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Behind the hangings there was a space of about three feet in width between theeway entirely around the roole entrance opposite the apartments of the rich and powerful upon Barsooeway afforded a station for guards in the sa entirely upon his privacy; it concealed secret exits from the chamber; it permitted the occupant of the rooainst eneht lure to his chamber

The three chiefs with a dozen warriors had had no difficulty in following the tracks of the fugitives through the dust of the corridors and chambers they had traversed To enter this portion of the palace at all had required all the courage they possessed, and now that they ithin the very chahest key-another turn and they would snap; for the people of Manator are filled eird superstitions As they entered the outer cha anxious to take the lead, and the twelve warriors hanging back in unconcealed and shameless terror, while the three chiefs, spurred on by fear of O-Tar and by pride, pressed together for hted roo the tracks of Gahan and Tara they found that though each doorway had been approached only one threshold had been crossed and this door they gingerly opened, revealing to their astonished gaze the four warriors at the jetan table For a h they knehat they were, co as they did upon them in this h they had beheld the very ghosts of the departed But they presently regained their courage sufficiently to cross this chaeway that led to the ancient sleeping apartment of O-Mai the Cruel They did not know that this awful chamber lay just before them, or it were doubtful that they would have proceeded farther; but they saw that those they sought had colooing their followers, in lohispers, to close in behind them, and there just within the entrance they stood until, their eyes becoht, one of the upon the floor with one foot tangled in the coverings of the dais