though, and Ki-Gor was 押し進めるd 支援する, 必然的に 支援する, until his 支援する suddenly struck the 冷淡な 石／投石する of the 塀で囲む.

This was the 適切な時期 Brogar を待つd. He spread his 広大な／多数の／重要な 武器 wide, and bore 今後 to の近くに with this puny mortal, who dared …に反対する him. Ki-Gor 攻撃するd three 激しく揺するing blows at Brogar's exposed 直面する, putting his 十分な desperate strength in a last 溝へはまらせる／不時着する 成果／努力 to 勃発する of the 罠（にかける）. The 巨大（な） wavered, 停止（させる）d, and then （機の）カム on again, his tremendous paws 粉砕するing on Ki-Gor's 長，率いる like sledge 大打撃を与えるs. The ジャングル Lord was torn from his feet by the shock and thrown to the 床に打ち倒す. Brogar, 叫び声をあげるing fiendishly, kicked Ki-Gor as he fell, sending him rolling.

When he went 負かす／撃墜する and felt the cruel kicks, a 黒人／ボイコット blinding 激怒（する） 注ぐd over Ki-Gor. He changed in an instant from a 静める, self-所有するd man, fighting a 審議する／熟考する 戦う／戦い, into a 激怒（する）ing ジャングル 殺し屋. The uncontrollable fury that swept over Ki-Gor 二塁打d and ３倍になるd his 普通は 巨大な strength.

The amnesia 以前 原因（となる）d by Basru's 長，率いる blow, when Helene was 誘拐するd, had swept away much of his veneer of civilization; and now, 激怒（する） and 苦痛 削減（する） away every last 痕跡 of civilized man. Ki-Gor was suddenly a ジャングル beast with the 殺し屋-madness on him, and the 激怒（する）ing, 原始の, savagery he 展示（する）d made even the 血 of the watching natives run 冷淡な.

The 黒人／ボイコット 巨大（な） leaped at Ki-Gor, 緊張するing with his 厚い fingers to 逮捕（する） the ジャングル Lord's throat. But in vain did the 抱擁する 黒人／ボイコット 緊張する to 持つ／拘留する Ki-Gor to the 床に打ち倒す and throttle him. The flood of 力／強力にする 発揮するd by the steel-hard muscles of the ジャングル Lord was a resistless, terrifying 軍隊, 無効にするing and 敗北・負かすing the awesome strength of the native.

A small twinge of 恐れる crept into the いじめ（る）'s heart as he 設立する he could not 支配（する）／統制する the writhing, demoniac Ki-Gor. The ジャングル Lord 軍隊d the 黒人／ボイコット 軍人's choking handhold to 緩和する, slip and break. With a 最高の 成果／努力, Ki-Gor drew his 脚s up under the smothering 負わせる of the native, and catapulted them 今後, 急落（する），激減（する）ing the big man off of him. Ki-Gor 伸び（る）d his feet in this interval like a leaping tongue of 炎上, and swept at the 巨大（な）, utterly heedless of the punishing blow's dealt by the hulking 軍人.

The leonine Ki-Gor dove straight into his 敵, 涙／ほころびing and 削除するing with incredible 速度(を上げる） and 力／強力にする. His 直面する terrible with 怒り／怒る and a low, 冷気／寒がらせるing snarl of hate sounded 深い in his throat. The White Lord's lips were sheared 支援する in an animal snarl, and his 注目する，もくろむs spat 炎上.

The ジャングル Lord was no longer a man 戦う／戦いing only. He was a ruthless beast of prey 意図 on 破壊, an irresistible fighting machine geared to 涙／ほころび and rend and kill. Essentially, this was the 役割 nature had fitted him for, because from the earliest 青年 his life and safety depended 完全に on his 直感的に 戦う／戦い 勧める, on an ability to 行為／法令／行動する quicker and with greater deadliness than the countless savage 敵s who 追跡（する）d him.

The bewildered 黒人／ボイコット 軍人 gave ground before Ki-Gor's 猛烈な／残忍な, unrelenting attack. The 巨大（な） knew 恐れる for the first time in his life. Never before had the tremendously powerful native had 推論する／理由 to 恐れる 敗北・負かす in any struggle. But a 恐れる crept over him now not 単に of 存在 humbled by an adversary, but an actual 恐れる of 存在 killed. The 軍人 fought ever more wildly, his guard 崩壊するing before the 粉々にするing blows dealt by Ki-Gor as the two men grappled and 緊張するd, 捜し出すing always an 開始 which would bring 決定的な victory.

The natives, whose 原因（となる） Ki-Gor 支持する／優勝者d, watched with excited delight as they saw the 黒人／ボイコット 巨大（な） waver and 落ちる 支援する before Ki-Gor. This sight of the ジャングル Lord （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing 負かす／撃墜する the 抱擁する 軍人 was a 全く 予期しない turn of events. 非，不，無 of the 囚人s, except Tembu George, had given the smaller man a chance, and for a time in the beginning, even the Masai chieftain looked with 疑問 on the 結果. The spectacle jerked the 囚人s out of their silence as they loudly cried 激励 to Ki-Gor.

But Ki-Gor heard them not. He fought in a red 煙霧 which 除外するd all except the 人物／姿／数字 of his 敵. He failed to hear also, the sudden clamor outside in the passageway, where the guards, 誘発するd by the rising din made by the 囚人s, called for more men to put 負かす／撃墜する the trouble.

The 増強するd guards burst through the door and swept into the room to 停止（させる） the disorder just as Ki-Gor landed a 素晴らしい blow. He struck with the hard outer 山の尾根 of his 手渡す, and the 巨大（な） 黒人／ボイコット man reeled 支援する. Before the brutish 人物／姿／数字 could 回復する, Ki-Gor moved in like a panther, and with an アイロンをかける 支配する swung the 抱擁する 黒人／ボイコット from his feet.

The 巨大な 負わせる would have torn loose the shoulder muscles of a lesser man, but the 大規模な ジャングル Lord easily 解除するd the 広大な／多数の／重要な 本体，大部分／ばら積みの 総計費 and then 粉砕するd it to the ground. The moment the いじめ（る） 攻撃する，衝突する the 床に打ち倒す, Ki-Gor dived to finish him. He gave no 注意する to the 人物／姿／数字s 群れているing at him. His attention was 焦点（を合わせる）d 排他的に on reaching the dazed 巨大（な） before the man could struggle to his feet.

A 得点する／非難する／２０ of 手渡すs clamped on Ki-Gor as he pounced at the native. Other guards しっかり掴むd the 抱擁する 黒人／ボイコット, who gave them no 抵抗. He was not eager to 再開する the 戦闘. The men who 試みる／企てるd to 支配（する）／統制する Ki-Gor though, had their 手渡すs 十分な, but their numbers were 十分な to 持つ／拘留する him. When his senses （疑いを）晴らすd, he reluctantly submitted and stood 静かに.

The ジャングル Lord looked about him, as his 激怒（する） 冷静な／正味のd, realizing only 徐々に what had taken place. He 調査するd the 乱打するd visage of the 巨大（な） with grim satisfaction, 公式文書，認めるing, however, the 冷淡な, baleful hate which shone in the native's 注目する，もくろむs. The 傷つける いじめ（る） would never 許す Ki-Gor, but this fact did not worry him. Ki-Gor was 乱すd that his 活動／戦闘 might bring 負かす／撃墜する 罰 on the 囚人s. He ちらりと見ることd 残念に to where they were lined up by the guards, and was 安心させるd. The men's 直面するs amply told him his humbling of the 巨大（な） more than repaid them for any trouble which might 続いて起こる.

A sharp 命令（する） rang out, and a sudden hush fell over the room. The guards stood stiffly 築く as a 命令（する）ing 人物／姿／数字 strode into the door. Ki-Gor's 注目する，もくろむs 広げるd in surprise at the newcomer. The man, 明白に a person of 階級 and importance, was white.

