The cave lord halted and half turned as though to withdraw, but the
crowd, believing him to be afraid, set up an ear-splitting clamor of
catcalls, whistlings and raucous shouts that whirled the barbarian about
in sudden anger.

For a long moment he glared at the multi-eyed beast above him; then a
slight sound at his back aroused him to his immediate surroundings.

He wheeled just as a huge figure launched itself at his neck. Before
Tharn could prevent it, strong fingers closed about his throat and the
impact of a solid body sent him staggering, saved from falling only by
superhuman effort.

* * * * *

During the seconds in which all this transpired, Tharn had discovered
what it was that had leaped cat-like upon him. He saw a great hulk of a
man, naked except for a pelt about his loins; a man with muscles bulging
so in arms, legs and shoulders as to constitute a deformity. He was not
quite so tall as Tharn, with an ugly, hairy face, contorted with rage.

With the speed of a striking snake Tharn's hands came up, caught the
wrists at his throat and tore away those choking fingers as though they
were so many strands of cobweb. Then Tharn seized the other before he
could twist free--caught him by thrusting an arm between the crotch of
those gnarled legs while the other hand held to a hairy forearm. Lifting
him thus, Tharn swung the man aloft like a bundle of grass, then flung
him heavily to the sands a dozen paces away.

The onlookers came to their feet with a swelling roar of approval. This
was what they had come to see; and they set up a deafening clamor that
seemed to shake the stands. Tharn never heard them.

Now the dazed enemy was scrambling to his feet. Before he was fully
erect, Tharn was upon him with the silent ferocity of Jalok, the
panther. Grabbing the cringing man by the throat, the cave-man lifted
him bodily from the sands, and holding him at forearm's length, shook
him as a terrier shakes a rodent; shook him until the screaming voice
was stilled as the senses fled and the white figure hung limp and
motionless within Tharn's grasp.

Then, while the crowd watched in thrilled horror, Tharn dropped to one
knee, placed the dead weight of his unconscious foe against his leg and
snapped the man's spine as he might have broken a slender branch.

Rising, Tharn tossed aside the lifeless body and, not deigning to
acknowledge by look or gestures the pandemonium of acclaim, disa