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10 - Moon Maid by Edgar Rice Burroughs · Moon Maid

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Speaker 1: Chapter nine, an attack by coalcars. The tunnel in which
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Speaker 1: I found myself and along which Nayillah led me toward
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Speaker 1: the city of Lathe, was remarkable in several particulars. It
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Speaker 1: was largely of natural origin, seemingly consisting of a series
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Speaker 1: of caves which may have been formed by bubbles in
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Speaker 1: the cooling lava of the original molten flow, and which
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Speaker 1: had later been connected by man to form a continuous
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Speaker 1: subterranean corridor. The caves themselves were usually more or less
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Speaker 1: spherical in shape, and the debris from the connecting passageways
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Speaker 1: had been utilized to fill the bottoms of them to
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Speaker 1: the level of the main floor of the passageway. The
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Speaker 1: general trend of the tunnel was upward from the point
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Speaker 1: at which we had entered it, and there was a
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Speaker 1: constant draft of air rushing along it in the same
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Speaker 1: direction in which we were moving, assuring me that it
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Speaker 1: was undoubtedly well ventilated for its full length. The walls
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Speaker 1: and ceiling were coated with a substance of which radium
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Speaker 1: was evidently one of the ingredients, Since even after we
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Speaker 1: had lost sight of the entrance, the passageway was well illuminated.
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Speaker 1: We had been moving along in silence for quite a
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Speaker 1: little distance. When I finally addressed na'illah. It must seem good,
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Speaker 1: I said, to travel again this familiar tunnel of your
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Speaker 1: native city. I know how happy I should be were
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Speaker 1: I thus approaching my own birthplace. I am glad to
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Speaker 1: be returning to Lathe, she said, for many reasons, but
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Speaker 1: for one I am sorry. And as for this passageway,
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Speaker 1: it is scarcely more familiar to me than to you,
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Speaker 1: since I have traversed it but once before in my life,
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Speaker 1: and that when I was a little girl and came
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Speaker 1: here with my father in his court, upon the occasion
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Speaker 1: of his periodical inspection of the passageway, which is now
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Speaker 1: practically never used. If you are not familiar with the tunnel,
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Speaker 1: I asked, are you sure that there is no danger
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Speaker 1: of our going astray at some fork or branch. There
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Speaker 1: is but the one passageway, she replied, which leads from
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Speaker 1: the crater to Lathe. And how long is the tunnel?
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Speaker 1: I asked, Will we soon enter the city? No, she replied,
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Speaker 1: it is a great distance from the crater to Lathe.
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Speaker 1: We had covered some little distance at this time, possibly
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Speaker 1: five or six miles, and she had scarcely ceased speaking
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Speaker 1: when a turn in the passageway led us into a
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Speaker 1: cave of larger proportions than any through which we had
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Speaker 1: previously passed, and from the opposite side of which two
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Speaker 1: passageways diverged. I thought there were no branches, I remarked,
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Speaker 1: I do not understand it, She said, there is no
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Speaker 1: branch from the tunnel of Lathe. Could it be possible
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Speaker 1: that we are in the wrong tunnel, I asked, and
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Speaker 1: that this does not lead to Lathe. A moment before
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Speaker 1: I should have been sure that we were in the
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Speaker 1: right tunnel, she replied, But now, Julian, I do not know,
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Speaker 1: for never had I heard of any branch of our
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Speaker 1: own tunnel. We had crossed the cave and were standing
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Speaker 1: between the openings of the two divergent passageways. Which one
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Speaker 1: shall we take? I asked, But again she shook her head.
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Speaker 1: I do not know, she replied. Listen, I cautioned her,
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Speaker 1: what was that, for I was sure that I had
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Speaker 1: heard a sound issuing from one of the tunnels. We
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Speaker 1: stood peering into an aperture, which revealed about a hundred
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Speaker 1: yards of the passageway before an abrupt turn hid the
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Speaker 1: continuation of it. From our view, we could hear what
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Speaker 1: now resolved itself into the faint sound of voices approaching
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Speaker 1: us along the corridor, and then quite suddenly the figure
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Speaker 1: of a man appeared around the corner of the turn.