He was an 厳格な，質素な, middle-老年の fellow, with 厳しい, 冷淡な features. He was oddly garbed, wearing over his 明らかにする chest a long scarlet cape, embroidered with a 人物／姿／数字 of a fanged serpent. His loins were 列d with a metallic cloth, yellow as gold, and buckled at his waist was a short 幅の広い sword. Silver sandals encased his feet, and he wore a gleaming silver helmet on his 長，率いる.

The white 軍人 星／主役にするd around the room, then 動議d one of the guards to him to 報告（する）／憶測 on the 騒動. His dark 注目する，もくろむs searched Ki-Gor and the 巨大（な） 黒人／ボイコット, 公式文書，認めるing they were not 本気で 負傷させるd. He gazed at them impersonally, as at cattle, pursing his thin lips in displeasure at the entire event.

The 命令（する）ing white man turned with a sweep of his cape, after this 査察, and stalked to the door. 突然の, he 停止（させる）d, and half turning, 演説（する）／住所d the 囚人s in clipped, emotionless words.

"You will shed 血 enough tomorrow, you savages, without 流出／こぼすing each other's 血 in such foolish personal grudges as this!"

With that ominous pronouncement, the 冷淡な, 正確な white man strode from the room, leaving the cruel torment of his meaning to 拷問 the thoughts of the 囚人s.

VII. - The Ritual of 炎上

THE ETERNITY of suspense drew to an end for the 囚人s. It was the first day of the Festival of the Seventh Moon, and their 運命／宿命 would soon be known. Uneasily, they waited.

Then the scarlet-式服d white 軍人 （機の）カム with the guards, four 武装した natives for each 囚人, and they were 護衛するd 個々に from the 独房. The guards took them out of the 冷静な／正味の building into the 有望な sunlight. The 行列 of 犠牲者s 負傷させる through the silent streets, past the 広大な／多数の／重要な 寺, to a long open stretch of ground which lay behind it.

Excited （人が）群がるs of natives 集まりd on each 味方する held 支援する by とじ込み／提出するs of 軍人s standing shoulder to shoulder. The （疑いを）晴らすd （土地などの）細長い一片 was broken at 正規の／正選手 intervals by what appeared to be 障壁s and obstructions of さまざまな 肉親，親類d.

The 囚人s had no 適切な時期 to 明確に 見解（をとる） the field for they were hurried through the （人が）群がる and drawn up before a colorfully decorated stand 含む／封じ込めるing several tiers of seats. The stand was 位置を示すd about the 中心 of the field and a 激しい guard of helmeted 黒人／ボイコット 軍人s was 駅／配置するd about it. The tiers of seats were packed with elegantly garbed men and women, and the 注目する，もくろむs of the 囚人s 広げるd in surprise--every person in the stand was white skinned.

Ki-Gor looked at the scarlet and yellow 式服d people who 星／主役にするd disdainfully at the 犠牲者s from their vantage point. These people then were the 判決，裁定 class of this strange 要塞 city, a haughty, fairskinned handful who 支配するd hundreds of 黒人／ボイコットs on the island and made their baleful 影響（力） felt throughout the entire lake 地域.

He remembered the sprawling, overgrown outer city, jammed with 天然のまま, thatch huts and （人が）群がるd with natives, and the inner city with its 石／投石する houses, 砂漠d and 落ちるing into disuse. The two cities told the story. These whites were the fading 残余s of a once mighty people, a handful who 持続するd their 支配する through 宗教的な 支配 of the 広大な numbers of superstitious natives. His 利益／興味 in the Serpent God 深くするd. He realized this small island buried in the inner fastnesses of the ジャングル held one of the many weird, unbelievable secrets of Africa.

As these thoughts passed through his mind, the ジャングル Lord 熟考する／考慮するd the 直面するs of these strange, 野蛮な whites. A woman of striking beauty 占領するd a raised 王位 in the 前線 階級 of the stand. It was Dian, High Priestess of the Serpent God. 範囲d on each 味方する of her were the Handmaidens of Zaa, except at the place to the 即座の 権利 of Dian, where the pale, beautiful Helene sat.

Tembu George すぐに 認めるd Helene, but he was separated by a 広大な／多数の／重要な distance from Ki-Gor, and could not direct the ジャングル Lord's attention to her. For his part, Ki-Gor's searching 注目する，もくろむs had quickly 選び出す／独身d out the red-haired, blue--注目する，もくろむd girl and 公式文書，認めるd how different she was from the other animated, 利益／興味d 観客s. Although dressed like the others, she seemed filled with sadness, 孤立した from the scene around her.

But though Ki-Gor's 注目する，もくろむs paused long on Helene, he did not know her. Nor did he 認める the tall, hard native with the ever-転換ing 注目する，もくろむs who stood in 前線 of the stand. It was Basru. The hatchetfaced 軍人 was 得るing his first 栄誉（を受ける） for the 逮捕（する） of Helene by 存在 placed in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the personal guard of the High Priestess.

Helene's ちらりと見ること barely touched the 囚人s. She had no 利益／興味 in the 訴訟／進行s, and sat pale and aloof, her thoughts turned inward. It would have been a 奇蹟, in any 事例／患者 for her to 認める Ki-Gor even had she looked 直接／まっすぐに at him. He bore no resemblance to the beloved mate her memory touched on 絶えず, so altered was his 外見 by the 黒人／ボイコット, oiled 肌 and shortcropped hair. Helene would have known Tembu George 即時に had she 選ぶd out his 直面する from the 集まり of natives 範囲d before her.

The High Priestess rose to her feet and 星／主役にするd out over the multitude. She raised her 権利 arm high and the roar of many 発言する／表明するs fell away. The hushed silence was 緊張した with 見込み; the （人が）群がる 緊張するd to hear the words of the High Priestess.

"I, Dian, High Priestess of Zaa, 宣言する this day the 開始 of the Festival of the Seventh Moon, and do 命令（する） my people to 支払う／賃金 homage to the mighty Serpent God as proscribed by the 古代の 儀式s."

The roar of the （人が）群がる swept up in a flood of sound as the haughty priestess made this 宣言, and then died away as the high pitched 発言する／表明する （機の）カム again.

This time Dian spoke in a strange tongue, the words 落ちるing and rising in 半端物 cadence, as she prayed to Zaa in the dead language of her forefathers. The moment the 祈り was 完全にするd the bedlam of noise broke from the throats of the hundreds of natives, continuing until a signal from the priestess. Dian looked now at the 囚人s and 演説（する）／住所d them.

"支配するs of the Outer Realm, you twelve are sent here by your 各々の peoples to do 栄誉（を受ける） to the almighty Zaa.

"As unbelievers, only one の中で you is given the priceless 適切な時期 through the Festival of the Seventh Moon to be received into the service of our mighty god.

"But this fortunate one--the only one of you who will live--must be the strongest, the fittest, and the greatest 軍人. The 血 of the others will atone for the sins of their people."

Dian paused as though to let her words 沈む into the minds of the 囚人s. The unfortunate men, 緊張した and trembling, looked uneasily at one another, wondering which would be the 孤独な 生存者 of the festival. Anxiously, they 緊張するd to hear what the method of 決定／判定勝ち（する） would be.

"The two who are most 好意d by Zaa will be 決定するd through the Ritual of 炎上," continued the High Priestess. "All twelve of you will compete. Between 小道／航路s of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 you will race the length of this field, passing through five 障害s which will 実験（する） your courage, strength and 技術."

As Dian 停止（させる）d 劇的な, the milling （人が）群がる broke out in a bloodthirsty roar. This was the spectacle they 手配中の，お尋ね者. They 圧力（をかける）d to see how the 囚人s 反応するd to the pronouncement of the High Priestess.

"One of the first two to cross the finish line will be the man whose life is spared," cried Dian. "Those who lag behind the two 勝利者s must die on the altar."

The 囚人s were stunned by this 厳しい-cruel contest 法令d for them. They wondered fearfully what the 障害s would be. And in the mind of each, the 願望（する） to live 炎上d up, and each 解決するd he must be one of those first two. They felt an 直感的に, even though unwanted, 恐れる and 疑惑 of each other, for every man was henceforth 始める，決める against every other.

