EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
bearers who could run fifty thousand paces an hour,” he reminded Mallius.
“But did you not assure me that the litters traveled that fast? How then may a litter travel unless it is carried by bearers? Perhaps the litters of today are carried by horses. Where are the horses that can run fifty thousand paces in an hour?”
“The litters are neither carried nor drawn by horses or men, Mallius,” said yon Harben.
The officer leaned back against the soft cushion of the carriage, roaring with Jaughter. “They fly then, I presume,” he jeered. “By Hercules, you must tell this all over again to Septimus Favonius. I promise you that he will love you.”
They were passing along a broad avenue bordered by old trees. There was no pavement and the surface of the street was deep with dust. The houses were built quite up to the street line and where there was space between adjacent houses a high wall closed the aperture, so that each side of the street presented a solid front of masonry broken by arched gateways, heavy doors, and small unglazed windows, heavily barred.
“These are residences?” asked von Harben, indicating the buildings they were passing.
“Yes,” said Mallius.
“From the massive doors and heavily barred windows I should judge that your city is overrun with criminals,” commented von Harben.
Mallius shook his head. “On the contrary,” he said, “we have few criminals in Castrum Mare. The defenses that you see are against the possible uprising of slaves or invasions by barbarians. Upon several occasions during the life of the city such things have occurred, and so we build to safeguard against disaster in the event that there should be a recurrence of them, but, even so, doors are seldom locked, even at night, for there are no thieves to break in, no criminals to menace the lives of our people. If a man has done wrong to a fellow man he may have reason to expect the dagger of the assassin, but if his conscience be clear he may live without fear of attack.”
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