? ? ? ? The nobles stepped back from about the dead body of their ruler, and one of them pointed to the grinning corpse.
? ? ? ? The messenger staggered back in horror as though from a blow in the face.
? ? ? ? "Then fly, nobles of Okar!" he cried, "for naught can save you. Hark! They come!"
? ? ? ? As he spoke we heard the deep roar of angry men from the corridor without, and the clank of metal and the clang of swords.
? ? ? ? Without another glance toward me, who had stood a spectator of the tragic scene, the nobles wheeled and fled from the apartment through another exit.
? ? ? ? Almost immediately a force of yellow warriors appeared in the doorway through which the messenger had come. They were backing toward the apartment, stubbornly resisting the advance of a handful of red men who faced them and forced them slowly but inevitably back.
? ? ? ? Above the heads of the contestants I could see from my elevated station upon the dais the face of my old friend Kantos Kan.
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