Ki-Gor and Tembu George alone remained undisturbed. These two ironnerved men willingly entered the realm of the Serpent God, and they were 用意が出来ている to 直面する any resulting dangers unflinchingly. It was obvious this packed field, with its countless 軍人s, 申し込む／申し出d no chance for escape, so the only 代案／選択肢 was to go on with the contest and hope for a その上の 適切な時期 to 救助（する） Helene.

The contestants were 護衛するd 負かす／撃墜する to the end of the field and lined up. Ki-Gor saw now the dangers they were to 直面する. Two 狭くする 溝へはまらせる／不時着するs ten feet apart were dug the length of the field and were filled with a 厚い, 黒人／ボイコット residue. The ジャングル Lord's nostrils quickly identified the 黒人／ボイコット 実体 as 存在 principally oil. This oil would 供給する the 炎上ing 障壁s to keep the men on the 障害 course.

The first 障害 was a stretch of earth 始める，決める with knives, buried hilt 負かす／撃墜する, so the irregularly placed blades angled up to 削除する the 脚s of any 走者 who misjudged a step. Beyond this knife-sown area were three 障害物s formed from spears. The 障害物s were successively higher, and each 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of spears was pointed to impale any man who failed to （疑いを）晴らす the jump.

Next lay an 障害 more dangerous than the first two. Five pairs of 木造の 地位，任命するs were sunk in the ground, and chained to every 地位，任命する was a ヒョウ. The chains on each pair of ヒョウs permitted the animals almost to touch paws, when they 緊張するd 今後, growling and fighting. Only a 狭くする, uncharted 追跡する 正確に between the pairs of ヒョウs could be followed by the contestants with any hope of passing through 安全に.

A 深い 炭坑，オーケストラ席 lay beyond the ヒョウs, and it was impossible for Ki-Gor to see what danger を待つd there. The final 障害 appeared to be a small 溝へはまらせる／不時着する across the course, and he deduced it was filled with the same oily 実体 as the 回廊（地帯） 小道／航路s. It was likely a high 炎上 障壁 would be the final 障害; and placed as it was at the end of the course, the 炎上s would be hard for the tired and breathless natives to surmount.

The cruel mind that conceived this Ritual of 炎上 made 確かな the two 勝利者s were men not only of 広大な／多数の／重要な physical prowess, but also men smiled on by luck and good fortune. Ki-Gor realized part of the twelve would never 完全にする the course. He ちらりと見ることd 負かす／撃墜する the 小道／航路 of 囚人s to place Tembu George, and he 公式文書，認めるd the hate-filled 注目する，もくろむs of the 巨大（な） Brogar in turn were searching him out. He understood the extent of the brutish 軍人's hate, and 解決するd during the race to be watchful of the native.

The white 軍人 in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the 囚人s shouted a 命令（する） and all along the field, guards with 燃やすing たいまつs ran 今後 to light the channels of 炎上 which lined the course. The twin sheets of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 burst up, wavering yellow in the still 空気／公表する. The chained ヒョウs 叫び声をあげるd in an agony of 恐れる at the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, and a 広大な／多数の／重要な roar went up from the watching （人が）群がる, lending a その上の 野蛮な 公式文書，認める to the terrible scene.

Shouting above the noise, the white 軍人 told the 囚人s the contest would begin the moment he lowered his sword. The twelve men, their dark 肌s pale with 恐れる and 強調する／ストレス, glued their 注目する，もくろむs to the raised sword. Ki-Gor watched, too, his muscles 緊張した, for he was anxious to get through the knife-strewn area before the 十分な 集まり of men reached it. Twelve men fighting to outrun each other through that dangerous stretch meant several would be jostled into missteps and a 落ちる would be 致命的な.

The short, 幅の広い sword glistened in the sun as the white 軍人 held it 安定した, and then with a shout, 削除するd it 負かす／撃墜する, starting the contest.

The twelve men burst 今後 in a frenzied sprint. Twelve superb physical 見本／標本s 緊張するd every 神経 and 繊維 to take the lead. Ki-Gor threw every ounce of strength into a powerful 運動ing spurt, 伸び（る）ing 速度(を上げる） like a startled hare. He 辛勝する／優位d slowly ahead, 主要な all except one 人物／姿／数字, which hung with him. He saw from the corner of his 注目する，もくろむ this companion who kept pace with him was Brogar.

The agility of the 抱擁する 黒人／ボイコット man was astounding. His size made him a slow starter, but his tremendous strength 押し進めるd him 今後 at surprising 速度(を上げる） once under way. The sharp blades glittered の近くに at 手渡す now, and Ki-Gor had no 願望（する） to enter the 障害 running shoulder to shoulder with Brogar.

障壁s of 炎上 後部d up to swallow the racing men. The tightly grouped natives 殺到するd の近くに behind Ki-Gor, and the sound of their 続けざまに猛撃するing feet 勧めるd him to greater 成果／努力. Entering the 炎上ing 塀で囲むs, the men swept 負かす／撃墜する the 中心 of the course, 努力する／競うing to 避ける the 拷問ing heat and smoke. The first 障害 rose before them, the leaping 炎上s gleaming on the waiting forest of blades.

This was the moment Ki-Gor を待つd. All the 広大な／多数の／重要な strength in his magnificent 団体／死体 爆発するd into his 運動ing 脚s as he spurted ahead of the others. He veered to the 燃やすing 塀で囲む on the 権利, running so の近くに the 炎上 pricked his 肌 with its darting red tongues. Through this stratagem, Ki-Gor placed himself out of reach of the cunning Brogar, escaping at the same time the danger of 存在 trampled by the pack should he つまずく or misstep.

The main 団体／死体 of natives gave him no notice as they held to the middle aisle. Heat seared over Ki-Gor and he fought an 圧倒的な 勧める to escape the 拷問ing 解雇する／砲火／射撃. His アイロンをかける will kept him from wavering and the 苦痛 was forgotten, momentarily, as all his attention and 集中 was 要求するd to 避ける the wicked, blades that 削除するd up from the earth.

Ki-Gor had guessed the knives would be placed いっそう少なく thickly along the outer 辛勝する／優位 of the course than in the 中心. He was 訂正する, but the field of gleaming blades was a tremendously formidable 障害 for a running man. The ジャングル Lord called 前へ／外へ his greatest dexterity, and 招待するing death at each step, he threw himself over the cruel stretch in a dizzy, breathtaking 賭事.

The 大規模な White Lord of the ジャングル leaped 解放する／自由な over the last 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of knives at the same instant an agonized burst of 叫び声をあげるs filled the 空気／公表する. He knew without looking a native had gone 負かす／撃墜する under the frenzied 急ぐ of the pack. Others, he knew, bore gaping 脚 負傷させるs after jostling and fighting over the 障害.

But the brutish 巨大（な） had 生き残るd, for he swept into the lead now as Ki-Gor lost time turning 支援する to the more endurable 部分 of the course. An excruciating 傷つける ゆらめくd over Ki-Gor's 乾燥した，日照りの, scorching 団体／死体 and it was impossible for him to stay so の近くに to the 炎上s. Two other natives besides Brogar passed him before he reached the 中心 aisle. （疑いを）晴らす of the knives, the ジャングル Lord settled quickly into a dead run, 緊張するing to pass the three natives ahead of him.

His terrific pace carried him past the nearest 緊張するing native. He tried his 最大の to の近くに the gap to the next man, but the 軍人 ran like a 脅すd deer, the dread thought of the Serpent God 勧めるing him to 最高の 高さs. And the monstrous 黒人／ボイコット 人物／姿／数字 of Brogar sped as though all the fiends of hell 追求するd him, 衝突，墜落ing over the earth with gargantuan strides.

The ジャングル Lord saw the second 障害 近づく, and discarded any idea of 回復するing the lead until it was passed. The 障害 was three 連続する 障害物s, each higher than the last. The 障害物s were formed of を締めるd 列／漕ぐ／騒動s of spears, their points honed to needle sharpness.

