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diff --git a/1153-h/1153-h.htm b/1153-h/1153-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..469d73a --- /dev/null +++ b/1153-h/1153-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12342 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of The Chessmen of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: 80%; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: medium ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1153 ***</div> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHESSMEN OF MARS +</H1> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +by Edgar Rice Burroughs +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">PRELUDE </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#prelude">John Carter Comes to Earth</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">Tara in a Tantrum</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">At the Gale's Mercy</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">The Headless Humans</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">Captured</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">The Perfect Brain</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">In the Toils of Horror</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">A Repellent Sight</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">Close Work</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">Adrift Over Strange Regions</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">Entrapped</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">The Choice of Tara</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">Ghek Plays Pranks</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">A Desperate Deed</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">At Ghek's Command</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">The Old Man of the Pits</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">Another Change of Name</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">A Play to the Death</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">A Task for Loyalty</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">The Menace of the Dead</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">The Charge of Cowardice</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">A Risk for Love</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">At the Moment of Marriage</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="prelude"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHESSMEN OF MARS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PRELUDE +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +JOHN CARTER COMES TO EARTH +</H3> + +<P> +Shea had just beaten me at chess, as usual, and, also as usual, I had +gleaned what questionable satisfaction I might by twitting him with +this indication of failing mentality by calling his attention for the +<I>n</I>th time to that theory, propounded by certain scientists, which is +based upon the assertion that phenomenal chess players are always found +to be from the ranks of children under twelve, adults over seventy-two +or the mentally defective—a theory that is lightly ignored upon those +rare occasions that I win. Shea had gone to bed and I should have +followed suit, for we are always in the saddle here before sunrise; but +instead I sat there before the chess table in the library, idly blowing +smoke at the dishonored head of my defeated king. +</P> + +<P> +While thus profitably employed I heard the east door of the living-room +open and someone enter. I thought it was Shea returning to speak with +me on some matter of tomorrow's work; but when I raised my eyes to the +doorway that connects the two rooms I saw framed there the figure of a +bronzed giant, his otherwise naked body trapped with a jewel-encrusted +harness from which there hung at one side an ornate short-sword and at +the other a pistol of strange pattern. The black hair, the steel-gray +eyes, brave and smiling, the noble features—I recognized them at once, +and leaping to my feet I advanced with outstretched hand. +</P> + +<P> +"John Carter!" I cried. "You?" +</P> + +<P> +"None other, my son," he replied, taking my hand in one of his and +placing the other upon my shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"And what are you doing here?" I asked. "It has been long years since +you revisited Earth, and never before in the trappings of Mars. Lord! +but it is good to see you—and not a day older in appearance than when +you trotted me on your knee in my babyhood. How do you explain it, John +Carter, Warlord of Mars, or do you try to explain it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why attempt to explain the inexplicable?" he replied. "As I have told +you before, I am a very old man. I do not know how old I am. I recall +no childhood; but recollect only having been always as you see me now +and as you saw me first when you were five years old. You, yourself, +have aged, though not as much as most men in a corresponding