第52章

He followed such runways as appeared to terminate in the pits or other chambers of the inhabitants of the city, and these he explored, usually from the safety of a burrow's mouth, until satisfied that what he sought was not there.He moved swiftly upon his spider legs and covered remarkable distances in short periods of time.

His search not being rewarded with immediate success, he decided to return to the pit where his rykor lay chained and look to its wants.As he approached the end of the burrow that terminated in the pit he slackened his pace, stopping just within the entrance of the runway that he might scan the interior of the chamber before entering it.As he did so he saw the figure of a warrior appear suddenly in an opposite doorway.The rykor sprawled upon the table, his hands groping blindly for more food.Ghek saw the warrior pause and gaze in sudden astonishment at the rykor; he saw the fellow's eyes go wide and an ashen hue replace the copper bronze of his cheek.He stepped back as though someone had struck him in the face.For an instant only he stood thus as in a paralysis of fear, then he uttered a smothered shriek and turned and fled.Again was it a catastrophe that Ghek, the kaldane, could not smile.

Quickly entering the room he crawled to the table top and affixed himself to the shoulders of his rykor, and there he waited; and who may say that Ghek, though he could not smile, possessed not a sense of humor? For a half-hour he sat there, and then there came to him the sound of men approaching along corridors of stone.He could hear their arms clank against the rocky walls and he knew that they came at a rapid pace; but just before they reached the entrance to his prison they paused and advanced more slowly.In the lead was an officer, and just behind him, wide-eyed and perhaps still a little ashen, the warrior who had so recently departed in haste.At the doorway they halted and the officer turned sternly upon the warrior.With upraised finger he pointed at Ghek.

"There sits the creature! Didst thou dare lie, then, to thy dwar?""I swear," cried the warrior, "that I spoke the truth.But a moment since the thing groveled, headless, upon this very table!

And may my first ancestor strike me dead upon the spot if I speak other than a true word!"The officer looked puzzled.The men of Mars seldom if ever lie.

He scratched his head.Then he addressed Ghek."How long have you been here?" he asked.

"Who knows better than those who placed me here and chained me to a wall?" he returned in reply.

"Saw you this warrior enter here a few minutes since?""I saw him," replied Ghek.

"And you sat there where you sit now?" continued the officer.

"Look thou to my chain and tell me then where else might I sit!"cried Ghek."Art the people of thy city all fools?"Three other warriors pressed behind the two in front, craning their necks to view the prisoner while they grinned at the discomfiture of their fellow.The officer scowled at Ghek.

"Thy tongue is as venomous as that of the she-banth O-Tar sent to The Towers of Jetan," he said.

You speak of the young woman who was captured with me?" asked Ghek, his expressionless monotone and face revealing naught of the interest he felt.

"I speak of her," replied the dwar, and then turning to the warrior who had summoned him: "return to thy quarters and remain there until the next games.Perhaps by that time thy eyes may have learned not to deceive thee."The fellow cast a venomous glance at Ghek and turned away.The officer shook his head."I do not understand it," he muttered.