The 巨大（な） Brogar swept over the first bank of spears, 続けざまに猛撃するd three steps and （疑いを）晴らすd the second, and then with a 急ぐ threw his 本体，大部分／ばら積みの over the third 障害物. The 軍人 who tailed Brogar （疑いを）晴らすd the 初期の jump, つまずくd, tore himself 支援する to his feet, and awkwardly but 首尾よく leaped the second 障害物. Ki-Gor was の近くに on the native's 追跡する, and realizing this, the man 辞退するd to 許す himself time to 回復する balance. The 軍人 flung himself at the third and highest 障壁, and 完全に off-gait, he spun up in a 滞るing jump. The man 衝突，墜落d with a 叫び声をあげる on the spear points and hung there, the 血 drenching 負かす／撃墜する from his impaled 団体／死体.

Ki-Gor （疑いを）晴らすd the second jump just as the 軍人 struck the spears, and his insides writhed at the cruel, mad scene. But it was too late to 援助（する） the dying man, and Brogar drew ever その上の ahead, so the ジャングル Lord steeled himself and with a prodigious leap went over the final bank.

He ran now as he never ran before. The sight of the running 巨大（な） 行為／法令／行動するd as a whip-攻撃する, （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing new strength into his corded muscles. The hot, smoke-filled 空気／公表する sent a choke of 苦痛 over his chest at every laboring breath. Sweat drenched him, while the 拷問ing 炎上s 燃やすd him at the same time. But only one thought filled his mind: catch and pass Brogar.

And Ki-Gor's 広大な／多数の／重要な 団体／死体 答える／応じるd to his will. He 伸び（る）d 刻々と on the 抱擁する native. Ever faster he の近くにd the gap. Then in amazement, he saw Brogar 滞る and come to a 完全にする stop.

Suddenly, Ki-Gor understood. The big native 直面するd the third 障害 and was afraid. The 障害 was, in truth, a sight to strike 恐れる into the bravest of men. Ten ヒョウs, chained opposite each other in pairs, had been driven insane by the scorching 炎上s. The 後部ing, leaping beasts 削除するd and fought to break 解放する／自由な, and their clawing 団体／死体s formed living バリケードs across the course.

Even the ジャングル-wise Ki-Gor was struck by the extreme 危険，危なくする ahead. He did not pause in his stride, however, but swung past Brogar into the hellish area. He knew the maddened beasts would strike at any moving 反対する, but in their crazed 明言する／公表する, he realized, the ヒョウs would give no concentrated 成果／努力 to bringing him 負かす／撃墜する. If he could 避ける their fearful, but aimless, writhings, he could pass through 安全に.

The White Lord burst between the first pair of ヒョウs when one of the beasts was jerked 支援する by its chain after a 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金, leaving an open gap for passing through. He dove 直接／まっすぐに over the second pair, and the moment his feet struck the earth, he sprinted to the left, and hovering の近くに to the 塀で囲む of 炎上, circled behind the next 激怒（する）ing beast.

When he reached the fourth pair, one of the ヒョウs turned straight for him. The 血-冷気／寒がらせるing attack （機の）カム with 雷 swiftness. Ki-Gor saw the 激怒（する）ing jaws yawn toward him as the animal leaped, and he threw himself backward. He struck the ground violently and slid, his 長，率いる nearly reaching the 炎上s before he pulled it away. The ヒョウ seemed to 宙に浮く over him in the 空気／公表する for a moment, and then it 衝突，墜落d 支援する away from him, its neck almost broken. The chain around the beast's neck had checked it in 中央の-空気／公表する.

Ki-Gor sprang up and past the ヒョウ like a 解放（する）d arrow. Again he hugged the 障壁 of 解雇する／砲火／射撃, and though one of the ヒョウs in the final pair started for him, the 炎上s held the animal 支援する, and the ジャングル Lord sped through 安全に.

He turned at the 辛勝する／優位 of the 障害 and looked 支援する, curious about the 進歩 of the others. An unbelievable sight met his 注目する，もくろむs. All the natives still in the race （人が）群がるd up to the far 味方する of the 障害, hesitating at entering the 激怒（する）ing ヒョウ den. As Ki-Gor watched, Brogar 押すd two natives 今後 with a 広大な／多数の／重要な 押し進める which committed them to continuing, and then the 巨大（な） caught up another native in his 抱擁する paws like a club and sprang 今後.

It happened too quickly for anyone to know what Brogar was about. He sent the first two natives in ahead to distract the attention of the ヒョウs from him. But not 満足させるd with this 保護, the brutish monster swung the third native in his 武器 to use as a 保護物，者 if he were 本人自身で attacked.

The ジャングル Lord was both 怒り／怒るd and sickened by Brogar's 臆病な／卑劣な, 残忍な 活動／戦闘. Ki-Gor was helpless to 行為／法令／行動する now, but he 解決するd to 返す the 残虐な 軍人 in 十分な for this 業績／成果, and this time the いじめ（る） would not escape the 刑罰，罰則 as before.

Spurred by his 怒り／怒る, Ki-Gor threw himself 今後 to 完全にする the course. He 近づくd the fourth 障害, which was a 深い, square 炭坑，オーケストラ席 延長するing 完全に across the field, from one 小道／航路 of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 to the other. The White Lord's puzzlement at what new horror now 直面するd him grew as he raced toward the yawning 炭坑，オーケストラ席. When he reached it and looked 負かす／撃墜する, the shock of the scene was as 広大な／多数の／重要な as he 心配するd.

The 床に打ち倒す of the 炭坑，オーケストラ席 はうd with hundreds of snakes. The 冷淡な, squirming 団体／死体s were of every size, 形態／調整 and 肉親，親類d, 新たな展開ing and slithering over each other in constant, uneasy 動議. He saw at a ちらりと見ること the 穴掘り 含む／封じ込めるd both deadly and 害のない 種類. 新規加入 of the 害のない serpents, he thought grimly, was probably the High Priestess' conception of good sportsmanship toward the 囚人s.

No other 活動／戦闘 was open to him but to jump into the 炭坑，オーケストラ席. His feet landed squarely on two scaly 団体／死体s, 鎮圧するing them. Then began a fearful dance, as he 選ぶd his way through the weaving pattern of snakes, leaping over the 床に打ち倒す of the 炭坑，オーケストラ席, taking advantage of every （疑いを）晴らす space. Time and again he barely 避けるd the fangs of the 乱すd snakes. After an eternity, Ki-Gor reached the さらに先に 味方する of the 障害.

He 直面するd another problem now in getting out of the 炭坑，オーケストラ席. Certainly, he had no wish to go 支援する and 試みる／企てる to run over that writhing pattern of death ーするために 伸び（る） 勢い. A running leap was out of the question. The ジャングル Lord gathered himself, and suddenly 抑えるのをやめるing his strength, sprang up to catch the 最高の，を越す of the 炭坑，オーケストラ席 塀で囲む. He fumbled at the soft turf, the earth 崩壊するd in his 支配する and he fell 支援する. Twice more he tried, only to 落ちる. Worn by the exhausting ordeal, his strength was not at 十分な ebb, but he took a 広大な／多数の／重要な breath and bounded up the fourth time. One 手渡す caught. Up, up, he pulled himself, while the sweat 注ぐd from his 緊張するing 直面する. Without 警告 the bank 崩壊するd, and he fell ひどく. He lay still for a moment, and then when he started to rise, a 冷淡な, scaly 団体／死体 slipped over his 脚s. Ki-Gor fought 負かす／撃墜する a wave of revulsion and 慎重に raised his 長，率いる to look at the snake. 救済 flooded over him when he saw it was of a 害のない 種類.

This experience lent him 誤った strength, and with his next terrific 成果／努力, he managed a 会社／堅い 支配する on the high bank and pulled himself to safety. Although he could hear the other contestants arriving at the 障害 behind him, the ジャングル Lord did not 許す himself a backward ちらりと見ること.

