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TARZAN AND THE LOST EMPIRE

“You will not accompany us?” demanded Tarzan.

“How can I? I shall be locked in this cell. Is it not evident that they do not intend to enter me in the contests? They are reserving for me some other fate. The jailer has told me that my name appears in no event.”

“But we must find a way to take you with us,” said Tarzan.

“There is no way,” said Praeclarus, shaking his head, sadly.

“Wait,” said Tarzan. “You commanded the Colosseum guards, did you not?”

“Yes,” replied Praeclarus.

“And you had the keys to the cells?” asked the ape-man.

“Yes,” replied Praeclarus, “and to the manacles as well.”

“Where are they?” asked Tarzan. “But no, that will not do. They must have taken them from you when they arrested you.”

“No, they did not,” said Praeclarus. “As a matter of fact, I did not have them with me when I dressed for the banquet that night. I left them in my room.”

“But perhaps they sent for them?”

“Yes, they sent for them, but they did not find them. The jailer asked me about them the day after I was arrested, but I told him that the soldiers took them from me. I told him that because I had hidden them in a secret place where I keep many valuables, I knew that if I had told them where they were they would take not only the keys, but my valuables as well.”

“Good!” exclaimed the ape-man. “With the keys our problem is solved.”

“But how are you going to get them?” demanded Praeclarus, with a rueful smile.

“I do not know,” said Tarzan. “All I know is that we must have the keys.”

“We know, too, that we should have our liberty,” said Hasta, “but knowing it does not make us free.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the approach of soldiers along the corridor, Presently a detachment of the palace guard halted outside their cell. The jailer unlocked

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