At each end of the corridor was a sentinel, the main body
of the guard being stationed in a room near the outer entrance to
the women's quarters.
The palace slept for they kept early hours there where Ja-don ruled.
The pal-e-don-so of the great chieftain of the north knew no such
wild orgies as had resounded through the palace of the king at
A-lur. Ja-lur was a quiet city by comparison with the capital, yet
there was always a guard kept at every entrance to the chambers
of Ja-don and his immediate family as well as at the gate leading
into the temple and that which opened upon the city.
These guards, however, were small, consisting usually of not more than
five or six warriors, one of whom remained awake while the others
slept. Such were the conditions then when two warriors presented
themselves, one at either end of the corridor, to the sentries who
watched over the safety of Jane Clayton and the Princess O-lo-a,
and each of the newcomers repeated to the sentinels the stereotyped
words which announced that they were relieved and these others sent
to watch in their stead. Never is a warrior loath to be relieved
of sentry duty. Where, under different circumstances he might
ask numerous questions he is now too well satisfied to escape the
monotonies of that universally hated duty. And so these two men
accepted their relief without question and hastened away to their
pallets.
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