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144 guard give more than speculative answers, and then, presently, the messenger returned with word that the party was immediately to be admitted to the king’s presence. The heavy doors were swung wide and Tarzan found himself upon the threshold of an enormous chamber, the walls of which converged toward the opposite end, where a throne stood upon a dais. Massive wooden columns supported the ceiling, which was plas­tered between its beams. The beams as well as the columns were ornamented with carving, while the plastered portions of the ceiling carried gor­geous arabesques in brilliant colors. The walls were paneled to half their height, and above the paneling of wood were painted panels which Tar­zan assumed depicted historical events from the history of Veltopismakus and her kings.

The room was vacant except for two warriors who stood before doors that flanked the throne dais, and as the party moved down the broad cen­ter aisle toward the throne one of these warriors signaled the leader and motioned to the door which he was guarding and which he now threw open before them, revealing a small antechamber in which were half a dozen handsomely trapped warriors seated on small, carved benches, while a seventh lolled in a high-backed chair, his fingers tapping upon its broad arms as he listened to the conversation of the others, into which he threw an occasional word that always was received with