The men had but scarcely seated themselves when I arose. The killing of Uldak and Povak and the marking of their breasts with the sign of the Warlord might have been a coincidence but if two more men, sent to destroy me, met a similar fate, no doubt could remain even in a stupid mind but that all four had come to their end at the hands of John Carter himself. I should have been glad to put my mark upon their breasts, but I knew that if I killed them, the suspicion that Ur Jan harbored that I might be John Carter would be definitely confirmed. Their presence was a compliment to me and an admission that Ur Jan realized that it would take more than one swordsman to account for me.
I had seen them both at the meeting of the assassins, and I seldom forget a face. No sign passed between them and Rapas, but I recognized them both and knew why they were there. It was a most amusing situation.Īs our meal drew to an end, two villainous-looking fellows entered and seated themselves at a table.
I knew that Rapas was now a creature of Ur Jan’s and that, with his fellows, he had been commissioned to kill me and I had been commissioned by Fal Sivas to kill Rapas yet here we were, dining and gossiping together. It is not strange that I should repeat them to a friend.”įriend! The idea was most amusing. These are merely things that I have heard upon the street. “No,” he disclaimed, presently “it is nothing like that. He cleared his throat several times as though about to speak, but evidently he could not think of anything to say, nor could his eyes hold steadily to mine. “One would think that you are a full-fledged member of his guild.”įor a moment he was confused. “You seem to know a great deal about Ur Jan,” I remarked, casually. It was as though for a moment his stupid mind had forgotten the suspicion that it had held that I might be John Carter and then, after exposing some of the secrets of his master, he had recalled the fact and was terrified. He stopped suddenly, and his eyes registered a combination of suspicion and terror. Tonight he meets with his principal lieutenants to perfect the details of a plan which, they believe, will definitely and for all time end the activities of John Carter against the guild of assassins. He has offered an immense reward for the positive identification of the man who killed Uldak and Povak. “Of course,” he said, “it is nothing to me but Ur Jan is furious. The eyes of Rapas the Ulsio told me that he did not agree with me that the killing of one of Ur Jan’s assassins was of no concern to either him or me, but his lips spoke otherwise. EYES speak the truth more often than the lips.
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