Afterward
he had a bath and rub-down.
A combat to the death, was it to be? Suits me, thought Watson. He
was never in finer form.
The Jan Lucar was particularly interested. He pinched and stroked
Chick's muscles with the caressing pride of a connoisseur. Watson
stepped out of the fountain bath in all the vigour of health. He
playfully reached out for the Lucar and tripped him up. He sought
to learn just what the Thomahlians knew in the art of self-
defence.
The brief struggle that ensued taught him that he need expect no
easy conquest. The Jan was quick, active and the possessor of a
science peculiarly effective. The Thomahlians did not box in the
manner of the Anglo-Saxons; their mode was peculiar. Chick foresaw
that he would be compelled to combine the methods of three kinds
of combat: boxing, ju-jitsu, and the good old catch-as-catch-can
wrestling. If the Senestro were superior to the Jan, he would have
a time indeed. Though Watson conquered, he could not but concede
that the Jan was not only clever but scientific to an oily,
bewildering degree. The Lucar paused.
"Enough, my lord! You are a man indeed. Do not overdo; save
yourself for the Senestro."
Clothes were brought, and Chick taken back to his apartment. The
time passed with Rhamdas constantly at his side.
The Geos was not present, nor the little queen. Chick sought
permission to sit by the window--permission that was granted after
the guards had placed screens that would withhold any view from
outside, yet permit Chick to look out.
Pages:
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343