At the doorway they halted and the officer
turned sternly upon the warrior. With upraised finger he pointed
at Ghek.
"There sits the creature! Didst thou dare lie, then, to thy
dwar?"
"I swear," cried the warrior, "that I spoke the truth. But a
moment since the thing groveled, headless, upon this very table!
And may my first ancestor strike me dead upon the spot if I speak
other than a true word!"
The officer looked puzzled. The men of Mars seldom if ever lie.
He scratched his head. Then he addressed Ghek. "How long have you
been here?" he asked.
"Who knows better than those who placed me here and chained me to
a wall?" he returned in reply.
"Saw you this warrior enter here a few minutes since?"
"I saw him," replied Ghek.
"And you sat there where you sit now?" continued the officer.
"Look thou to my chain and tell me then where else might I sit!"
cried Ghek. "Art the people of thy city all fools?"
Three other warriors pressed behind the two in front, craning
their necks to view the prisoner while they grinned at the
discomfiture of their fellow.
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