ief and thus draw the game, which is
the outcome if any other than a Chief slays the opposing Chief, or he
could move away and escape, temporarily, the necessity for personal
combat, or at least that is evidently what he had in mind as was
obvious to all who saw him scanning the board about him; and his
disappointment was apparent when he finally discovered that Gahan had
so placed himself that there was no square to which U-Dor could move
that it was not within Gahan's power to reach at his own next move.

U-Dor had placed his own Princess four squares east of Gahan when her
position had been threatened, and he had hoped to lure the Black Chief
after her and away from U-Dor; but in that he had failed. He now
discovered that he might play his own Odwar into personal combat with
Gahan; but he had already lost one Odwar and could ill spare the other.
His position was a delicate one, since he did not wish to engage Gahan
personally, while it appeared that there was little likelihood of his
being able to escape. There was just one hope and that lay in his
Princess' Panthan, so, without more deliberation he ordered the piece
onto the square occupied by the Black Chief.

The sympathies of the spectators were all with Gahan now. If he lost,
the game would be declared a draw, nor do they think better of drawn
games upon Barsoom than do Earth men. If he won, it would doubtless
mean a duel between the two Chiefs, a development for which they all
were hoping. The game already bade fair to be a short one and it would
be an angry crowd should it be decided a draw with only two men slain.
There were great, historic games on record where of the forty pieces on
the field when the game opened only three survived--the two Princesses
and the victorious Chief.

They blamed U-Dor, though in fact he was well within his rights in
directing his play as he saw fit, nor was a refusal on his part to
engage the Black Chief necessarily an imputation of cowardice. He was a
great chief who had conceived a notion to possess the slave Tara. There
was no honor that could accrue to him from engaging in combat with
slaves and criminals, or an unknown warrior from Manataj, nor was the
stake of sufficient import to warrant the risk.

But now the duel between Gahan and the Orange Panthan was on and the
decision of the next move was no longer in other hands than theirs. It
was the first time that these Manatorians had seen Gahan of Gathol
fight, but Tara