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Speaker 1: Nailah leaped to one side out of sight, drawing me
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Speaker 1: with her a cow car. She whispered, Oh, Julian, if
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Speaker 1: they find us, we are lost. If there is only
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Speaker 1: one of them, I can take care of him, I said,
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Speaker 1: There will be more than one, she replied, there will
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Speaker 1: be many. Then let us return the way we came
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Speaker 1: and make our way to the top of the crater's rim.
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Speaker 1: Before they discover us. We can throw their hooked poles
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Speaker 1: into the crater, including the one which we use to
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Speaker 1: ascend from the mouth of the tunnel, thus effectually preventing
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Speaker 1: any pursuit. We cannot cross this room again to the
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Speaker 1: tunnel upon the opposite side without being apprehended. She replied.
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Speaker 1: Our only hope is in hiding in this other tunnel
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Speaker 1: until they have passed, and trusting to chance that we
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Speaker 1: meet no one within it. Come then, I said, I
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Speaker 1: dislike the idea of flying like a scared rabbit, but
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Speaker 1: neither would there be any great wisdom in facing armed
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Speaker 1: men without a single weapon of defense. Even as we
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Speaker 1: had whispered thus briefly together, we found the voices from
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Speaker 1: the other tunnel had increased, and I thought that I
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Speaker 1: noted a tone of excitement in them, though the speakers
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Speaker 1: were still too far away for us to understand their words.
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Speaker 1: We moved swiftly up the branch tunnel, Ni Llah in
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Speaker 1: the lead, and after passing the first turn, we both
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Speaker 1: felt comparatively safe. For Naiyi Llah was sure that the
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Speaker 1: men who had interrupted our journey were a party of
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Speaker 1: hunters on their way to the outer world by means
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Speaker 1: of the crater through which we had entered the tunnel,
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Speaker 1: and that they would not come up the branch in
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Speaker 1: which we were hiding. Thus believing, we halted after we
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Speaker 1: were safely out of sight and hearing of the large
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Speaker 1: cave we had just left. That man was a call car,
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Speaker 1: said Naiyillah, which means that we are in the wrong tunnel,
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Speaker 1: and that we must retrace our steps and continue our
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Speaker 1: search for lath upon the surface of the ground. Her
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Speaker 1: voice sounded tired and listless, as though hope had suddenly
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Speaker 1: deserted her brave heart. We were standing shoulder to shoulder
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Speaker 1: in the narrow corridor, and I could not resist the
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Speaker 1: impulse to place an arm about her and comfort her.
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Speaker 1: Do not despair, Naillah, I begged her. We are no
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Speaker 1: worse off than we have been, and much better off
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Speaker 1: than before we escaped the vagas of Gabego. Then do
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Speaker 1: you not recall that you mention one drawback to your
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Speaker 1: return to Lathe, that you might be as well off
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Speaker 1: here as there. What was the reason Ailah Kotah wants
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Speaker 1: me in marriage? She replied. Kota is very powerful. He
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Speaker 1: expects one day to be a Jemadar of Lathe. This
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Speaker 1: he cannot be while I live unless he marries me.
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Speaker 1: Do you wish to marry him? I asked, no, she
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Speaker 1: said not now before she hesitated. Before I left Lathe,
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Speaker 1: I did not care so very much. But now I
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Speaker 1: know that I cannot wed with Kota and your father,
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Speaker 1: I continued, What of him? Will he insist that you
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Speaker 1: marry Kotar? He cannot do otherwise, replied Nailah, For Kota
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Speaker 1: is very powerful. If my father refuses to permit me
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Speaker 1: to marry him, Kota may overthrow him. And when my
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Speaker 1: father is dead, should I still refuse to marry Kota,
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Speaker 1: they may slay me also and then become Jamadar easily,
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Speaker 1: for the blood of Jamadars flows in his veins. It
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Speaker 1: appears to me, Nayillah, that you will be about as
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Speaker 1: badly off at home as anywhere else in Banna. It
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Speaker 1: is too bad that I cannot take you to my
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Speaker 1: own earth, for you would be quite safe, and I
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Speaker 1: am sure happy. I wish that you might, Julian, she
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Speaker 1: replied simply. I was about to reply when she placed
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Speaker 1: slim fingers upon my lips. Hush, Julian, she whispered, They
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Speaker 1: are following us up this corridor. Come quickly. They must escape,
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Speaker 1: for they overtake us. And so saying, she turned and
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Speaker 1: ran quickly along the corridor, which led. Neither of us
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Speaker 1: new wither, but we were soon to find out, for
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Speaker 1: we had gone but a short distance when we came
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Speaker 1: to the tunnel's end, in a large circular chamber, at
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Speaker 1: one end of which was a rostrum, upon which were
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Speaker 1: a massive, elaborately carved desk and a chair of similar design.
