ed. 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. "Always has