“For upon the outcome of this fight ’twixt me and thee, Klow, hinges the whole affair!  If thou dost survive, down comes my banner; and my men on the hill shall topple the boulder which shall rush down the slope and burst the iron rod and break the spell.  Stand, then, and defend thyself!”

And it did me good to see the spirit fly into his eyes.  He saw that his empire lived or died as he lived or died, and he fought as he had never fought before.  Small man that he was beside myself, he were wondrous quick and sure in his motions; before I knew it, he had bit his ax deep into my side.

And in another moment or two it was over.  For, as soon as I felt the pain of that gash, I flung my own blade away; and with a roar such as would have shaken a stouter heart than his, I charged the man, took a second fearful blow full on my chest and heeding it not at all I snatched the ax from his hands.  Then, as he turned to run, I dropped that tool also.

And I ran him down, and felled him, and broke his head with my hands.

VI

THE FITTEST

[Footnote:  This chapter was originally as long as the others, but an unfortunate accident of Mr. Smith’s, before he was thoroughly familiar with the machine, mutilated a large portion of the tape so badly that it was made worthless.  This explains why something appears to be missing from the account, and also why this chapter begins in the middle of a sentence.]

slaves; but the most were slain.  Neither could we bother with their women and others left behind.

Now, by this time the empire was as one man in its worship of me.  I had been emperor but a year, and already I had made it certain that only the men of Vlamaland, and no others, should live in the sight of Jon.  So well thought they of me, I might fair have sat upon my reputation, and have spent my last days in feasting like the man before me.

But I was still too young and full of energy to take my ease.  I found myself more and more restless; I had naught to do; it had all been done.  At last I sent for old Maka.

“Ye put me up to this, ye old fraud,” I told him, pretending to be wrathful.  “Now set me another task, or I’ll have thy head!”

He knew me too well to be affrighted.  He said that he had been considering my case of late.

“Strokor, thy father was right when he told thee to have naught to do with women.  That is to say, he were right at the time.  Were he alive today”—­I forgot to say that my father was killed in the battle across the sea—­“he would of a certainty say that it were high time for thee to pick thy mate.

“Remember, Strokor; great though thou art, yet when death taketh thee thy greatness is become a memory.  Methinks ye should leave something more substantial behind.”

It took but little thought to convince me that Maka were right once more.  Fact; as soon as I thought upon it, it were a woman that I was restless for.  The mere notion instantly gave me something worth while to look forward to.