At last he said, 'You seem very stupid, but eventually you may understand. And now about food: You prefer your ulsio raw, I presume; or shall I cook it?'
'Ulsio!' exclaimed Pan Dan Chee. 'You don't mean to say that you eat ulsio!'
'A great delicacy,' said the creature.
'Have you nothing else?' demanded Pan Dan Chee.
'There is a little of Ro Tan Bim left,' said the THING, 'but he is getting a bit high even for an epicure like me.'
Pan Dan Chee looked at me. 'I am not hungry,' I said 'Come! Let's try to get out of here.' I turned to the old man. 'Which corridor leads out into the city?' I asked.
'You must rest,' he said; 'then I will show you. Lie down upon that couch and rest.'
I had always heard that it is best to humor the insane; and as I was asking a favor of this creature, it seemed the wise thing to do. Furthermore, both Pan Dan Chee and I were very tired; so we lay down on the couch and the old man drew up a bench and sat down beside us. He commenced to talk in a low, soothing voice.
'You are very tired,' he said, over and over again monotonously, his great eyes fixed first upon one of us and then upon the other. I felt my muscles relaxing.
I saw Pan Dan Chee's lids drooping. 'Soon you will be asleep,' whispered the old man of the pits. 'You will sleep and sleep and sleep, perhaps for ages as have these others. You will only awaken when I tell you to or when I die-and I shall never die. You robbed Hor Kai Lan of his harness and weapons.' He looked at me as he spoke. 'Hor Kai Lan would be very angry were he to awaken and find that you have stolen his weapons, but Hor Kai Lan will not awaken. He has been asleep for so many ages that even I have forgotten. It is in my book, but what difference does it make? What difference does it make who wears the harness of Hor Kai Lan? No one will ever use his swords again; and, anyway, when Ro Tan Bim is gone, maybe I shall use Hor Kai Lan. Maybe I shall use you. Who knows?'
His voice was like a dreamy lullaby. I felt myself sinking into pleasant slumber. I glanced at Pan Dan Chee. He was fast asleep. And then the import of the THING'S words reached my reasoning mind. By hypnosis we were being condemned to a living death! I sought to shake the lethargy from me. I brought to bear what remained to me of my will power. Always my mind has been stronger than that of any Martian against whose mind I have pitted it.
The horror of the situation lent me strength: the thought of lying here for countless ages collecting the dust of the pits of Horz, or of being eaten by this snaggled toothed maniac! I put every ounce of my will power into a final, terrific effort to break the bonds that held me. It was even more devastating than a physical effort. I broke out into violent perspiration. I felt myself trembling from head to feet. Would I succeed?
The old man evidently realized the battle I was making for freedom, as he redoubled his efforts to hold me. His voice and his eyes wrapped themselves about me with almost physical force. The THING was sweating now, so strenuous were its endeavors to enthrall my mind. Would it succeed?
Chapter 9
I was winning! I knew that I was winning! And the THING must have known it, too; for I saw it slipping its dagger from the sheath at its side. If it couldn't hold me in the semblance of death, it would hold me in actual death. I sought to wrench myself free from the last weakening tentacles of the THING'S malign mental forces before it could strike the fatal blow that would spell death for me and the equivalent of death for Pan Dan Chee.
The dagger hand rose above me. Those hideous eyes glared down into mine, lighted by the Hellish fires of insanity; and then, in that last instant, I won! I was free. I struck the dagger hand from me and leaped to my feet, the good long-sword of Hor Kai Lan already in my hand.
The THING cowered and screamed. It screamed for help where there was no help, and then it drew its sword. I would not defile the fine art of my swordsmanship by crossing blades with such as this. I recalled its boast that Pan Dan Chee and I would sleep until it awoke us or it died. That alone was enough to determine me-I would be no duelist, but an executioner and a liberator.
I cut once, and the foul head rolled to the stone floor of the pits of Horz. I looked at Pan Dan Chee. He was awakening. He rolled over and stretched; then he sat up and looked at me, questioningly. His eyes wandered to the torso and the head lying on the floor.
'What happened?' he asked.
Before I could reply, I was interrupted by a volley of sound coming from the chamber in which we were and from other chambers in the pits of Horz.
We looked quickly around us. Lids were being raised on innumerable chests, and cries were coming from others the lids of which were held down by the chests on top of them. Armed men were emerging-warriors in gorgeous harness. Women, rubbing their eyes and looking about them in bewilderment.
From the corridor others began to converge upon the chamber, guided by our light.
'What is the meaning of this?' demanded a large man, magnificently trapped. 'Who brought me here? Who are you?' He looked around him, evidently bewildered, as though searching for some familiar face.
'Perhaps I can enlighten you?' I said. 'We are in the pits of Horz. I have been here only a few hours, but if this dead thing on the floor spoke the truth some of you must have been here for ages. You have been held by the hypnotic power of this mad creature. His death has freed you.'
The man looked down at the staring head upon the floor. 'Lum Tar O!' he exclaimed. 'He sent for me-asked me to come and see him on an important matter. And you have killed him. You must account to me- tomorrow. Now I must return to my guests.'
There was a layer of dust on the man's face and body. By that I knew that he must have been here a long time, and presently my surmise was substantiated in a most dramatic manner.
The awakened men and women were forcing their way from the chests in which they had been kept. Some of those in the lower tiers were having difficulty in dislodging the chests piled on top of them. There was a great clattering and tumult as empty chests toppled to the floor. There was a babel of conversation.
There were bewilderment and confusion.
A dusty nobleman crawled from one of the chests. Instantly he and the large man who had just spoken recognized one another. 'What is the matter with you?' demanded the latter. 'You are all covered with dust. Why did you come down? Come! I must get back to my guests.'
The other shook his head in evident bewilderment. 'Your guests, Kam Han Tor!' he exclaimed. 'Did you expect your guests to wait twenty years for you to return.'
'Twenty years! What do you mean?'
'I was your guest twenty years ago. You left in the middle of the banquet and never returned.'
'Twenty years? You are mad!' exclaimed Kam Han Tor. He looked at me and then at the grinning head upon the floor, and he commenced to weaken. I could see it.
The other man was feeling of his own face and looking at the dust he wiped from it. 'You, too, are covered with dust,' he said to Kam Han Tor.
Kam Han Tor looked down at his body and harness; then he wiped his face and looked at his fingers. 'Twenty years!' he exclaimed, and then he looked down at the head of Lum Tar O. 'You vile beast!' he exclaimed. 'I was your friend, and you did this to me!' He turned then to me. 'Forget what I said. I did not understand. Whoever you may be, permit me to assure you that my sword is always in your service.'
I bowed in acknowledgment.
'Twenty years!' repeated Kam Han Tor, as though he still could not believe it.
'My great ship! It was to have sailed from the harbor of Horz the day following my banquet-the greatest ship that ever had been built. Now it is old, perhaps obsolete; and I have never seen it. Tell me-did it sail well? Is it still a proud ship?'
'I saw it as it sailed out upon Throxeus,' said the other. 'It was a proud ship indeed, but it never returned from that first voyage; nor was any word ever heard of it. It must have been lost with all hands.'
Kam Han Tor shook his head sadly, and then he straightened up and squared his shoulders. 'I shall build