He went straight for the final 障壁, a shimmering 塀で囲む of 炎上 rising to a 高さ of over eight feet. His breath （機の）カム in 深い, laboring gasps, and his pace had fallen to a loping run. He （機の）カム straight at the 中心 of the 燃やすing 障害物, 手段ing the distance with his 注目する，もくろむs. The ジャングル Lord's indomitable will whipped his tired 団体／死体 築く, dragged up one last 爆発性の burst of energy, and he 丸天井d. Ki-Gor arched up, slowed at the 最高の，を越す of the leap, and then with a tremendous 新たな展開 of his long 団体／死体, jerked over the searing 塀で囲む.

The shock of 上陸 brought him to his 手渡すs and 膝s, and Ki-Gor's taut アイロンをかける muscles trembled as he pulled his spent 団体／死体 up. He peered at the finish line through 注目する，もくろむs, red and stinging from the smoke and heat. A 得点する／非難する／２０ of guards were drawn up in wait for the 生存者s of the Ritual of 炎上. At the sight of these guards, Ki-Gor 強化するd, 辞退するing them the 楽しみ of seeing him stagger with exhaustion.

He trotted across the finish 示す, his tired 団体／死体 held proudly, no 調印する of the utter weariness he felt showing on his expressionless 直面する. Four guards formed about him すぐに and led him in 前線 of the milling throng of natives to the stand where the High Priestess waited.

Dian's hypnotic 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs, stirred with excitement of the cruel spectacle, flickered over the regal 団体／死体 of the ジャングル Lord. Her breath （機の）カム quickly through half parted red lips. She pulled herself up, and leaned 今後 and called to Ki-Gor.

"You have 証明するd your prowess, barbarian! You have won the Ritual of the 炎上!" she called in a 発言する／表明する husky with emotion. "There is yet one more 実験（する） you must 会合，会う. Tonight in the 寺 you must fight and kill the 軍人 who ran second."

VIII. - To the Death

KI-GOR was taken from the field to a small 石／投石する room in the 後部 of the 寺. He was not permitted to see the other contestants. His mind 拷問d itself with the question of who the man was he must kill.

If the man was Brogar, then he welcomed the 戦闘. But suppose he had to 直面する one of the natives toward whom he felt no 敵意. And Tembu George! What if he was pitted against his stalwart friend.

He dropped into an exhausted sleep with these anxious thoughts on his mind. Ki-Gor blinked his 注目する，もくろむs open hours later. The small 独房 lay darkened in the purple-黒人／ボイコット African night. The tiny slits high on the 塀で囲む which served as windows drew his gaze. Outside where the swollen moon rose silver over the blackness of the ジャングル was freedom.

There were steps at the door, and Ki-Gor stood up to 直面する the guards. He stepped silently into the long hall and followed the lead of two men 耐えるing たいまつs. He rubbed his left arm as he walked, massaging the stiffness from it. With a start, he suddenly realized the natural white of his 肌 showed through in a small place under the 圧力 of his fingers.

The 黒人／ボイコット mixture with which he had coated his 肌 in a 井戸／弁護士席-nigh perfect 偽装する was ready to peel away. The 保護するing sheet of oil he had spread over his 団体／死体 was gone, and the terrific heat of the 障害 course had baked the texture off his 団体／死体. He had not used a simple stain, because this 決まり文句／製法 showed him by a witchdoctor, 達成するd a more natural result and also could be taken off more easily.

The 事柄 was 押し進めるd from Ki-Gor's mind when he stepped into the 広大な／多数の／重要な 寺. Hundreds of たいまつs lit the 大規模な expanse of 石／投石する, and except for a wide place about the sacrificial 激しく揺する, every 利用できる space was jammed with 詠唱するing natives. The white skinned aristocrats 占領するd the 列／漕ぐ／騒動s of 石／投石する seats on each 味方する of the altar.

Dian, High Priestess of Zaa, stood before the yellow altar, her 武器 thrown up in a beseeching gesture as she called upon the Serpent God to 証言，証人／目撃する the faithfulness of his people and 注ぐ 前へ／外へ his bounty upon them.

Into this pagan scene （機の）カム the dejected 人物／姿／数字s of the contestants who had 生き残るd the Ritual of 炎上. Ki-Gor counted them as they passed into the 寺. There were only five, and two of them were half-dragged by the guards, so 不正に 削減（する） and 燃やすd were they. 正確に／まさに half the natives had died on the diabolical 障害s.

The fourth man to enter was Brogar and the fifth was Tembu George. Both men had come through the ordeal 無傷の. One of these two, the ジャングル Lord knew, was the 対抗者 he must 直面する.

At the 入り口 of the natives, Dian 結論するd her high-pitched 祈り, and pointing to the altar, cried to waiting guards, "Draw 支援する the sacred 石／投石するs about the altar!"

Burly 軍人s sprang 今後 and 麻薬中毒の chains into アイロンをかける （犯罪の）一味s 始める，決める in the 床に打ち倒す 石／投石するs around the yellow 激しく揺する-厚板. With tremendous 運ぶ／漁獲高s, the guards pulled the hinged 床に打ち倒す 支援する, section by section, 明らかにする／漏らすing a yawning 炭坑，オーケストラ席 which ran 完全に around the altar. The gaping six foot 無効の which separated the sacrificial 石／投石する from the 寺 床に打ち倒す was 橋（渡しをする）d at only one point, where a 狭くする path was left to reach the 激しく揺する.

A signal from Dian brought 絶対の 静かな, and she spoke again to the Serpent God, 説, "O Mighty Zaa, we call upon you to send your spirit into the serpent of the 炭坑，オーケストラ席 to receive our sacrifices. We 申し込む／申し出 up these men with the hope you will be pleased, and will come の中で us again and lead us to 新たにするd greatness."

Ki-Gor listened intently to this 祈り of a dying race. The previous ritual was 申し込む／申し出d for all the snake people, white and 黒人／ボイコット, but this particular 嘆願 was made 現実に on に代わって of only the fairskinned aristocrats. The High Priestess called on Zaa to return in earthly form and 再構築する the former 力／強力にする of her tribe.

"Your sword and helmet, your scarlet cape を待つ your return. Come unto us again as the 広大な／多数の／重要な White 軍人 who brought our forefathers into this country from beyond the endless waters."

突然の, Dian broke off the 祈り. She paused in silence a moment, then 命令（する）d a helmeted 軍人, "Make ready the two 軍人s. Zaa waits restlessly for the first sacrifice of the Festival."

The hatchet-直面するd Basru 急いでd to obey the High Priestess. He barked two orders. Ki-Gor's guards 押すd him 今後 before the sacrificial 石／投石する. From the other 味方する of the altar, guards brought his 対抗者. He 星／主役にするd 辛うじて at the man, and the 緊張 in him relaxed. His 敵 was the hulking Brogar.

Basru spoke 簡潔に to the two men, explaining what they were to do. They would fight on the flat 最高の，を越す of the altar until one man was killed and cast into the 炭坑，オーケストラ席. The 勝利者 would be 受託するd into the service of the Serpent God. Basru 手渡すd Brogar a knife and sent him over the 狭くする 橋（渡しをする） and up on the yellow 厚板. The guard turned then, and his 注目する，もくろむs 転換d nervously over the ジャングル Lord's 直面する as he held out a knife. The two 星／主役にするd at each other for a long second, before Ki-Gor, unbidden, swung on his heel and crossed to the altar. Frowning, Basru, looked after him, and then, his 直面する puzzled, he ちらりと見ることd to where Helene sat before walking away.

The bride-to-be of Zaa 占領するd a place of 栄誉（を受ける） beside Dian in the 前線 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of seats. Helene cringed at the ruthless 野蛮／未開 of the spectacle about to be 制定するd. The High Priestess felt the redhaired girl's reaction, and a cruel smile played over her 感覚的な lips.

"I would advise you to watch, my dear," she said tauntingly, "because the longer the two men fight, the longer you have to live."

にもかかわらず Helene's 辞職 to death, there was horror in her 発言する／表明する, as she gasped. "You mean I, too, will die tonight on the altar?"