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Speaker 1: Below the rostrum were arranged other chairs in rows, with
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Speaker 1: a broad aisle down the center. The furniture though of
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Speaker 1: peculiar design and elaborately carved with strange figures of unearthly
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Speaker 1: beasts and reptiles, was not, for all of that, markedly
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Speaker 1: dissimilar to articles of the same purpose fabricated upon earth.
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Speaker 1: The chairs had four legs, high backs, and broad arms,
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Speaker 1: seeming to have been designed equally for durability, service, and comfort.
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Speaker 1: I glanced quickly around the apartment as we first entered.
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Speaker 1: Only take he and the details later. But I saw
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Speaker 1: that there was no other opening than the one through
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Speaker 1: which we had entered. We will have to wait here,
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Speaker 1: Nilae said, Perhaps, though all will be well, the call
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Speaker 1: cars may prove friendly. She shook her head negatively. No,
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Speaker 1: she said, they will not be friendly. What will they
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Speaker 1: do to us? I asked. They will make slaves of us,
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Speaker 1: she replied, And we shall spend the balance of our
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Speaker 1: lives working almost continuously until we drop with fatigue under
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Speaker 1: the cruelest of taskmasters. For the coll cars hate us
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Speaker 1: of Lathe, and will hesitate at nothing that will humiliate
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Speaker 1: or injure us. She had scarcely ceased speaking when there
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Speaker 1: appeared in the entrance of the cave the figure of
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Speaker 1: a man about my own height, dressed in a tunic
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Speaker 1: similar to ni laws, but evidently made of leather. He
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Speaker 1: carried a knife slung in a scabbard depending from a
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Speaker 1: shoulder belt, and in his right hand he grasped a
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Speaker 1: slender lance. His eyes were close, set upon either side
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Speaker 1: of a prominent hooked nose. They were watering fishy. The
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Speaker 1: blue eyes and the hair growing profusely above his low
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Speaker 1: forehead was flaxen in color. His physique was admirable, except
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Speaker 1: for a noticeable stoop. His feet were very large, and
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Speaker 1: his gait awkward. When he moved behind him, I could
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Speaker 1: see the heads and shoulders of others. They stood there
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Speaker 1: grinning at us for a moment, most malevolently, it seemed
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Speaker 1: to me, and then they entered the cave, a full
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Speaker 1: dozen of them. There were several types, with eyes and
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Speaker 1: hair of different colors, the former ranging from blue to brown,
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Speaker 1: the latter from light blonde to almost black. As they
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Speaker 1: emerged from the mouth of the tunnel, they spread out
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Speaker 1: and advanced slowly toward us. We were cornered like rats
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Speaker 1: in a trap. How I longed for the feel of
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Speaker 1: my automatic at my hip. I envied them their under
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Speaker 1: spears and their daggers. If I could have. But these
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Speaker 1: I might have a chance at least to take Nayillah
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Speaker 1: out of their clutches and save her from the hideous
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Speaker 1: fate of slavery among the Kalgars. For I had guessed
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Speaker 1: what such slavery would mean to her from the little
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Speaker 1: that she had told me, and I had guessed too
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Speaker 1: that she would rather die than submit to it. For
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Speaker 1: my own part, life held little for me. I had
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Speaker 1: long since definitely given up any hope of ever returning
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Speaker 1: to my own world, or of finding the ship and
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Speaker 1: being reunited with West and Jay and Norton. There came
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Speaker 1: upon me at that moment, however, a sense of appreciation
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Speaker 1: of the fact that since we had left the village
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Speaker 1: of the Novans, I had been far from unhappy, Nor
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Speaker 1: could I attribute this to all else than the companionship
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Speaker 1: of Nahillah, A realization that convinced me that I should
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Speaker 1: be utterly miserable were she to be taken from me.
