Few of these islets contained over an acre of ground, but presently
we sighted a much larger one directly ahead. This proved to be
our destination, and the great ship was soon made fast against the
steep shore.
Xodar signalled us to follow him and with a half-dozen officers and
men we left the battleship and approached a large oval structure
a couple of hundred yards from the shore.
"You shall soon see Issus," said Xodar to Phaidor. "The few
prisoners we take are presented to her. Occasionally she selects
slaves from among them to replenish the ranks of her handmaidens.
None serves Issus above a single year," and there was a grim smile
on the black's lips that lent a cruel and sinister meaning to his
simple statement.
Phaidor, though loath to believe that Issus was allied to such as
these, had commenced to entertain doubts and fears. She clung very
closely to me, no longer the proud daughter of the Master of Life
and Death upon Barsoom, but a young and frightened girl in the
power of relentless enemies.
The building which we now entered was entirely roofless. In its
centre was a long tank of water, set below the level of the floor
like the swimming pool of a natatorium. Near one side of the pool
floated an odd-looking black object. Whether it were some strange
monster of these buried waters, or a queer raft, I could not at
once perceive.
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