Dian's 燃やすing 注目する，もくろむs savored the girl's 苦しむing. "Yes! すぐに after the other sacrifices are made. Zaa's bride is the last one he （人命などを）奪う，主張するs."

Helene looked involuntarily at the 武装した 黒人／ボイコット men on the yellow 激しく揺する. The smaller 軍人 crouched across from the 巨大（な）, his finely chiseled profile contrasted with the big man's 甚だしい／１２ダース features. Helene's 注目する，もくろむs 広げるd at that familiar 人物／姿／数字. Only Ki-Gor fought from that deadly, crouching 姿勢--and yet, this man was 黒人／ボイコット.

She 緊張するd 今後, her heart （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing wildly. All 疑問 was swept away. It was Ki-Gor, she knew. It was impossible because she saw him die, but somehow, some way, the man before her was Ki-Gor. A wild joy burst over her, fading as soon as it began, to be 取って代わるd by a gnawing 恐れる he would be killed by the hulking 巨大（な）.

The ジャングル Lord, for his part, was 吸収するd to the 除外 of all else with the crafty 軍人 who began now to stalk him. He saw there was no over-信用／信任 in Brogar this time to make him いっそう少なく 用心深い. The 巨大（な） knew 十分な 井戸／弁護士席 how dangerous the smaller man was.

Ki-Gor watched the 抱擁する Negro's fingers 強化する on the long knife as the fellow moved 今後, his 厚い, gorilla 武器 held wide. The man's red, pig 注目する，もくろむs glinted evilly, and his loose features were 始める，決める in a flaccid, hideous leer. Ki-Gor 裁判官d the 極端に wide reach of the native, 手段ing the disadvantage he must 打ち勝つ.

While the big fellow （機の）カム on, the ジャングル Lord slipped into his deadly crouch, balancing his muscled 負わせる for instant 活動／戦闘. His earlier 疲労，（軍の）雑役 was gone. The few hours of 残り／休憩（する） had 新たにするd all the tremendous 力／強力にする of his superbly 条件d 団体／死体, and every 神経 and 繊維 was 警報. He followed the slightest move Brogar made, and with his knowledge of a thousand 戦う／戦いs, calculated the best means of attack against this behemoth.

Then Brogar struck. The 巨大（な） threw his 広大な／多数の／重要な 負わせる 今後 three paces and 削除するd his knife arm like a striking python at Ki-Gor's chest. He hoped for his long reach and sudden 猛攻撃 to 爆破 the White Lord over, 無能にするing him before he could fend the blow.

Ki-Gor made no 成果／努力 to 退却／保養地. His keen 注目する，もくろむs 心配するd the attack when Brogar betrayed himself through an unconscious 緊張したing. The ジャングル Lord threw himself 今後, 逆転するing the natural human reaction to 退却／保養地, and through his blinding 速度(を上げる） slipped under Brogar's knife arm and の近くに against the 巨大（な）. In the same 動議, he chopped his blade into the 黒人／ボイコット's left shoulder with a short, hard blow. The native roared with 苦痛 and fury at this 予期しない turn of events, and goaded into madness threw off all 警告を与える, 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d headlong at Ki-Gor.

The ジャングル Lord fought to retrieve his knife, but the strength of his blow had buried it in the rigid 集まり of bone and muscle of the native's shoulder. He 延期するd a fraction too long before 解放する／自由なing the blade from its human sheath and all the trampling 力／強力にする of the monster burst against him. Before he could 回復する or fight 支援する, the 激怒（する）ing man made his attack and sent Ki-Gor hurtling 支援する.

The ジャングル Lord 衝突，墜落d on the 石／投石する, slid wildly to the 辛勝する／優位 of the 激しく揺する 厚板, teetered helplessly for a moment, and then fell. While the breathless audience watched, he whirled over in the 空気／公表する and struck with his 団体／死体 half on, half off, the 狭くする 橋（渡しをする） which joined the altar to the 寺 床に打ち倒す. Dazed, he hung limply, then with rending slowness 回復するd 十分に to インチ himself upon the 橋（渡しをする）.

Had the brutish 巨大（な） been in 十分な 所有／入手 of his feeble wits, he would have leaped from the altar and kicked the White Lord into the 炭坑，オーケストラ席. The 負傷させるd Brogar, however, in his animal madness at first did not realize what had occurred, and by the time he しっかり掴むd the 状況／情勢, Ki-Gor was on his feet. 恐れるing the death that lurked in the 炭坑，オーケストラ席, he would not 危険 going out on the 狭くする walk to 会合，会う even a dazed 敵.

Ki-Gor swayed on his feet, shaking his 長，率いる oddly. He blinked his 注目する，もくろむs and looked strangely at the knife still tightly gripped in his fingers. He raised his 権利 手渡す to the 味方する of his 長，率いる and carefully felt along the long scar there.

He turned and his puzzled gaze ran over the room, along the nearby 列／漕ぐ／騒動s of seats, and （機の）カム to 残り／休憩（する） on his mate. She seemed to swim into his 見通し, a blurred, uneven picture which 徐々に （機の）カム into 焦点（を合わせる）.

Then 突然の he understood. The picture fitted into place. His bruised lips drew into a smile, and softly he formed the 指名する, "Helene."

The terrific 落ちる he had taken, striking 長，率いる first on the altar, had been the shock needed to 中和する／阻止する the 損失 苦しむd from Basru. His memory （機の）カム 支援する with a 急ぐ. And the sight of that beloved 直面する, pale with 恐れる for him, sent a 急ぐ of indomitable 力／強力にする over him.

Ki-Gor whirled and ran lightly 支援する to the altar. His mind raced feverishly. 決定するd to end the 一区切り／（ボクシングなどの）試合 quickly, he circled the 負傷させるd 巨大（な） like a 追跡（する）ing lion, his lithe, liquid movements ominous with 目的. Brogar circled with his antagonist, his 黒人／ボイコット 直面する yellow with 緊張する and hate, 警報 for the least 適切な時期 to 削除する at the ジャングル Lord. Brogar was on the 防御の now, but the 強化するing 負傷させる did not 無能にする him for his 抱擁する, insensitive 団体／死体 was not to be incapacitated by so minor a 傷つける.

Faster Ki-Gor circled, while his 注目する，もくろむs, 狭くする and 冷淡な, endlessly 手段d the 巨大（な）. He was darting 雷 when his dagger struck. His 大規模な 脚s flung him in, and his corded 権利 arm 爆発するd into 活動／戦闘. The 巨大（な） staggered under the 急ぐ and crimson flooded over his chest.

But the human beast was not to die so easily. The coursing hate in him and the physical 勧める to live made him 乱打する 支援する with frenzied 力／強力にする. Brogar had but one (n)艦隊／(a)素早いing 適切な時期 to use his knife, and Ki-Gor's remorseless 戦う／戦い 技術 無効にするd this chance. As Ki-Gor struck, the 巨大（な） stabbed at him, but the White Lord caught and held that 抱擁する wrist in 中央の-空気／公表する. The next moment his blade tore to the bone of the native's forearm, and the 脅すing knife 宙返り／暴落するd from the fellow's fingers.

Brogar 叫び声をあげるd hoarsely, and to 保護する himself, flung his 広大な／多数の／重要な 武器 about Ki-Gor. He held the ジャングル Lord in a chest-割れ目ing 抱擁する, and the two men pitted brute strength in a gasping struggle. In their staggering 戦う／戦い, they moved ever closer to the 辛勝する／優位 of the altar.

Ki-Gor saw the yawning 炭坑，オーケストラ席 and fought to break the 巨大（な）'s steel 支配する. Brogar saw or knew nothing, every ounce of his ebbing strength 存在 中心d at 鎮圧するing this dreadful 敵. When the ジャングル Lord fought to pull 支援する, he threw his monstrous 本体，大部分／ばら積みの into a 反対する pull, and the はしけ man could not stand against him. The 巨大（な） jerked backwards and one foot slipped off the altar. Too late he realized what he had done.