number of +years, which may be accounted for by the fact that the same blood runs +in our veins; but I have not aged at all. I have discussed the question +with a noted Martian scientist, a friend of mine; but his theories are +still only theories. However, I am content with the fact—I never age, +and I love life and the vigor of youth. +</P> + +<P> +"And now as to your natural question as to what brings me to Earth +again and in this, to earthly eyes, strange habiliment. We may thank +Kar Komak, the bowman of Lothar. It was he who gave me the idea upon +which I have been experimenting until at last I have achieved success. +As you know I have long possessed the power to cross the void in +spirit, but never before have I been able to impart to inanimate things +a similar power. Now, however, you see me for the first time precisely +as my Martian fellows see me—you see the very short-sword that has +tasted the blood of many a savage foeman; the harness with the devices +of Helium and the insignia of my rank; the pistol that was presented to +me by Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark. +</P> + +<P> +"Aside from seeing you, which is my principal reason for being here, +and satisfying myself that I can transport inanimate things from Mars +to Earth, and therefore animate things if I so desire, I have no +purpose. Earth is not for me. My every interest is upon Barsoom—my +wife, my children, my work; all are there. I will spend a quiet evening +with you and then back to the world I love even better than I love +life." +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke he dropped into the chair upon the opposite side of the +chess table. +</P> + +<P> +"You spoke of children," I said. "Have you more than Carthoris?" +</P> + +<P> +"A daughter," he replied, "only a little younger than Carthoris, and, +barring one, the fairest thing that ever breathed the thin air of dying +Mars. Only Dejah Thoris, her mother, could be more beautiful than Tara +of Helium." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment he fingered the chessmen idly. "We have a game on Mars +similar to chess," he said, "very similar. And there is a race there +that plays it grimly with men and naked swords. We call the game jetan. +It is played on a board like yours, except that there are a hundred +squares and we use twenty pieces on each side. I never see it played +without thinking of Tara of Helium and what befell her among the +chessmen of Barsoom. Would you like to hear her story?" +</P> + +<P> +I said that I would and so he told it to me, and now I shall try to +re-tell it for you as nearly in the words of The Warlord of Mars as I +can recall them, but in the third person. If there be inconsistencies +and errors, let the blame fall not upon John Carter, but rather upon my +faulty memory, where it belongs. It is a strange tale and utterly +Barsoomian. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TARA IN A TANTRUM +</H3> + +<P> +Tara of Helium rose from the pile of silks and soft furs upon which she +had been reclining, stretched her lithe body languidly, and crossed +toward the center of the room, where, above a large table, a bronze +disc depended from the low ceiling. Her carriage was that of health and +physical perfection—the effortless harmony of faultless coordination. +A scarf of silken gossamer crossing over one shoulder was wrapped about +her body; her black hair was piled high upon her head. With a wooden +stick she tapped upon the bronze disc, lightly, and presently the +summons was answered by a slave girl, who entered, smiling, to be +greeted similarly by her mistress. +</P> + +<P> +"Are my father's guests arriving?" asked the princess. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Tara of Helium, they come," replied the slave. "I have seen +Kantos Kan, Overlord of the Navy, and Prince Soran of Ptarth, and Djor +Kantos, son of Kantos Kan," she shot a roguish glance at her mistress +as she mentioned Djor Kantos' name, "and—oh, there were others, many +have come." +</P> + +<P> +"The bath, then, Uthia," said her mistress. "And why, Uthia," she +added, "do you look thus and smile when you mention the name of Djor +Kantos?" +</P> + +<P> +The slave girl laughed gaily. "It is so plain to all that he worships +you," she replied. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not plain to me," said Tara of Helium. "He is the friend of my +brother, Carthoris, and so he is here much; but not to see me. It is +his friendship for Carthoris that brings him thus often to the palace +of my father." +</P> + +<P> +"But Carthoris is hunting in the north with Talu, Jeddak of Okar," +Uthia reminded her. +</P> + +<P> +"My bath, Uthia!" cried Tara of Helium. "That tongue of yours will +bring you to some misadventure yet." +</P> + +<P> +"The bath is ready, Tara of Helium," the girl responded, her eyes still +twinkling with merriment, for she well knew that in the heart of her +mistress was no anger that could displace the love of the princess for +her slave. Preceding the daughter of The Warlord she opened the door of +an