? ? ? ? "Where is Dejah Thoris?" I cried again.
? ? ? ? The awful creature in my grasp mumbled inarticulately for a moment, then a sudden gleam of cunning shot into those hideous, close-set eyes.
? ? ? ? "Dejah Thoris? Dejah Thoris?" and then that shrill, unearthly laugh pierced our ears once more.
? ? ? ? "Yes, Dejah Thoris--I know. And Thuvia, and Phaidor, daughter of Matai Shang. They each love John Carter. Ha-ah! but it is droll. Together for a year they will meditate within the Temple of the Sun, but ere the year is quite gone there will be no more food for them. Ho-oh! what divine entertainment," and she licked the froth from her cruel lips. "There will be no more food--except each other. Ha-ah! Ha-ah!"
? ? ? ? The horror of the suggestion nearly paralysed me. To this awful fate the creature within my power had condemned my Princess. I trembled in the ferocity of my rage. As a terrier shakes a rat I shook Issus, Goddess of Life Eternal.
? ? ? ? "Countermand your orders!" I cried. "Recall the condemned. Haste, or you die!"
? ? ? ? "It is too late. Ha-ah! Ha-ah!" and then she commenced her gibbering and shrieking again.
? ? ? ? Almost of its own volition, my dagger flew up above that putrid heart.
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