Kron" s wrist chains struck him across the cheek and ear, and the bread flew from his mouth.

"Distribute the food," said Kron.

"We choose you," said Andreas of Tor, "because you are known for your honesty."

And amazing to say, those chained wretches laughed.

Sullenly, while the Whip Slave stood by and watched, angry fearful, Ost distributed the poor fare that lay in the trough.

The last piece of bread I broke in two, taking half and giving the other half to Ost. "Eat," I said.

In fury, his eyes darting back and forth like those of an urt, he bit into the bread and gulped it down. "The chamber will be flooded for this," he said.

Andreas of Tor said, "I, for one, would be honoured to die in the company of Ost."

And again the men laughed, and I thought that even Ost smiled. The Whip Slave watched while we filed up the long incline to the shafts, his whip arm limp. Wondering, he watched us, for one of the men, of the Caste of Peasants, had begun to hum a plowing song, and, one by one, the others joined him.

The quota was well met that day, and the day following.

Chapter Eighteen: WE ARE OF THE SAME CHAIN

Occasionally a bit of news filtered down into the mines, brought by the slaves who filled the feeding trough. These slaves were fortunate for they had access to the central shaft. Each of the hundred mines of Tharna, at one level or another, opened on this shaft. It is to be distinguished from the much smaller ore shafts, which are individual to each mine. The ore shafts are like narrow wells sunk in the stone and their platforms can scarcely accomodate a slave" s sack of ore.

It is through the central shaft that the mines of Tharna are supplied. Down that shaft comes not only food but, when needed, canvas, tools and chains. Drinking water, of course, is supplied by the natural sumps in each mine. I myself, and my fellow slaves, had descended the central shaft. Only dead slaves made the ascent.

Beginning with the slaves who worked the pulleys that controlled the supply platform in the central shaft, the news had spread, from one mine to another, until at last it had reached even ours, which was the deepest on the shaft.

There was a new Tatrix in Tharna.

"Who is the new Tatrix?" I asked.

"Dorna the Proud," said the slave, who tumbled onions, turnips, radishes, potatoes and bread into the feed trough.

"What happened to Lara?" I asked.

He laughed. "You are ignorant!" he exclaimed.

"News does not travel fasy in the mines," I said.

"She was carried off," he said.

"What?" I cried.

"Yes," said he, "by a tarnsman, as it turned out."

"What is his name?" I asked.

"Tarl," said he, and his voice fell to a whisper, "- of Ko- ro-ba." I was dumbfounded.

"He is an outlaw," said the man, "who survived the Amusements of Tharna." "I know," I said.

"There was a tarn, wearing the silver hobble, that was to kill him, but he freed the tarn, leaped on its back and mad good his escape." The slave put down the tub of vegetables and bread. His eyes were wet with amusement and he slappped his thigh. "He returned only long enough to tarnstrike tha Tatrix herself," he said. "The tarn carried her off like a tabuk!" His laughter, which spread to the other slaves in the room, those chained to me, was uproarious, and I understood better than I had understood before the affection with which the Tatrix of Tharna was held in the mines. But I alone did not laugh.

"What of the Pillar of Exchanges?" I asked. "Was the Tatrix not returned at the Pillar, and freed?"

"Everyone thought she would be," said the slave, "but the tarnsman apparently wanted her more than the riches of Tharna."

"What a man!" cried one of the slaves.

"Perhaps she was very beautiful," said another.

"She was not exchanged?" I asked the slave with the food tub.

"No," he said. "Two of those who are highest in Tharna, Dorna the Proud, and Thorn, a Captain, went to the Pillar of Exchanges, but the Tatrix was never returned. Pursuit was launched, the hills and fields combed without success. Only her tattered robes and the mask of gold were found, by Dorna the Proud and Thorn, Captain of Tharna." The slave sat down on the tub. "Now," said he, "Dorna wears the mask."

"What," I asked, "do you surmise to be the fate of Lara, who was Tatrix?" The slave laughed, and so, too, did some of the others.

"Well," said he, "we know she no longer wears her golden robes." "Doubtless," said one of the slaves, "some more suitable raiment has replaced them."

The slave laughed. "Yes," he roared, slapping his thigh. "Pleasure silk!" He rocked on the tub. "Can you imagine!" he laughed, "Lara, the Tatrix of Tharna, in pleasure silk!"

The chain of slaves laughed, all except myself, and Andreas of Tor, who regarded me questioningly. I smiled at him, and shrugged. I did not have the answer to his question.

Little by little, I tried to restore the self-respect of my fellow slaves. It began simply enough at the feeding trough. Then I began to encourage them to speak to one another, and to call one another by their names, and their cities, and though there were men of different cities there, they shared the same chain and trough, and they accepted one another. When one man was ill, others saw that his ore sack was filled. When one man was beaten, others would pass water from hand to hand that his wounds might be bathed, that he might drink though the chain did not allow him to the water. And in time, each of us knew the others who shared his chain. We were no longer dark, anonymous shapes to one another, huddling in the dampness of the mines of Tharna. In time only Ost remained frightened by this change, for he continually feared the flooding of the chamber. My chain of men worked well, and the quota was filled day after day, and when it was raised, it was filled again. Sometimes even, the men would hum as they worked, the strong sound resonant in the tunnels of the mine. The Whip Slaves wondered, and began to fear us.

News of the distribution of food at the feeding trough had spread, by means of the slaves who carried the tubs of food, from mine to mine. And, too, they told of the stranges, new things that happened in the mine at the bottom of the central shaft, how men helped one another, and could find the time and will to remember a tune.

And as time passed I learned from the food slaves that this revolution, as unannounced and silent as the foot of a larl, had begun to spread from mine to mine. Soon I noticed that the food slaves spoke no more, and gathered that they had been warned to silence. Yet from their faces I knew that the contagion of self-respect, of nobility, flamed in the mines beneath Tharna. Here, underground, in the mines, home of that which was lowest and most degraded in Tharna, men came to look upon one another, and themselves, with satisfaction.

I decided it was time.

That night, when we were herded into the long cell, and the bolts were shoved in place, I spoke to the men.

"Who among you," I asked, "would be free?"

"I," said Andreas of Tor.

"And I," growled Kron of Tharna.

"And I!" cried other voices.

Only Ost demurred. "It is sedition to speak thus," he whimpered. "I have a plan," I said, "but it will require great courage, and you may all die."

"There is no escape from the mines," whimpered Ost.

"Lead us, Warrior," said Andreas.

"First," I said, "we must have the chamber flooded."

Ost shrieked with terror, and Kron" s great fist shut on his windpipe, silencing him. Ost squirmed, scuffling in the dark, helpless. "Be quiet, Serpent," said the bull-like Kron. He dropped Ost, and the conspirator crawled to the length of his chain and huddled against the wall, trembling with fear.