? ? ? ? "Tan Gama left his short-sword in the Thark's cell," explained the first speaker, "and left us at the runway, to return and get it."
? ? ? ? "Tan Gama wore no short-sword this night," said the woman. "It was broken in to-day's battle with the Thark, and Tan Gama gave it to me to repair. See, I have it here," and as she spoke she drew Tan Gama's short-sword from beneath her sleeping silks and furs.
? ? ? ? The warriors sprang to their feet.
? ? ? ? "There is something amiss here," cried one.
? ? ? ? "'Tis even what I myself thought when Tan Gama left us at the runway," said another. "Methought then that his voice sounded strangely."
? ? ? ? "Come! let us hasten to the pits."
? ? ? ? We waited to hear no more. Slinging my harness into a long single strap, I lowered Tars Tarkas to the courtyard beneath, and an instant later dropped to his side.
? ? ? ? We had spoken scarcely a dozen words since I had felled Tan Gama at the cell door and seen in the torch's light the expression of utter bewilderment upon the great Thark's face.
? ? ? ? "By this time," he had said, "I should have learned to wonder at nothing which John Carter accomplishes.
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