Holding the free end of the rope in one hand, he poised the length of wood, spear-fashion, aimed carefully, then launched it toward the stone supports of the bal.u.s.trade above and to his left.

Like an arrow it sped up and out, to pa.s.s cleanly between two of the columns. Hauling in the slack, Tharn felt the rod catch lengthwise above him; and though he tugged with all the strength of his arms, the rope remained secure.

Without a backward glance, the cave-man swung into s.p.a.ce, at the same time clambering hand over hand up the swinging strands. As his feet left the ledge, he heard the door of the girl's room fly open and her voice ring out.

The echo of that call had not faded as young Tharn closed a hand on the balcony's rail, pulled himself over and leaped through the window beyond.

The chamber he had entered was dimly lighted by the moon's rays. Its dense shadows might conceal a score of armed foes; but Tharn had no time to exercise caution. Three giant strides served to close the gap between window and doorway. To find the latch required only an instant; and slowly, lest the door squeak a protest, he swung it back sufficiently to look out into the corridor. Finding it empty of life, he stepped out, gently closing the door behind him.

To his right, a short distance down the hall, were two great doors, both closed; to his left, a long stretch of gallery with doors on either side. The sight of these latter held Tharn's attention, for all were barred _from the outside_. Behind one of those barred entrances, he reasoned, might be Dylara.

Stepping quietly to the first he pressed an ear to the crack. Hearing nothing, he lifted the bar with infinite care and looked in.

The room beyond was deserted. He shut the door, replaced the plank and went on to the next. It, too, was empty.

Working his way gradually forward, he had covered perhaps half the hallway and was in the act of lifting another bar from its catches, when the double doors at the far end of the gallery were thrown open and a swarm of soldiers came racing through. Before Tharn could attempt to find cover, he had been seen, and with shouts of satisfaction the men ran toward him.

Realizing he was greatly outnumbered, the man of the caves turned to flee; but to his consternation another group of Sepharians appeared at the corridor's opposite end and, warned by the shouts of their fellows, had caught sight of the giant intruder.

Tharn knew he was trapped! To enter one of the cubicles he had been searching would mean hopeless imprisonment. Once he was within, the enemy had only to slip the bar into place.

It appeared his lone chance for freedom was to cut a way through a living wall of armed men. Once past them, Tharn felt confident they could not overtake him.

Like two angry waves, the Sepharians hurled themselves on the lone Cro-Magnon. But the steel muscles and incredible agility that had brought their owner through encounters with savage dwellers of jungle and plain were not to be so easily subdued as Sephar's warriors had supposed.

Tharn sprang to meet them, charging full into their midst. Catching the nearest foeman about the waist, the cave-man swung him bodily from the floor and hurled him, a screaming projectile of fear, into the faces of his companions.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tharn swung the nearest warrior bodily into the air]

Four went down beneath the terrific impact; but before Tharn could follow up this momentary advantage, a swiftly descending club caught him a glancing blow behind one ear.

With a roar of fury the cave-youth wheeled and plunged his knife into the breast of the club-wielder; then seizing that weapon from the fingers of the dying man, swung it in a savage arc, splitting the skulls of three foes and transforming the weighty bludgeon into a handful of splinters.

Upon witnessing this superhuman feat, the balance of the Sepharians drew back in awe. Tharn, ringed about by a full score of enemies, their faces drawn and tense, stopped suddenly, caught up a stray club and once more charged.

For a moment it appeared the thin line of men would give way before that impetuous attack. The one directly in Tharn's path sought to dodge aside; but mighty fingers caught him about the neck, squeezed with irresistible force, and the man dropped, his vertebrae splintered.

Suddenly Tharn's legs were buckled by the combined thrust of three pairs of arms. As he fell backward, a club dealt his head a frightful blow; a great burst of fire seemed to sear his eyes--then blackness came as consciousness left him.

The sounds of struggling bodies, punctuated with screams of rage and anguish, awakened Dylara with a start. For a second she was uncertain from whence the bedlam came; then she leaped from the bed and ran to the closed door.

From the noise that reached her, she judged some wild beast had been trapped in the corridor outside; surely no human throat could have formed the fearsome snarls and growls coming to her ears.

Soon she caught the sound of a blow, heavier than the others, followed by deep silence, broken only by labored breathing of many men.

What could it have meant? Had a slave--perhaps one of her own race--attempted an escape? Or had some great animal invaded this lair of man while searching for food?

The thought never came to her that it might have been Tharn surprised outside her door. So positive was she that the cave-man had died beneath arrow and club, that she did not dream she had been on the verge of rescue.

It was from her door that Tharn had been lifting the bar when attacked.

CHAPTER VI

Katon

A painful sensation in one shoulder brought full consciousness to Tharn, and opening his eyes he stared blankly up into the face of a Sepharian warrior. Noticing Tharn was awake, the man lowered the spear point with which he had been prodding the captive.

"So--you are alive, after all!" exclaimed the Sepharian. "You have a hard head, my savage friend; I thought they had beaten it in for you, last night."

The speaker's thin sharp face reminded the cave-man of Toa, the hawk.

Tharn's lips curled with open contempt.

"The arms of your men are weak," he said mockingly. "It took many of them to overcome me."

An angry red came into the man's cheeks. "They meant to take you alive,"

he snapped. "Try to escape and you will find a quick death." He turned on his heel and strode away.

Tharn sat up and glanced about. It was evident he was in some subterranean spot; the air was cool and slightly damp, and there was that musty odor found only beneath the earth's surface. High up in one wall he made out an immense grating of some sort outlined against an early morning sky.

As the light grew stronger he saw the room to be tremendous. He noticed now that he was not alone; near the far wall lay a full score of sleeping men--many of them apparently cave-men like himself.

The sound of feet to his left attracted Tharn. He saw several men enter the cell through the room's single door, and place huge platters of meat on the several long tables near one wall. Noticing the sleeping men were rousing and taking stools about those tables, Tharn got to his feet and, ignoring their curious stares, joined them there.

Lowering his weight onto one of the three-legged stools, Tharn dipped into one of the great platters a neighbor had pushed toward him. As he ate, he looked about at the faces of his fellow prisoners.

They were an ill-a.s.sorted lot, most of them Sepharians, the balance men of his own kind. The former, without exception, seemed to carry themselves with the swaggering truculence of the true adventurer; the latter seemed sullen and aloof, like caged animals.

Among them all, however, was one who stood out in vivid contrast. Seated almost directly across from Tharn was a tall muscular Sepharian with a strong face and a pair of the bluest eyes Tharn had ever seen. His well-proportioned body, tanned almost to blackness, had much of the regal bearing that graced the cave-man's own.

Catching Tharn's eye, the stranger smiled suddenly, and unconsciously Tharn smiled in return. Thus encouraged, the Sepharian leaned forward and said:

"How did they happen to catch you?"

Those were the first actually friendly words Tharn had heard since the night he had left his own caves. For a moment he hesitated to answer, uncertain of the motive behind the other's interest.

"I was hunting for someone," he said finally.

The blue eyes widened a bit. "You mean they found you _in_ Sephar?"