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was lying upon a pile of sleeping silks and furs while there knelt above her a

young woman who was forcing drops of some cooling beverage between her

parched lips. Tara of Helium half rose upon an elbow and looked about. In the

first moments of returning consciousness there were swept from the screen of

recollection the happenings of many weeks. She thought that she awoke in the

palace of The Warlord at Helium. Her brows knit as she scrutinized the strange

face bending over her.

Who are you?" she asked, and, "Where is Uthia?"

I am Lan-O the slave girl," replied the other. "I know none by the name of Uthia."

Tara of Helium sat erect and looked about her. This rough stone was not the

marble of her father's halls. "Where am I?" she asked.

"In The Thurian Tower," replied the girl, and then seeing that the other still did

not understand she guessed the truth. "You are a prisoner in The Towers of Jetan

in the city of Manator," she explained. "You were brought to this chamber, weak

and fainting, by A-Kor, Dwar of The Towers of Jetan, who sent me to you with

food and drink, for kind is the heart of A-Kor."

"I remember, now," said Tara, slowly. "I remember; but where is Turan, my

warrior? Did they speak of him?"

"I heard naught of another," replied Lan-O; "you alone were brought to the

towers. In that you are fortunate, for there be no nobler man in Manator than A-

Kor. It is his mother's blood that makes him so. She was a slave girl from Gathol."

Gathol!" exclaimed Tara of Helium. "Lies Gathol close by Manator?"

"Not close, yet still the nearest country," replied Lan-O. "About twenty-two

degrees* east, it lies."

Approximately 814 Earth Miles.

Gathol!" murmured Tara, "Far Gathol!"

But you are not from Gathol," said the slave girl; "your harness is not of Gathol."

I am from Helium," said Tara

It is far from Helium to Gathol;" said the slave girl, "but in our studies we

learned much of the greatness of Helium, we of Gathol, so it seems not so far

away."

"You, too, are from Gathol?" asked Tara.

The Chessmen of Mars