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Speaker 1: Now was I to submit supinely then to capture and
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Speaker 1: slavery for myself, and worse than death for Naila, with
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Speaker 1: the assurance of consequent separation from her. No, I held
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Speaker 1: up my hand as a signal for the advancing coalcars
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Speaker 1: to halt stop, I commanded, before you advance farther, I
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Speaker 1: wish to know your intentions toward us. We entered this
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Speaker 1: tunnel mistaking it for that which led to the city
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Speaker 1: of my companion. Permit us to depart in peace, and
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Speaker 1: all will be well. All will be well anyway, replied
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Speaker 1: the leader of the kalcars. You are a strange creature,
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Speaker 1: such as I had never seen before in Bona. Of you,
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Speaker 1: we know nothing except that you are not of the
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Speaker 1: coalcars and therefore an enemy of thekalcars. But this other
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Speaker 1: is from a lathe. You will not permit us to
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Speaker 1: go in peace, then I demanded. He laughed sneeringly, nor
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Speaker 1: in any other way, he said. I had been standing
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Speaker 1: in the aisle with my hand upon one of the
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Speaker 1: chairs near the rostrum, and now I turned to Nailah,
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Speaker 1: who was standing close beside me. Come, I said to
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Speaker 1: her follow me, stay close behind me. Several of the
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Speaker 1: caalcars were coming down the main aisle toward us, and
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Speaker 1: as I turned toward them from speaking to nari Llah,
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Speaker 1: I raised the chair which my hand had been resting upon, and,
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Speaker 1: swinging it quickly around my head, hurled it full in
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Speaker 1: the face of the leader as he went down. Nari
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Speaker 1: Llah and I ran forward, gaining a little toward the
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Speaker 1: opening of the tunnel, and then without pausing, I hurled
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Speaker 1: another chair, and a third and a fourth in rapid succession.
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Speaker 1: The calcars tried to bring us down with their lances,
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Speaker 1: but they were so busy dodging chairs that they could
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Speaker 1: not cast their weapons accurately, and even those few which
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Speaker 1: might otherwise have struck us were warded off by my
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Speaker 1: rather remarkable engines of defense. There had been four calcars
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Speaker 1: advancing toward us down the center aisle. The balance of
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Speaker 1: the party had divided, half of its circling the cave
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Speaker 1: to the left and the other half to the right,
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Speaker 1: with the evident intention of coming up the center aisle
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Speaker 1: from behind us. This maneuver had started just before I
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Speaker 1: commenced hurling chairs at the four directly in front of us,
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Speaker 1: And now, when those who had intended to take us
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Speaker 1: from the rear discovered that we were likely to make
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Speaker 1: our way through to the tunnel's entrance, some of them
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Speaker 1: sprang toward us along the passageways between the chairs, which
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Speaker 1: necessitated my turning and devoting a moment's attention to them.
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Speaker 1: One huge fellow was in the lead, coming across the
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Speaker 1: backs of the chairs, leaping from seat to seat, and
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Speaker 1: being the closest to me, he was naturally my first target.
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Speaker 1: The chairs were rather heavy, and the one that I
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Speaker 1: let drive at him caught him full in the chest
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Speaker 1: with an impact that brought a howl from him, and
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Speaker 1: tobbled him over across the backs of the chairs behind him,
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Speaker 1: where he hung limp and motionless. Then I turned my
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Speaker 1: attention again to those before us, all of whom had
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Speaker 1: fallen before my massive ammunition. Three of them lay still,
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Speaker 1: but one of them had scrambled to his feet and
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Speaker 1: was in the very act of casting his lance. As
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Speaker 1: I looked, I stopped the weapon with a chair, and
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Speaker 1: as the fellow went down, I caught a glimpse of
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Speaker 1: Naoila from the corners of my eyes. As she snatched
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Speaker 1: the lance from the first cowcr who had fallen and
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Speaker 1: hurled it at some one behind me. I heard a
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Speaker 1: scream of rage and pain, and then I turned in
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Speaker 1: time to see another of the calcrs fall almost at
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Speaker 1: my feet, the lance embedded in his heart. The way
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Speaker 1: before us was temporarily open, while the call cars behind
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Speaker 1: us had paused momentarily, at least in evident consternation at
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Speaker 1: the havoc. I rocked with these unseemly weapons, against which
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Speaker 1: they had no defense. Get two knives and two lances
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Speaker 1: from those who have fallen, I cried, Naillah, while I
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Speaker 1: hold these of it back. She did as I bad,
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Speaker 1: and slowly we backed toward the mouth of the tunnel.