He teetered clumsily, and then careened into the dark 炭坑，オーケストラ席, dragging Ki-Gor with him.

The two men hurtled 負かす／撃墜する in the 不明瞭. Instinctively, even in this desperate 状況／情勢, Ki-Gor struggled to spin Brogar's 広大な／多数の／重要な 本体，大部分／ばら積みの under him. He 遂行するd this just as they struck. The two splashed 深い into the わずかな／ほっそりした and water, and although the 衝撃 was cushioned by the liquid, their velocity was so 広大な／多数の／重要な Brogar's 支援する was snapped by the 衝撃.

Ki-Gor sought with difficulty to reach the surface of this 沈滞した, muddy pool. He gulped 深い breaths of the foul 空気／公表する into his 肺s, as he swam ひどく in the slimy water. His 注目する，もくろむs 徐々に accustomed themselves to the 不明瞭 and he made out faintly the 輪郭（を描く） of the nearby 塀で囲む. He 軍隊d his way through the filthy water until he （機の）カム to an ooze-covered ledge at the base of the 塀で囲む.

The ジャングル Lord hoisted himself の上に this ledge, and a moment after heard the water break apart with a loud splash. Waves lapped over the 石／投石する ledge and broke against his ankles. He 星／主役にするd into the dimness and made out a vague but hideous reptilian form rising and 転換ing in the pool. The long, smooth 長，率いる of the 巨大な serpent weaved in a 脅すing pattern.

Ki-Gor shrank 支援する against the 炭坑，オーケストラ席's 石／投石する 味方する and watched the serpent. Flattened against the wet 激しく揺する, he saw the darting 長，率いる dive into the 黒人／ボイコット water and jerk up again 持つ／拘留するing a big 反対する. The 抱擁する serpent had searched out Brogar's 団体／死体 and was gulping it. Fearful of any movement that might attract the serpent's attention, Ki-Gor glued himself to the 塀で囲む hardly daring to breathe, until at length the ugly monster slid beneath the surface.

IX. - The Coming of Zaa

A faint 微光 of light was 明白な across the 炭坑，オーケストラ席. Ki-Gor worked his way around the perilous ledge, and after an eternity, he reached the point. He peered through a small 開始 into a room where an 老年の woman sat dozing on a （法廷の）裁判. From the stained, yellow cape worn by the old crone, Ki-Gor knew she was a servant of Zaa. 調査するing the area around the tiny window, he 設立する he stood outside a 石／投石する door which was tightly fastened.

He sought in desperation for a means to get that door opened. He shivered, realizing a stream of 冷淡な water was splashing 負かす／撃墜する on his shoulders from above. The fresh water （機の）カム from a point high on the 塀で囲む. He rubbed one 冷気／寒がらせるd arm, unable to bring himself to leave the lighted window, and as he stood there under the trickling water, a 計画（する） of escape （機の）カム to him. すぐに he began scrubbing his 団体／死体, vigorously washing and rubbing every インチ of his 肌.

Ki-Gor placed his 直面する to the little window and called to the dozing crone. The old woman, deaf and half-blind, did not rouse until after repeated calls. Finally, she awoke with a start and 星／主役にするd about her with 薄暗い 注目する，もくろむs, 結局 位置を示すing the source of the 発言する／表明する.

The 老年の handmaiden of Zaa was upset and 明白に 乱すd by this 騒動 beyond the door. She hesitated, fright growing on her, but deciding to 行為／法令／行動する at last, she took a たいまつ from its 支えるもの／所有者 and carried it to the window.

The light from the たいまつ streamed through the 狭くする slit and illuminated Ki-Gor's 直面する. The ジャングル Lord 星／主役にするd unflinchingly at the old crone, and in a 命令（する）ing 発言する／表明する cried, "Open the door, Old One, that I may enter!"

The sight of this 静める 直面する 星／主役にするing at her from the 炭坑，オーケストラ席 完全に upset the woman, and nearly fainting with fright, she stuttered in her 割れ目d 発言する／表明する, "But who are you, who stands 無傷の in the 炭坑，オーケストラ席?"

It was an unbelievable occurrence to the woman. Since long, 薄暗い years before, when she was first relegated to this lonely 仕事 of watching over the 炭坑，オーケストラ席, no 選び出す／独身 person had ever 現れるd alive from the 炭坑，オーケストラ席 of the Serpent God. Ki-Gor now made his 広大な／多数の／重要な 賭事 for freedom. The answer he gave to the woman's question was, "Open, Old One, and look upon me! Certainly, a true 信奉者 should be pleased at my coming!" The 薄暗い, watery, 脅すd 注目する，もくろむs peered more closely at the clean-削減（する） masculine features 明らかにする／漏らすd by the window, and as the woman's frown changed to amazement, Ki-Gor knew he had won his 賭事. The crone's mind, never too （疑いを）晴らす in the calmest moments, at this time of 脅すd bewilderment, jumped suddenly to the only 結論 which had 現在のd itself.

She blanched with 恐れる, and cried out, "It is he--Zaa-the 広大な／多数の／重要な One. He comes at last in human form to 援助（する） us."

With ぱたぱたするing, fumbling 手渡すs she 打ち明けるd the 石／投石する door and 利用するd her greatest strength to 押す it open. When the door swung out, the old handmaiden fell to her 膝s on the 床に打ち倒す, abject and humble before this proud, regal white man she thought was Zaa.

When he stood in the 炭坑，オーケストラ席, anxiously 捜し出すing a means of escape, the memory of the High Priestess' 祈り for Zaa to return to his people had come into Ki-Gor's mind. The ジャングル Lord scrubbed the dark 塗装 from his 肌 on the long chance he could pass himself off as Zaa. He little thought at the moment this 計画（する） would 後継する so 完全に, but he had hoped it would so baffle and 利益／興味 the 古代の woman that she would 許す him to enter.

Realizing now the extent to which this superstitious woman was taken in by his masquerade, he decided to 圧力（をかける） this 適切な時期 to the extreme.

He strode into the small room, assuming a proud, arrogant, disdainful 空気／公表する. "You are a faithful servant, Old One, and for this one 推論する／理由 I 現在の myself first to you. The young ones of the 寺 do not serve me with their hearts as do you. Thus do I reward you first for your years of faithful service to me."

圧倒するd by this compliment, the grovelling woman, long resentful of the 治療 手渡すd her by the younger ones of the 寺, could mutter only. "True, O Lord Zaa, too true. No longer, though, will the young ones 軽蔑（する） me after this. They have laughed at me because of this lonely 職業 it has been my lot to tend. They will laugh no longer."

"Rise now, and fetch me fitting 衣料品s, for I would appear before my people," Ki-Gor ordered. He 警告を与えるd the woman to 安全な・保証する these 衣料品s without the knowledge of anyone, 説 he did not wish to 公表する／暴露する his presence until the 高さ of the sacrificial 儀式s in the 寺.

Exaltation lent 速度(を上げる） to the crone's feet, and soon Ki-Gor was caparisoned in the golden helmet and 広範囲にわたる scarlet cape which were held always in 準備完了 for the hoped-for return of Zaa. Ki-Gor buckled at his 味方する the jeweled sword and slipped his feet into golden sandals. He told the woman to remain at her 地位，任命する, and then with a sweep of his cape he strode from the room.

Ki-Gor went through the 砂漠d halls, and proceeded quickly to the door by which he 以前 was taken into the 寺. He held himself 支援する in the doorway, 調査するing the 野蛮な scene. Dian, High Priestess of Zaa, stood in the 中心 of the sacrificial 石／投石する 持つ／拘留するing high a 血まみれの knife.

Dian 緩和するd her cape and dropped it の上に the yellow 石／投石する. She stood there in the flickering light of the たいまつs swaying in time to the 生き返らせる 詠唱する of the 集まりd 観客s. The jewels on her almost nude 団体／死体 glittered with her 感覚的な movement. She jerked the knife in a stabbing 動議, and four guards hurried 今後 another 叫び声をあげるing 犠牲者.

