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labor to the government. That is practically the only tax that is levied upon them.
They prefer however, to furnish a substitute to perform this labor, and as our
own people will not hire out for labor in the mines it has been necessary to obtain
slaves, and I do not need to tell you that slaves are not won without fighting. We
sell these slaves in the public market, the proceeds going, half and half, to the
government and the warriors who bring them in. The purchasers are credited
with the amount of labor performed by their particular slaves. At the end of a
year a good slave will have performed the labor tax of his master for six years,
and if slaves are plentiful he is freed and permitted to return to his own people."
"You fight in platinum and diamonds?" asked Tara, indicating his gorgeous
trappings with a quizzical smile.
Gahan laughed. "We are a vain people," he admitted, good-naturedly, "and it is
possible that we place too much value on personal appearances. We vie with one
another in the splendor of our accoutrements when trapped for the observance of
the lighter duties of life, though when we take the field our leather is the plainest
I ever have seen worn by fighting men of Barsoom. We pride ourselves, too, upon
our physical beauty, and especially upon the beauty of our women. May I dare to
say, Tara of Helium, that I am hoping for the day when you will visit Gathol that
my people may see one who is really beautiful?"
"The women of Helium are taught to frown with displeasure upon the tongue of
the flatterer," rejoined the girl, but Gahan, Jed of Gathol, observed that she
smiled as she said it.
A bugle sounded, clear and sweet, above the laughter and the talk. "The Dance of
Barsoom!" exclaimed the young warrior. "I claim you for it, Tara of Helium."
The girl glanced in the direction of the bench where she had last seen Djor
Kantos. He was not in sight. She inclined her head in assent to the claim of the
Gatholian. Slaves were passing among the guests, distributing small musical
instruments of a single string. Upon each instrument were characters which
indicated the pitch and length of its tone. The instruments were of skeel, the
string of gut, and were shaped to fit the left forearm of the dancer, to which it was
strapped. There was also a ring wound with gut which was worn between the first
and second joints of the index finger of the right hand and which, when passed
over the string of the instrument, elicited the single note required of the dancer.
The guests had risen and were slowly making their way toward the expanse of
scarlet sward at the south end of the gardens where the dance was to be held,
when Djor Kantos came hurriedly toward Tara of Helium. "I claim--" he exclaimed
as he neared her; but she interrupted him with a gesture.
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