Page 143 (1/1)
It was a duel that held those itnessed it in spellbound silence The weaving blades glea to the parries of cut and thrust The barbaric harness of the duelists lent splendid color to the savage, e Odwar, forced upon the defensive, was fighting madly for his life The Black, with cool and terrible efficiency, was forcing him steadily, step by step, into a corner of the square-a position from which there could be no escape To abandon the square was to lose it to his opponent and win for hi populace Spurred on by the seee Odwar burst into a sudden fury of offense that forced the Black back a half dozen steps, and then the sword of U-Dor's piece leaped in and drew first blood, from the shoulder of his eed by his single success, sought to bear down the Black by the rapidity of his attack There was a moment in which the swords ht follow, and then the Black Odwarparry of a vicious thrust, leaned quickly forward into the opening he had effected, and drove his sword through the heart of the Orange Odwar-to the hilt he drove it through the body of the Orange Odwar
A shout arose from the stands, for wherever may have been the favor of the spectators, none there ho could say that it had not been a pretty fight, or that the better h of relief as they relaxed from the tension of the past ah features of it are necessary to your understanding of the outcome The fourth move after the victory of the Black Odwar found Gahan upon U-Dor's fourth; an Orange Panthan was on the adjoining square diagonally to his right and the only opposing piece that could engage him other than U-Dor himself
It had been apparent to both players and spectators for the past two ht across the field into the enee Chief-that he was staking all upon his belief in the superiority of his oordse, the outcoe Gahan, or he could move his Princess' Panthan upon the square occupied by Gahan in he hope that the forame, which is the outco Chief, or he could move away and escape, temporarily, the necessity for personal combat, or at least that is evidently what he had inthe board about him; and his disappointment was apparent when he finally discovered that Gahan had so placed himself that there was no square to which U-Dor could move that it was not within Gahan's power to reach at his own next move