Ki-Gor 行為／法令／行動するd quickly to forestall this sacrifice. Tall and regal in the 式服s of the Serpent God, he stepped from concealment and stalked into the 寺, going unnoticed until he stood before the altar. The sacred 式服s were known to every person in the 寺. Every 注目する，もくろむ in the frenzied multitude seemed to 焦点（を合わせる） on him at the same time.

緊張した and ear-tingling silence 爆発するd over the 寺. The 妊娠している 静かな was terrible in its intensity. Then and awed murmur ran 支援する, over the 星／主役にするing 階級s, swelling and growing as from countless throats burst the astonished whisper, "Zaa! . . . It is Zaa! He has come!"

The dense 集まり of natives went to their 膝s as one man. The white-skinned snake people, thunderstruck by Ki-Gor's regal 人物／姿／数字, hesitated uncertainly, and then one by one bent in homage. Behind him on the altar, the 緊張した 明らかにする form of the High Priestess knelt.

Two people in the 寺 星／主役にするd at this embodiment of the Serpent God with the most 混乱させるd 不信 of all. Tembu George and Helene could not believe their 注目する，もくろむs for a second. They were shaken by the ジャングル Lord's audacity, but wild hope rose in their hearts.

Ki-Gor 行為／法令／行動するd now to 主張する his 当局.

His 深い, 手段d 発言する／表明する resounded through the hall. "I--Zaa--return to lead you as I led your forefathers."

A low roar like the breaking surf rose from the snake people and died away, as they を待つd his next 声明.

"I am sickened of the 血 流出／こぼすd in my 指名する, and these forays against 平和的な tribes henceforth shall 中止する, and there shall be no その上の sacrifices. I 宣言する this 統治する of 血 and terror ended, and I 命令（する） you to live in peace.

"In penance for your wrongs, I order you to remain in the 寺 tonight. Tomorrow you will gather again and select a chieftain and a 会議 of wise, good men to lead you in a life of peace."

Cries of 賞賛する 雷鳴d up from the natives, except for the glowering 黒人／ボイコット guards. Ki-Gor did not notice the shiftyeyed guard leader 星／主役にする at him, and turn 悪口を言う／悪態ing to scurry to a group of the white 軍人s. The cruel, hard Basru, far more cunning than the others, caught the overjoyed look on Helene's 直面する when she saw Ki-Gor, and as the ジャングル Lord spoke, he 認めるd the man 提起する／ポーズをとるing as Zaa.

"I go now into the inner 寺," Ki-Gor cried, "and the 囚人s and my bride shall …を伴って me."

The ジャングル Lord held out his 手渡す to Helene, and the red-haired girl rose and （機の）カム to him. The 抑制するing 手渡すs on the 囚人s 緩和するd, and all that was left of the 初めの twelve, three men 含むing Tembu George, joined Ki-Gor.

Before the five could move, a white 軍人 leaped shouting: "This man is not Zaa!" he 叫び声をあげるd. "He is the white savage Basru took this girl from far downriver. I don't know how he comes here, but he is no god, and my sword will 証明する it."

The 軍人 darted at Ki-Gor, sword in 手渡す, but the 警報 ジャングル Lord was not to be checkmated so easily. He swept Helene behind him, and Zaa's sword flashed gleaming from its scabbard. The two swords 粉々にするd together as Ki-Gor 封鎖するd the man's 広範囲にわたる thrust and locked the 武器s hilt to hilt. Before the white 軍人 could を締める himself, the ジャングル Lord threw his 広大な／多数の／重要な 負わせる 今後, snapping the man's blade from his 支配する, and in the same 動議, half-厳しいd the fellow's 長，率いる.

More white 軍人s ran at them, and Ki-Gor 退却／保養地d toward the only open avenue, the 狭くする 橋（渡しをする） to the altar. He 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd Tembu George the fallen man's sword, and shoulder to shoulder they fought off the 攻撃者s, while Helene led the two natives over the 石／投石する walk.

Helene in the excitement had forgotten the High Priestess. Dian stood on the altar, 持つ／拘留するing the sacrificial knife, with her 注目する，もくろむs glued on Ki-Gor's mate. The High Priestess' 直面する was contorted with savage hate as she flung at Helene, 意図 on stabbing the girl. A pool of 血 from the native sacrificed on the altar lay across the 石／投石する. The feet of the nearly-nude priestess struck the wet place, and she slipped out of 支配（する）／統制する and 急落（する），激減（する）d headlong past Helene into the 炭坑，オーケストラ席.

The 黒人／ボイコット 集まり of natives saw the white 軍人s 群れている at the mighty 人物／姿／数字 they believed to be the Serpent God. Zaa had 約束d them they could 支配する themselves, and he had discredited and cast out these cruel masters.

A handful of 黒人／ボイコットs sprang to defend the Serpent God and the 活動／戦闘 of these few catapulted the entire 暴徒 今後. The roar of their 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 shook the 古代の 寺 as they flowed against the fairskinned swordsman and the 軍隊 of guards 命令（する）d by Basru.

"Come," Ki-Gor called to Tembu George, "We must try to get through to the inner 寺."

The two men joined the others on the altar. Ki-Gor ちらりと見ることd across the yawning 炭坑，オーケストラ席, 位置を示すing an open space の中で the struggling groups on the far 味方する. He pointed to the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, and without a word, Tembu George leaped the gap. Ki-Gor 選ぶd up Helene and 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd her across to his waiting friend. Quickly the two natives followed, and then with an effortless bound, Ki-Gor was over the 炭坑，オーケストラ席.

He led the way to the door, sword ready for instant 活動／戦闘, while Tembu George brought up behind. Ki-Gor sent the others 負かす／撃墜する the passage, while he ぐずぐず残るd a moment to make sure they were not followed. And his wait was not in vain.

A tall, raw-boned guard 軍隊d his way to the door, his uneasy 注目する，もくろむs searching for Ki-Gor. It was Basru staying on the scent of his 犠牲者. This time the ジャングル Lord 認めるd the renegade, and with a grim smile, he stepped out to 会合，会う him.

Basru （機の）カム at Ki-Gor like a dervish, his lean 団体／死体 whirling and dancing, and his sword whining as it 削除するd. The ジャングル Lord met him with equal agility, and their blades 誘発するd as they whirled.

Ki-Gor 圧力（をかける）d the attack, raining blows at Basru's 長，率いる and shoulders, and the tall native 退却／保養地d, almost staggering at times under the shock of the white man's 力／強力にする. The sword bit at the native's 長，率いる ever faster, and Basru raised his guard その上の to 区 off the 猛攻撃. This was the 罠（にかける） Ki-Gor planned, and with an abrupt change of 策略, he abandoned the chopping 長，率いる blows and stabbed 完全に through Basru's chest. The 黒人／ボイコット man reeled in anguish and fell backwards, writhing in death.

延期するing no longer, Ki-Gor ran in 追跡 of Helene and the two 囚人s with Tembu George. The five hurried out of the 寺 and sprinted through the 砂漠d streets. The 戦う／戦い clamor fell behind them as they went 負かす／撃墜する the flagstone road to the lagoon. It was a minute's work to find and 開始する，打ち上げる a small canoe.

There was no sound but the hard breathing of the men as they sent the canoe scudding over the lake. Helene sat 静かに, drinking in the splendor of the African night for a time. Ki-Gor sat behind her and in the silvery brilliance of the 十分な moon he saw every feature of her lovely 直面する when she turned to 星／主役にする at him.

"Tell me something, Ki-Gor," she said in her low, throaty 発言する／表明する.

"Yes, my dear," he answered softly.

"As I remember, Ki-Gor," she continued, "this all began because you had an important 任命 with Tembu George. Tell me, just what was that 任命 about?"

Ki-Gor grinned sheepishly. "井戸／弁護士席," he said, ducking his 長，率いる like a small boy explaining where the jam disappeared, "we were going 追跡（する）ing."

"Urrimmm," commented Helene.

An eavesdropper 指名するd Tembu George was 全く 不成功の in his 試みる／企てる to 抑える a chuckle.

THE END

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