rulers of Tecuhltli."

* * * * *

One of the four guards opened the door opposite the one by which they
had entered, and they passed through into a hallway which, like most of
the rooms on that level, was lighted by both the slot-like skylights and
the clusters of winking fire-gems. But unlike the other rooms they had
traversed, this hall showed evidences of occupation. Velvet tapestries
adorned the glossy jade walls, rich rugs were on the crimson floors, and
the ivory seats, benches and divans were littered with satin cushions.

The hall ended in an ornate door, before which stood no guard. Without
ceremony Techotl thrust the door open and ushered his friends into a
broad chamber, where some thirty dark-skinned men and women lounging on
satin-covered couches sprang up with exclamations of amazement.

The men, all except one, were of the same type as Techotl, and the women
were equally dark and strange-eyed, though not unbeautiful in a weird
dark way. They wore sandals, golden breast-plates, and scanty silk
skirts supported by gem-crusted girdles, and their black manes, cut
square at their naked shoulders, were bound with silver circlets.

On a wide ivory seat on a jade dais sat a man and a woman who differed
subtly from the others. He was a giant, with an enormous sweep of breast
and the shoulders of a bull. Unlike the others, he was bearded, with a
thick, blue-black beard which fell almost to his broad girdle. He wore a
robe of purple silk which reflected changing sheens of color with his
every movement, and one wide sleeve, drawn back to his elbow, revealed a
forearm massive with corded muscles. The band which confined his
blue-black locks was set with glittering jewels.

The woman beside him sprang to her feet with a startled exclamation as
the strangers entered, and her eyes, passing over Conan, fixed
themselves with burning intensity on Valeria. She was tall and lithe, by
far the most beautiful woman in the room. She was clad more scantily
even than the others; for instead of a skirt she wore merely a broad
strip of gilt-worked purple cloth fastened to the middle of her girdle
which fell below her knees. Another strip at the back of her girdle
completed that part of her costume, which she wore with a cynical
indifference. Her breast-plates and the circlet about her temples were
adorned with gems. In her eyes alone of all the dark-skinned people
there lurked no brooding gleam of