lza fell safely. But they told me that Tarrano and I hovered for days
unconscious on the borderland between life and death, living finally,
for our vehicle had plunged into a tremendous snow-bank, to break its
fall.

* * * * *

Last scene of all ... They would not have Tarrano on any of the three
worlds. While still living, the very personality of him was a menace.
With his woman Tara, who refused to leave him and whom he tolerated,
they banished him to that tiny asteroid which pursued its solitary way
between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

A lonely, barren little world, with its single, primitive race of
spindly beings--timid, frail beings, half-human, half insect. We took
him there--Maida and Georg, Elza and I. He anticipated his dislike of
the asteroid's slight gravity, and demanded weighted shoes so that he
might walk with the normal feeling of Earth and Venus.

"You give me too much freedom," he told us solemnly.

And there amid the rocks, with Tara we set him down. As we parted, he
turned to Elza. She and I were joined in marriage by then. He faced her,
took one of her hands and pressed its palm to his forehead, the gesture
of homage and respect.

"Goodbye, Lady Elza. I wish for you all life's happiness." He smiled,
but it was a very wistful smile. And then he swung away abruptly.

"Tara! Prepare me food. Leave me--I would be alone." His imperious
gesture dispersed also the crowd of natives who were curiously regarding
him. Here, in his last little domain, he would still be master.

Our vehicle slowly rose. From its windows we watched him. Ignoring us
utterly, weighted down by his heavy shoes, he paced his barren rocks,
head lowered, alone with those thoughts he never shared with anyone.

Tarrano, the Conqueror!

The End.

End of Project Gutenberg's Tarrano the Conqueror, by Raymond King Cummings

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