son until suddenly they seized upon a thing that lay on the table at
the end farthest from him. It was a key. He raised his fettered ankle
and examined the lock. There could be no doubt of it! The key that lay
there on the table before him was the key to that very lock. A careless
warrior had laid it there and departed, forgetting.

Hope surged high in the breast of Gahan of Gathol, of Turan the
panthan. Furtively his eyes sought the open doorways. There was no one
in sight. Ah, if he could but gain his freedom! He would find some way
from this odious city back to her side and never again would he leave
her until he had won safety for her or death for himself.

He rose and moved cautiously toward the opposite end of the table where
lay the coveted key. The fettered ankle halted his first step, but he
stretched at full length along the table, extending eager fingers
toward the prize. They almost laid hold upon it--a little more and they
would touch it. He strained and stretched, but still the thing lay just
beyond his reach. He hurled himself forward until the iron fetter bit
deep into his flesh, but all futilely. He sat back upon the bench then
and glared at the open doors and the key, realizing now that they were
part of a well-laid scheme of refined torture, none the less
demoralizing because it inflicted no physical suffering.

For just a moment the man gave way to useless regret and foreboding,
then he gathered himself together, his brows cleared, and he returned
to his unfinished meal. At least they should not have the satisfaction
of knowing how sorely they had hit him. As he ate it occurred to him
that by dragging the table along the floor he could bring the key
within his reach, but when he essayed to do so, he found that the table
had been securely bolted to the floor during the period of his
unconsciousness. Again Gahan smiled and shrugged and resumed his eating.

* * * * *

When the warriors had departed from the prison in which Ghek was
confined, the kaldane crawled from the shoulders of the rykor to the
table. Here he drank a little water and then directed the hands of the
rykor to the balance of it and to the food, upon which the brainless
thing fell with avidity. While it was thus engaged Ghek took his
spider-like way along the table to the opposite end where lay the key
to the fetter. Seizing it in a chela he leaped to the floor and
scurried rapidly toward the mouth of one of the