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Speaker 1: My chairs had accounted for half our enemies when at
15:58
Speaker 1: last we stood in the opening, each armed with a
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Speaker 1: lance and a knife. Now run, Nahillah, as you never
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Speaker 1: ran before, I whispered to my companion. I can hold
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Speaker 1: them off until you have reached the mouth of the
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Speaker 1: tunnel and clamor to the rim of the crater. If
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Speaker 1: I am lucky, I will follow you. I will not
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Speaker 1: leave you, Julian, she replied. We will go together or
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Speaker 1: not at all, but you must. Nailah insisted. It is
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Speaker 1: for you that I have been fighting them. What difference
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Speaker 1: can it make in my fate where I am when
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Speaker 1: Invara all here are my enemies. She laid her hand
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Speaker 1: gently upon my arm. I will not leave you, Julian,
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Speaker 1: she repeated, And that is final. The galcars within the
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Speaker 1: room were now advancing toward us menacingly halt. I cried
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Speaker 1: to them, you see what fate your companions have met
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Speaker 1: because you would not let us go in peace. That
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Speaker 1: is all we ask. I am armed now, and it
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Speaker 1: will be death to any who follow us. They paused,
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Speaker 1: and I saw them spring together as Nailah and I
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Speaker 1: backed along the corridor, a turn in which soon shut
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Speaker 1: them from our view. Then we wheeled and ran like
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Speaker 1: deer along the winding passageway. I did not feel very
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Speaker 1: safe from capture at any time, but at least I
17:17
Speaker 1: breathed a sigh of relief. After we had passed the
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Speaker 1: chamber from which the Callcrs had run us into the
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Speaker 1: cul de sac, and we had seen no sign of
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Speaker 1: any other of their kind. We heard no sound of pursuit,
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Speaker 1: but that in itself meant nothing, since the caucrs are
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Speaker 1: shod with soft leather sandals, the material for which, like
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Speaker 1: all their other leather trappings, is made of the skins
17:39
Speaker 1: of vagas and of the prisoners from Lathe. As we
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Speaker 1: came to the pile of hooked poles, which marked the
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Speaker 1: last turn before the entrance of the tunnel, I breathed
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Speaker 1: an inward sigh of relief. Stooping, I gathered them all
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Speaker 1: in my arms, and then we ran on to the
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Speaker 1: opening into the crater, where I asked all but one
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Speaker 1: of the poles into the abyss. That which I retained,
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Speaker 1: I hooked over the lip of the crater, and then,
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Speaker 1: turning to Naillah, I bade her ascend. You should have
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Speaker 1: saved two of the poles, she said, and then we
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Speaker 1: could have ascended together. But I will make haste and
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Speaker 1: you can follow me immediately, For we do not know
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Speaker 1: but that they are pursuing us. I cannot imagine that
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Speaker 1: they will let us escape thus easily. Even as she spoke,
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Speaker 1: I heard the soft patter of sandal shot feet up
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Speaker 1: the corridor. Make haste, Nilah, I cried, they come. Climbing
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Speaker 1: a pole is slow work at best, But when one
18:38
Speaker 1: is suspended over the brink of a bottomless chasm and
18:42
Speaker 1: is none too sure of the security of the hook
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Speaker 1: that is holding the pole above, one must needs move cautiously.
18:49
Speaker 1: Yet even so Naila scrambled upwards so rapidly as to
18:52
Speaker 1: fill me with apprehension for a safety. Nor were my
18:56
Speaker 1: fears entirely groundless. For standing in the mouth of the tunnel,
19:00
Speaker 1: where I could keep one eye upon nigh Llah and
19:03
Speaker 1: the other toward the turn around which my pursuers would
19:06
Speaker 1: presently come in view. I saw the girl's hands grasp
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Speaker 1: the rim of the crater at the very instant that
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Speaker 1: the hook came loose, and the pole dropped past me
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Speaker 1: into the abyss. I might have caught it as it fell,
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Speaker 1: but my whole mind was fixed upon nigh Lah and
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Speaker 1: her grave danger. Would she be able to draw herself
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Speaker 1: upward or would she fall? I saw her straining frantically
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Speaker 1: to raise her body above the edge of the volcano,
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Speaker 1: and then from up the corridor behind me came an
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Speaker 1: exultant cry, and I turned to face a brawny coalcar
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Speaker 1: who was racing toward me. End of Chapter nine, recording
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Speaker 1: by Thomas Copeland