The way is still

difficult, but through this vile thing upon the floor we may yet

win to the outer world. Notest thou not the remarkable resemblance

between this Holy Thern and thyself?"

The man was indeed of my precise stature, nor were his eyes and

features unlike mine; but his hair was a mass of flowing yellow

locks, like those of the two I had killed, while mine is black and

close cropped.

"What of the resemblance?" I asked the girl Thuvia. "Do you wish

me with my black, short hair to pose as a yellow-haired priest of

this infernal cult?"

She smiled, and for answer approached the body of the man she had

slain, and kneeling beside it removed the circlet of gold from the

forehead, and then to my utter amazement lifted the entire scalp

bodily from the corpse's head.

Rising, she advanced to my side and placing the yellow wig over

my black hair, crowned me with the golden circlet set with the

magnificent gem.

"Now don his harness, Prince," she said, "and you may pass where

you will in the realms of the therns, for Sator Throg was a Holy

Thern of the Tenth Cycle, and mighty among his kind."

As I stooped to the dead man to do her bidding I noted that not a

hair grew upon his head, which was quite as bald as an egg.

"They are all thus from birth," explained Thuvia noting my surprise.

"The race from which they sprang were crowned with a luxuriant

growth of golden hair, but for many ages the present race has been

entirely bald. The wig, however, has come to be a part of their

apparel, and so important a part do they consider it that it is

cause for the deepest disgrace were a thern to appear in public

without it."

In another moment I stood garbed in the habiliments of a Holy Thern.

At Thuvia's suggestion two of the released prisoners bore the body

of the dead thern upon their shoulders with us as we continued

our journey toward the storeroom, which we reached without further

mishap.

Here the keys which Thuvia bore from the dead thern of the prison

vault were the means of giving us immediate entrance to the

chamber, and very quickly we were thoroughly outfitted with arms

and ammunition.

By this time I was so thoroughly fagged out that I could go no

further, so I threw myself upon the floor, bidding Tars Tarkas to

do likewise, and cautioning two of the released prisoners to keep

careful watch.

In an instant I was asleep.

CHAPTER V

CORRIDORS OF PERIL

How long I slept upon the floor of the storeroom I do not know,

but it must have been many hours.

I was awakened with a start by cries of alarm, and scarce were my

eyes opened, nor had I yet sufficiently collected my wits to quite

realize where I was, when a fusillade of shots rang out, reverberating

through the subterranean corridors in a series of deafening echoes.

In an instant I was upon my feet. A dozen lesser therns confronted

us from a large doorway at the opposite end of the storeroom from

which we had entered. About me lay the bodies of my companions,

with the exception of Thuvia and Tars Tarkas, who, like myself, had

been asleep upon the floor and thus escaped the first raking fire.

As I gained my feet the therns lowered their wicked rifles, their

faces distorted in mingled chagrin, consternation, and alarm.

Instantly I rose to the occasion.

"What means this?" I cried in tones of fierce anger. "Is Sator

Throg to be murdered by his own vassals?"

"Have mercy, O Master of the Tenth Cycle!" cried one of the fellows,

while the others edged toward the doorway as though to attempt a

surreptitious escape from the presence of the mighty one.

"Ask them their mission here," whispered Thuvia at my elbow.

"What do you here, fellows?" I cried.

"Two from the outer world are at large within the dominions of the

therns. We sought them at the command of the Father of Therns.

One was white with black hair, the other a huge green warrior,"

and here the fellow cast a suspicious glance toward Tars Tarkas.

"Here, then, is one of them," spoke Thuvia, indicating the Thark,

"and if you will look upon this dead man by the door perhaps you

will recognize the other. It was left for Sator Throg and his

poor slaves to accomplish what the lesser therns of the guard were

unable to do--we have killed one and captured the other; for this

had Sator Throg given us our liberty. And now in your stupidity

have you come and killed all but myself, and like to have killed

the mighty Sator Throg himself."

The men looked very sheepish and very scared.

"Had they not better throw these bodies to the plant men and then

return to their quarters, O Mighty One?" asked Thuvia of me.

"Yes; do as Thuvia bids you," I said.

As the men picked up the bodies I noticed that the one who stooped

to gather up the late Sator Throg started as his closer scrutiny

fell upon the upturned face, and then the fellow stole a furtive,

sneaking glance in my direction from the corner of his eye.

That he suspicioned something of the truth I could have sworn;

but that it was only a suspicion which he did not dare voice was

evidenced by his silence.

Again, as he bore the body from the room, he shot a quick but

searching glance toward me, and then his eyes fell once more upon

the bald and shiny dome of the dead man in his arms. The last

fleeting glimpse that I obtained of his profile as he passed from

my sight without the chamber revealed a cunning smile of triumph

upon his lips.

Only Tars Tarkas, Thuvia, and I were left. The fatal marksmanship

of the therns had snatched from our companions whatever slender

chance they had of gaining the perilous freedom of the world without.

So soon as the last of the gruesome procession had disappeared the

girl urged us to take up our flight once more.

She, too, had noted the questioning attitude of the thern who had

borne Sator Throg away.

"It bodes no good for us, O Prince," she said. "For even though

this fellow dared not chance accusing you in error, there be those

above with power sufficient to demand a closer scrutiny, and that,

Prince would indeed prove fatal."

I shrugged my shoulders. It seemed that in any event the outcome

of our plight must end in death. I was refreshed from my sleep,

but still weak from loss of blood. My wounds were painful. No

medicinal aid seemed possible. How I longed for the almost

miraculous healing power of the strange salves and lotions of the

green Martian women. In an hour they would have had me as new.

I was discouraged. Never had a feeling of such utter hopelessness

come over me in the face of danger. Then the long flowing, yellow

locks of the Holy Thern, caught by some vagrant draught, blew about

my face.

Might they not still open the way of freedom? If we acted in time,

might we not even yet escape before the general alarm was sounded?

We could at least try.

"What will the fellow do first, Thuvia?" I asked. "How long will

it be before they may return for us?"

"He will go directly to the Father of Therns, old Matai Shang. He

may have to wait for an audience, but since he is very high among

the lesser therns, in fact as a thorian among them, it will not be

long that Matai Shang will keep him waiting.

"Then if the Father of Therns puts credence in his story, another

hour will see the galleries and chambers, the courts and gardens,

filled with searchers."

"What we do then must be done within an hour. What is the best

way, Thuvia, the shortest way out of this celestial Hades?"

"Straight to the top of the cliffs, Prince," she replied, "and then

through the gardens to the inner courts. From there our way will

lie within the temples of the therns and across them to the outer

court. Then the ramparts--O Prince, it is hopeless. Ten thousand

warriors could not hew a way to liberty from out this awful place.

"Since the beginning of time, little by little, stone by stone, have

the therns been ever adding to the defences of their stronghold.

A continuous line of impregnable fortifications circles the outer

slopes of the Mountains of Otz.

"Within the temples that lie behind the ramparts a million fighting-men

are ever ready. The courts and gardens are filled with slaves,

with women and with children.

"None could go a stone's throw without detection."

"If there is no other way, Thuvia, why dwell upon the difficulties

of this. We must face them."

"Can we not better make the attempt after dark?" asked Tars Tarkas.

"There would seem to be no chance by day."

"There would be a little better chance by night, but even then the

ramparts are well guarded; possibly better than by day. There are

fewer abroad in the courts and gardens, though," said Thuvia.

"What is the hour?" I asked.

"It was midnight when you released me from my chains," said Thuvia.

"Two hours later we reached the storeroom.