rces of
Thuria, the Land of Awful Shadow, and of his long journey in search of
Amoz.

"And why," I asked, "does Goork, your father, desire to join his
kingdom to the empire?"

"There are two reasons," replied the young man. "Forever have the
Mahars, who dwell beyond the Lidi Plains which lie at the farther rim
of the Land of Awful Shadow, taken heavy toll of our people, whom they
either force into lifelong slavery or fatten for their feasts. We have
heard that the great emperor makes successful war upon the Mahars,
against whom we should be glad to fight.

"Recently has another reason come. Upon a great island which lies in
the Sojar Az, but a short distance from our shores, a wicked man has
collected a great band of outcast warriors of all tribes. Even are
there many Sagoths among them, sent by the Mahars to aid the Wicked One.

"This band makes raids upon our villages, and it is constantly growing
in size and strength, for the Mahars give liberty to any of their male
prisoners who will promise to fight with this band against the enemies
of the Mahars. It is the purpose of the Mahars thus to raise a force
of our own kind to combat the growth and menace of the new empire of
which I have come to seek information. All this we learned from one of
our own warriors who had pretended to sympathize with this band and had
then escaped at the first opportunity."

"Who could this man be," I asked Ghak, "who leads so vile a movement
against his own kind?"

"His name is Hooja," spoke up Kolk, answering my question.

Ghak and I looked at each other. Relief was written upon his
countenance and I know that it was beating strongly in my heart. At
last we had discovered a tangible clue to the whereabouts of Hooja--and
with the clue a guide!

But when I broached the subject to Kolk he demurred. He had come a
long way, he explained, to see his sister and to confer with Dacor.
Moreover, he had instructions from his father which he could not ignore
lightly. But even so he would return with me and show me the way to
the island of the Thurian shore if by doing so we might accomplish
anything.

"But we cannot," he urged. "Hooja is powerful. He has thousands of
warriors. He has only to call upon his Mahar allies to receive a
countless horde of Sagoths to do his bidding against his human enemies.

"Let us wait until you may gather an equal horde from the kingdoms of
your empire. Then we may march against Hooja with som