adjoining room where lay the bath—a gleaming pool of scented water +in a marble basin. Golden stanchions supported a chain of gold +encircling it and leading down into the water on either side of marble +steps. A glass dome let in the sun-light, which flooded the interior, +glancing from the polished white of the marble walls and the procession +of bathers and fishes, which, in conventional design, were inlaid with +gold in a broad band that circled the room. +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium removed the scarf from about her and handed it to the +slave. Slowly she descended the steps to the water, the temperature of +which she tested with a symmetrical foot, undeformed by tight shoes and +high heels—a lovely foot, as God intended that feet should be and +seldom are. Finding the water to her liking, the girl swam leisurely to +and fro about the pool. With the silken ease of the seal she swam, now +at the surface, now below, her smooth muscles rolling softly beneath +her clear skin—a wordless song of health and happiness and grace. +Presently she emerged and gave herself into the hands of the slave +girl, who rubbed the body of her mistress with a sweet smelling +semi-liquid substance contained in a golden urn, until the glowing skin +was covered with a foamy lather, then a quick plunge into the pool, a +drying with soft towels, and the bath was over. Typical of the life of +the princess was the simple elegance of her bath—no retinue of useless +slaves, no pomp, no idle waste of precious moments. In another half +hour her hair was dried and built into the strange, but becoming, +coiffure of her station; her leathern trappings, encrusted with gold +and jewels, had been adjusted to her figure and she was ready to mingle +with the guests that had been bidden to the midday function at the +palace of The Warlord. +</P> + +<P> +As she left her apartments to make her way to the gardens where the +guests were congregating, two warriors, the insignia of the House of +the Prince of Helium upon their harness, followed a few paces behind +her, grim reminders that the assassin's blade may never be ignored upon +Barsoom, where, in a measure, it counterbalances the great natural span +of human life, which is estimated at not less than a thousand years. +</P> + +<P> +As they neared the entrance to the garden another woman, similarly +guarded, approached them from another quarter of the great palace. As +she neared them Tara of Helium turned toward her with a smile and a +happy greeting, while her guards knelt with bowed heads in willing and +voluntary adoration of the beloved of Helium. Thus always, solely at +the command of their own hearts, did the warriors of Helium greet Dejah +Thoris, whose deathless beauty had more than once brought them to +bloody warfare with other nations of Barsoom. So great was the love of +the people of Helium for the mate of John Carter it amounted +practically to worship, as though she were indeed the goddess that she +looked. +</P> + +<P> +The mother and daughter exchanged the gentle, Barsoomian, "kaor" of +greeting and kissed. Then together they entered the gardens where the +guests were. A huge warrior drew his short-sword and struck his metal +shield with the flat of it, the brazen sound ringing out above the +laughter and the speech. +</P> + +<P> +"The Princess comes!" he cried. "Dejah Thoris! The Princess comes! Tara +of Helium!" Thus always is royalty announced. The guests arose; the two +women inclined their heads; the guards fell back upon either side of +the entrance-way; a number of nobles advanced to pay their respects; +the laughing and the talking were resumed and Dejah Thoris and her +daughter moved simply and naturally among their guests, no suggestion +of differing rank apparent in the bearing of any who were there, though +there was more than a single Jeddak and many common warriors whose only +title lay in brave deeds, or noble patriotism. Thus it is upon Mars +where men are judged upon their own merits rather than upon those of +their grandsires, even though pride of lineage be great. +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium let her slow gaze wander among the throng of guests +until presently it halted upon one she sought. Was the faint shadow of +a frown that crossed her brow an indication of displeasure at the sight +that met her eyes, or did the brilliant rays of the noonday sun +distress her? Who may say! She had been reared to believe that one day +she should wed Djor Kantos, son of her father's best friend. It had +been the dearest wish of Kantos Kan and The Warlord that this should +be, and Tara of Helium had accepted it as a matter of all but +accomplished fact. Djor Kantos had seemed to accept the matter in the +same way. They had spoken of it casually as something that would, as a +matter of course, take place in the indefinite future, as, for +instance, his promotion in the navy, in which he was now a padwar; or +the set functions of the court of her grandfather, Tardos Mors, Jeddak +of Helium; or Death. They had never spoken of love and that had