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When O-Tar entered and came near him Gahan fell upon him and struck him with the butt of a heavy spear. He thought that he had killed him and was surprised when O-Tar appeared to denounce him." "And Ghek? What became of Ghek?" I insisted. "After leading Val Dor and Floran to Tara's disabled flier which they repaired, he accompanied them to Gathol from where a message was sent to me in Helium.
Then, too, as a simple panthan* he might win a greater degree of her confidence by his loyalty and faithfulness and a place in her esteem that seemed to have been closed to the resplendent Jed of Gathol. * Soldier of Fortune; free-lance warrior.
"Turan, they have me!" came to his ears in the voice of Tara of Helium. A quick glance across his shoulder showed him the galloping thoatman in the act of dragging Tara to the withers of the beast, and then, with the fury of a demon, Gahan of Gathol leaped for his own man, dragged him from his mount and as he fell smote his head from his shoulders with a single cut of his keen sword.
The rumbling roar of a banth reverberated among the hills. Gahan of Gathol let the ship rise a few feet from the ground, then, seizing a bow rope, he dropped over the side. To tow the little craft was now a thing of ease, and as Gahan moved rapidly toward the brow of the hill above Bantoom the flier floated behind him as lightly as a swan upon a quiet lake.
Ghek led the way, grasping one of Tara's hands the more easily to guide and assist her, while Gahan of Gathol followed a few paces in their rear, his bared sword ready for the assault that all realized must come upon them now before ever they reached the enclosure and the flier. "Let Ghek drop behind to your side," said Tara, "and fight with you."
I have befriended her, and because of this I am to die. If I help you to liberate her, will you take me with you?" Gahan of Gathol eyed the weird creature from crown to foot the perfect body, the grotesque head, the expressionless face. Among such as these had the beautiful daughter of Helium been held captive for days and weeks. "If she lives and is unharmed," he said, "I will take you with us."
"His flier departs for Gathol in the morning," John Carter replied. "I have seen the last of him then," remarked Tara of Helium with a sigh of relief. "He says not," returned John Carter. The girl dismissed the subject with a shrug and the conversation passed to other topics.
"And my Jed stood before me now," cried Tasor, "and my avowal could be made without violating his confidence, I should cast my sword at his feet and beg the high privilege of dying for him as my sire died for his sire." There could be no doubt of his sincerity nor any that he was cognizant of Gahan's identity. The Jed of Gathol smiled.
The former smiled an inscrutable smile, the latter addressed the Princess of Helium. "'Turan the panthan!" he cried. "Know you not, fair daughter of Helium, that this man you call panthan is Gahan, Jed of Gathol?" For just a moment Tara of Helium looked her surprise; and then she shrugged her beautiful shoulders as she turned her head to cast her eyes over one of them at Gahan of Gathol.
"The trouble is there are too many who love you," he said. "And now there is another." "Indeed!" she cried. "What do you mean?" "Gahan of Gathol has asked permission to woo you." The girl sat up very straight and tilted her chin in the air. "I would not wed with a walking diamond-mine," she said. "I will not have him."
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