The Greatest Works of Otis Adelbert Kline - 18 Books in One Edition. Otis Adelbert Kline

you have made so free with your favors, Your Majesty,” smiled Loralie, “what have you left for me? Am I not also to be honored?”

      “Why, yes,” I answered, as, unmindful of her father’s presence, her arms went around my neck. “As soon as you grant me leave, I’ll make you Torroga, Empress of Olba.”

      “It’s the highest honor an empire can bestow,” laughed Ad, “for be he in palace or hovel a man is ever subject to the sweet will of his wife.”

      “Agreed,” I replied. “And now, little wife to be, what is your pleasure?”

      “If you were not so busy talking nonsense to Father,” she pouted, “you would see that I have been waiting for you to kiss me.”

       THE END

      Thus ends the tale of Borgen Takkor’s adventures on Venus, up to the time that he was securely established as Zinlo, Torrogo of Olba. However, lest the perceptive reader remind me that this security was precarious at the very least —since Borgen Takkor had merely exchanged personalities with Zinlo of Venus, who was meanwhile on Earth in the body of the man known as Harry Thorne —let me assure him that I have not forgotten this fact.

      Robert Grandon was in exactly the same position, in Reabon, at the close of his story, which is told in “The Planet of Peril.” Those who have read that story know that the resolution of Grandon’s difficultyS in this regard also solved Borgen Takkor’s problem. So I will only mention here that neither Grandon nor Takkor had to worry about being taken from their wives and thrones and returned to their Earth bodies; but how this came about you will have to read the novel mentioned above to discover.

      The Author.

       THE END

THE PORT OF PERIL

       Table of Contents

       Chapter 1. The Theft Of Vernia

       Chapter 2. Grandon Pursues

       Chapter 3. The Cunning Of San Thoy

       Chapter 4. A Treacherous Shoal

       Chapter 5. The Toad People

       Chapter 6. The Deceptive Light

       Chapter 7. Human Sacrifice

       Chapter 8. The Wrath Of The Serpent

       Chapter 9. The Secret Gate

       Chapter 10. The Port Of Peril

       Chapter 11. The Sea Rats

       Chapter 12. In The Seraglio

       Chapter 13. Grandon Meets The Rogo

       Chapter 14. Kantar’s Blunder

       Chapter 15. Beasts Of The Antarctic

       Chapter 16. Zinlo Of Olba

       Chapter 17. The Death Sentence

       Chapter 18. The Allies Attack

       Chapter 19. The Duel

       Chapter 20. Retribution And Reward

Chapter 1. The Theft of Vernia

       Table of Contents

      Perhaps the furniture and decorations of the personal apartment of Robert Grandon would have appeared bizarre to earthly eyes. Its paneled walls were hung with strange weapons and still stranger trophies of the battlefield and chase—prized treasures of a soldier and a hunter. Skins of marmelots, fiercest cats of the Zorovian fern forests, and tremendous bear-like monsters known as ramphs, magnificent specimens all, were flung on the floor. Cloud- filtered sunlight entered through two immense windows that reached from floor to ceiling, opening on a private balcony which overlooked the palace gardens.

      A marmelot, carved from red wood and supporting a round top of polished crystal formed a table in the center of the room. Around it, in chairs carved in the representation of kneeling giants holding scarlet cushions which formed both seats and backs, were four men.

      “The power of the Huitsen must be broken, and broken forever,” cried Aardven, brawny, bull-necked ruler of Adonijar. And he banged his huge fist on the table for emphasis, causing the kova cups to dance and rattle.

      Robert Grandon, former Chicago clubman who had fought his way to the throne of Reabon, mightiest empire of Venus, grimly nodded his assent, as did his two other guests, Ad, ruler of Tyrhana, and Zinlo, ruler of Olba. For the sake of privacy and comfort, he had dispensed with the rigid formality of the throne room, and received them in his own drawing room.

      Ad of Tyrhana stroked his square-cut, jet black beard meditatively. Then he turned to Grandon. I fear we have disturbed you at a most inopportune time. A man about to start on a honeymoon should not be annoyed with affairs of state. It was only after we learned of the latest outrage perpetrated by the yellow pirates, that Aardvan and I, who were awaiting Zinlo’s return to Olba, decided to hurry here in one of his swift airships.

      “When he heard that one of my ships of war, crippled by a storm and half sinking, was set upon by these yellow fiends, part of its crew massacred and the rest carried off prisoners, and my daughter Narine taken to I know not what fate, we felt that something must be done, and done quickly.”

      “And I heartily agree with you,” said Grandon. “The imperial navy of Reabon is at your disposal. Do you have any plan of action to suggest?”

      “I felt sure you would come in with us,” said Ad, “especially after my talk with Zinlo this morning. As I have intimated previously, we must make our plans in secret, and carry them out as unobtrusively as possible. The Huitsenni have spies everywhere. They have the treasure to hire the vile traitors among our people who will sell their honor for personal gains, but because of their peculiar physical characteristics they can do no eavesdropping among us themselves.”.

      “We should have two main objectives: to sink or capture every pirate ship that sails the seas of Zorovia, and to find and take the secret port of Huitsen. It is a port of missing ships and treasure, of slaves who were once citizens of our own and other lands,