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Page 36
Instead I held grimly to him, choking, ever choking, while his
frantic struggles dragged me lower and lower toward the end of the
chain.
Gradually his contortions became spasmodic, lessening by degrees
until they ceased entirely. Then I released my hold upon him and
in an instant he was swallowed by the black shadows far below.
Again I climbed to the ship's rail. This time I succeeded
in raising my eyes to the level of the deck, where I could take a
careful survey of the conditions immediately confronting me.
The nearer moon had passed below the horizon, but the clear effulgence
of the further satellite bathed the deck of the cruiser, bringing
into sharp relief the bodies of six or eight black men sprawled
about in sleep.
Huddled close to the base of a rapid fire gun was a young white
girl, securely bound. Her eyes were widespread in an expression
of horrified anticipation and fixed directly upon me as I came in
sight above the edge of the deck.
Unutterable relief instantly filled them as they fell upon the
mystic jewel which sparkled in the centre of my stolen headpiece.
She did not speak. Instead her eyes warned me to beware the sleeping
figures that surrounded her.
Noiselessly I gained the deck. The girl nodded to me to approach
her. As I bent low she whispered to me to release her.
"I can aid you," she said, "and you will need all the aid available
when they awaken."
"Some of them will awake in Korus," I replied smiling.
She caught the meaning of my words, and the cruelty of her
answering smile horrified me. One is not astonished by cruelty
in a hideous face, but when it touches the features of a goddess
whose fine-chiselled lineaments might more fittingly portray love
and beauty, the contrast is appalling.
Quickly I released her.
"Give me a revolver," she whispered. "I can use that upon those
your sword does not silence in time."
I did as she bid. Then I turned toward the distasteful work that
lay before me. This was no time for fine compunctions, nor for
a chivalry that these cruel demons would neither appreciate nor
reciprocate.
Stealthily I approached the nearest sleeper. When he awoke he was
well on his journey to the bosom of Korus. His piercing shriek as
consciousness returned to him came faintly up to us from the black
depths beneath.
The second awoke as I touched him, and, though I succeeded in
hurling him from the cruiser's deck, his wild cry of alarm brought
the remaining pirates to their feet. There were five of them.
As they arose the girl's revolver spoke in sharp staccato and one
sank back to the deck again to rise no more.
The others rushed madly upon me with drawn swords. The girl
evidently dared not fire for fear of wounding me, but I saw her
sneak stealthily and cat-like toward the flank of the attackers.
Then they were on me.
For a few minutes I experienced some of the hottest fighting I had
ever passed through. The quarters were too small for foot work.
It was stand your ground and give and take. At first I took
considerably more than I gave, but presently I got beneath one
fellow's guard and had the satisfaction of seeing him collapse upon
the deck.
The others redoubled their efforts. The crashing of their blades
upon mine raised a terrific din that might have been heard for
miles through the silent night. Sparks flew as steel smote steel,
and then there was the dull and sickening sound of a shoulder bone
parting beneath the keen edge of my Martian sword.
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