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Now he turned his attention to a hurried inventory of the new conditions which surrounded hiuely what had happened He had been anaesthetized and stripped of his weapons, and as he rose to his feet he saw that one ankle was fettered to a chain in the wall He looked about the roo wide open! His captors would render his i glimpses of open aisles to the freedom he could not attain Upon the end of the table and within easy reach was food and drink This at least was attainable and at sight of it his starved stomach seemed almost to cry aloud for sustenance It ith difficulty that he ate and drank in moderation

As he devoured the food his eyes wandered about the confines of his prison until suddenly they seized upon a thing that lay on the table at the end farthest from him It was a key He raised his fettered ankle and examined the lock There could be no doubt of it! The key that lay there on the table before him was the key to that very lock A careless warrior had laid it there and departed, forgetting

Hope surged high in the breast of Gahan of Gathol, of Turan the panthan Furtively his eyes sought the open doorways There was no one in sight Ah, if he could but gain his freedom! He would find soain would he leave her until he had won safety for her or death for himself

He rose and moved cautiously toward the opposite end of the table where lay the coveted key The fettered ankle halted his first step, but he stretched at full length along the table, extending eager fingers toward the prize They almost laid hold upon it-a little more and they would touch it He strained and stretched, but still the thing lay just beyond his reach He hurled himself forward until the iron fetter bit deep into his flesh, but all futilely He sat back upon the bench then and glared at the open doors and the key, realizing now that they were part of a well-laid sche because it inflicted no physical suffering

For just a , then he gathered hiether, his brows cleared, and he returned to his unfinished meal At least they should not have the satisfaction of knowing how sorely they had hit hi the table along the floor he could bring the key within his reach, but when he essayed to do so, he found that the table had been securely bolted to the floor during the period of his unconsciousness Again Gahan s