The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-02-13


 ing yellow locks, like those of the two I had killed, while mine is black and close cropped.
 What of the resemblance?"i I asked the girl. Do you wish me, with my black, short hair, to pose as yellow haired priest of this internal cult?'
 She smiled and for answer approach and, kneeling beside it, removed the circlet of gold from the forehead and then to my utter amazement lifted the entire scalp bodily from the corpse's head.
 Rising, she advanced to my side and, placing the yellow wig over my black hair, crowned me with the golden cir clet with the magnificent gem.
 "New don his harness, prince," she said, .'and you may pass where you will in the realms of the therns, for Sator Throg was a holy thern of the tenth cycle and mighty among his kind.'''
 As stopped to the dead man to do her bidding noted that not hair grew upon his head, which was quite as bald as an egg.
 ''They are all thus from birth,'' ex- plained Thuvia, noting my surprise. 'SThe race from which they sprung was crowned with luxuriant growth of golden hair, but for many ages the present race has been entirely bald. The wig, however, has come to be a part of their apparel, and so important a part do they consider it that it is cause for the deepest disgrace were a tbern to appear in public without it.
 In another moment I stood garbed in the habiliments of a. holy thern.
 At Thuvia's suggestion two of the released prisoners bore the body of the dead thern upon their shoulders with us as we continued our journey toward the storeroom, which we reached with out further mishap.
 Here the keys which Thuvia bore from the dead thern of the prison vault were the means of giving us immedi- ate entrance to the chamber, and very quickly we were thoroughly out6tted with arms and ammunition.
 By this time I was so thoroughly Jagged that could go no farther, so I threw myself upon the floor, bidding Tars Tarkas to do likewise and cau- tfoning two of the released prisoners to keep careful watch.
 In an instant I was asleep.
 How long slept upon the floor of the storeroom I do not know, but it must have been many hours. I was awakened with start by cries of alarm. and scarce were my eyes opened nor had I yet sufficiently collected my wits to quite realize where I was when a fusillade of shots rang out, rever- berating through the subterranean cor riders in a series of deafening echoes.
 In an instant was upon my feet. A dozen lesser therns confronted us from a large doorway at the opposite end of the storeroom from that which we had entered. About me lay the bodies of my companions, with the exception of Thuvia, Tars TaPkas and Cathoris, who, like myself, had been asleep upon the floor and thus escaped the first rak- ing fire.
 As I gained my feet the therns low erSd their wicked rifles, their faces distorted in mingled chagrin, conster- nation and alarm.
 Instantly I arose to the occasion.
 What means this?' I cried in tones of fierce anger. ''Is Sator Throg to be murdered by his own vassals?"
 Have mercy, O master of the tenth cyclev' cried one of the fellows, while the others edged toward the doorway as though to attempt a surreptitious escape from the presence of the mighty one
 Ask them their mission here," whis- pered Thuvfa at my elbow.
 What do you here, fellowsT' cried.
 1.-Two from the outer world are at large within the dominiOns or the therns. We. sought them at the com mand of the father of therns. One was white with black hair, the other a huge green warrior"
 Here the fellow cast suspicious