The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-01-15


low with other prisoners, heard
these sounds and smelled the smoke.
He heard the rattle OF the anchor
chain; he felt the straining Of the
mast to which his shackles were
bent and the altered motion Of the
hull told him that the ship was
under way.
Presently the firing ceased and
the regular rising and falling Of the
ship betokened that it was on its
course. In the darkness Of the
hold, Tanar could see nothing.
Sometimes the prisoners spoke to
one another, but their thoughts were
not happy ones, and so; for the most
part, they remained silent--waiting.
For what?
They grew very hungry and very
thirsty. BY this they knew that the
ship was far at sea. They knew
nothing Of time. They only knew
that they were hungry and thirsty
and that the ship should be far at
sea-far out upon an unknown sea,
setting its course for an unknown
port.
Presently a hatch was raised and
men came with food and water
poor. rough food and water that
smelled badly and tasted worse; but
it was water and they. we're thirsty.
One Of the men said:f Where is
he who is called Tanar?"
II am Tanar,' replied the son Of
Ghak.
"You are wanted on deck" said
the man and with a huge key he
unlocked the massive, handwrought
lock that held Tanar chained to the
mast. Follow mel"
=
THE bright light of P~ellucidar's
Il perpetual day blinded the
Sarian as he clambered to the dock
from the dark hold in which he had
been confined and It was q full
minute before his eyes could endure
the light, but his guard hustled him
roughly along and Tanar already
was stumbling up the long stairs
leading to the high deck at the
ships stern before he regained the
use Of his eyes.
AS he mounted the highest deck,
he saw the chiefs of the Korsar
horde assembled and with them
were two women. One appeared eld-
erly and i'll favored, but the other
was young and beautiful, but for
neither did Tanar have any eyes
he was Interested only in the enemy
men, for those he could fight, those
he might kill, which was the sole
interest that an enemy could hold
for Tanar, the Sarian. Being what
he was, Tanar could not fight
women, not even enemy women;
but he could ignore them and did.
He was led before q huge fellow
whose bushy whiSkers almost hid his
face-a great, clustering fellow with
a scarlet scarf bound about his
head. But for an embroidered,
sleeveless jacket, open at the front,
the man was naked above the waist,
about which was wound another
gaudy sash into which were stuck
two pistols and as many long
knives, while at his side dangled a
cutlasS, the hilt Of which was orna-
mented richly with inlays of pearl
and Semi-precious stones,
A mighty man was the Cid chief
of the KorsarS-a burly, clustering,
bully Of a man, whose position
among the rough and quarrelsome
KorsarS might be maintained only
by such as he. ls
Surrounding him upon the high
poop of his ship was a company Of
beefy ruffians of similar mold, while
far below, in the waist of the YES
sci, a throng of lesser. cutthroats,
the. common sailors, escaped from
the dangers and demands of an
arduous campaign, relaxed accord
ing to their various. .whims.
Stark bruteS were most of these.
naked but for the shorts and the
inevitable gaudy sashes and the
head clothS-an unlovely company,
yet picturesque.
u
a the CloS side stood a younger
IL man, who we'll could boast as
hideous, a c~ountenance as any sun
ever shone upon,. for across a face
that might have taxed v a
mothers love, ran a repulsive scar
from above the left eye to below the
right-hand corner of the mouth,
cleaving the nose with a deep. red
cash.
The left eye was 1idleSs and gazed
perpetually upward and outward. as
a dead eye might, while the upper
lip was permanently drawn upward
at the right side in a sardonic sheer
that exposed a single fang-like
tooth: No, Bohar the Bloody was
not beautiful. ~
Before these two, The Cid and
The Bloody One, Tanar was dragged
roughly.
They call you Tapsr?" beloved
The Cid.
Tanar nOddad