In this respect was Gahan handicapped, though the loyalty of his players did much to offset his ignorance of them, since they aided him in arranging the board to the best advantage and told him honestly the faults and virtues of each.  One fought best in a losing game; another was too slow; another too impetuous; this one had fire and a heart of steel, but lacked endurance.  Of the opponents, though, they knew little or nothing, and now as the two sides took their places upon the black and orange squares of the great jetan board Gahan obtained, for the first time, a close view of those who opposed him.  The Orange Chief had not yet entered the field, but his men were all in place.  Val Dor turned to Gahan.  “They are all criminals from the pits of Manator,” he said.  “There is no slave among them.  We shall not have to fight against a single fellow-countryman and every life we take will be the life of an enemy.”

“It is well,” replied Gahan; “but where is their Chief, and where the two Princesses?”

“They are coming now, see?” and he pointed across the field to where two women could be seen approaching under guard.

As they came nearer Gahan saw that one was indeed Tara of Helium, but the other he did not recognize, and then they were brought to the center of the field midway between the two sides and there waited until the Orange Chief arrived.

Floran voiced an exclamation of surprise when he recognized him.  “By my first ancestor if it is not one of their great chiefs,” he said, “and we were told that slaves and criminals were to play for the stake of this game.”

His words were interrupted by the keeper of The Towers whose duty it was not only to announce the games and the stakes, but to act as referee as well.

“Of this, the second game of the first day of the Jeddak’s Games in the four hundred and thirty-third year of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, the Princesses of each side shall be the sole stakes and to the survivors of the winning side shall belong both the Princesses, to do with as they shall see fit.  The Orange Princess is the slave woman Lan-O of Gathol; the Black Princess is the slave woman Tara, a princess of Helium.  The Black Chief is U-Kal of Manataj, a volunteer player; the Orange Chief is the dwar U-Dor of the 8th Utan of the jeddak of Manator, also a volunteer player.  The squares shall be contested to the death.  Just are the laws of Manator!  I have spoken.”

The initial move was won by U-Dor, following which the two Chiefs escorted their respective Princesses to the square each was to occupy.  It was the first time Gahan had been alone with Tara since she had been brought upon the field.  He saw her scrutinizing him closely as he approached to lead her to her place and wondered if she recognized him:  but if she did she gave no sign of it.  He could not but remember her last words—­“I hate you!” and her desertion of him when he had been locked in