puzzled +Tara of Helium upon the rare occasions she gave it thought, for she +knew that people who were to wed were usually much occupied with the +matter of love and she had all of a woman's curiosity—she wondered +what love was like. She was very fond of Djor Kantos and she knew that +he was very fond of her. They liked to be together, for they liked the +same things and the same people and the same books and their dancing +was a joy, not only to themselves but to those who watched them. She +could not imagine wanting to marry anyone other than Djor Kantos. +</P> + +<P> +So perhaps it was only the sun that made her brows contract just the +tiniest bit at the same instant that she discovered Djor Kantos sitting +in earnest conversation with Olvia Marthis, daughter of the Jed of +Hastor. It was Djor Kantos' duty immediately to pay his respects to +Dejah Thoris and Tara of Helium; but he did not do so and presently the +daughter of The Warlord frowned indeed. She looked long at Olvia +Marthis, and though she had seen her many times before and knew her +well, she looked at her today through new eyes that saw, apparently for +the first time, that the girl from Hastor was noticeably beautiful even +among those other beautiful women of Helium. Tara of Helium was +disturbed. She attempted to analyze her emotions; but found it +difficult. Olvia Marthis was her friend—she was very fond of her and +she felt no anger toward her. Was she angry with Djor Kantos? No, she +finally decided that she was not. It was merely surprise, then, that +she felt—surprise that Djor Kantos could be more interested in another +than in herself. She was about to cross the garden and join them when +she heard her father's voice directly behind her. +</P> + +<P> +"Tara of Helium!" he called, and she turned to see him approaching with +a strange warrior whose harness and metal bore devices with which she +was unfamiliar. Even among the gorgeous trappings of the men of Helium +and the visitors from distant empires those of the stranger were +remarkable for their barbaric splendor. The leather of his harness was +completely hidden beneath ornaments of platinum thickly set with +brilliant diamonds, as were the scabbards of his swords and the ornate +holster that held his long, Martian pistol. Moving through the sunlit +garden at the side of the great Warlord, the scintillant rays of his +countless gems enveloping him as in an aureole of light imparted to his +noble figure a suggestion of godliness. +</P> + +<P> +"Tara of Helium, I bring you Gahan, Jed of Gathol," said John Carter, +after the simple Barsoomian custom of presentation. +</P> + +<P> +"Kaor! Gahan, Jed of Gathol," returned Tara of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +"My sword is at your feet, Tara of Helium," said the young chieftain. +</P> + +<P> +The Warlord left them and the two seated themselves upon an ersite +bench beneath a spreading sorapus tree. +</P> + +<P> +"Far Gathol," mused the girl. "Ever in my mind has it been connected +with mystery and romance and the half-forgotten lore of the ancients. I +cannot think of Gathol as existing today, possibly because I have never +before seen a Gatholian." +</P> + +<P> +"And perhaps too because of the great distance that separates Helium +and Gathol, as well as the comparative insignificance of my little free +city, which might easily be lost in one corner of mighty Helium," added +Gahan. "But what we lack in power we make up in pride," he continued, +laughing. "We believe ours the oldest inhabited city upon Barsoom. It +is one of the few that has retained its freedom, and this despite the +fact that its ancient diamond mines are the richest known and, unlike +practically all the other fields, are today apparently as inexhaustible +as ever." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me of Gathol," urged the girl. "The very thought fills me with +interest," nor was it likely that the handsome face of the young jed +detracted anything from the glamour of far Gathol. +</P> + +<P> +Nor did Gahan seem displeased with the excuse for further monopolizing +the society of his fair companion. His eyes seemed chained to her +exquisite features, from which they moved no further than to a rounded +breast, part hid beneath its jeweled covering, a naked shoulder or the +symmetry of a perfect arm, resplendent in bracelets of barbaric +magnificence. +</P> + +<P> +"Your ancient history has doubtless told you that Gathol was built upon +an island in Throxeus, mightiest of the five oceans of old Barsoom. As +the ocean receded Gathol crept down the sides of the mountain, the +summit of which was the island upon which she had been built, until +today she covers the slopes from summit to base, while the bowels of +the great hill are honeycombed with the galleries of her mines. +Entirely surrounding us is a great salt marsh, which protects us from +invasion by land, while the rugged and ofttimes vertical topography of +our mountain renders the landing of hostile airships a precarious +undertaking." +</P> + +<P> +"That, and your brave warriors?" suggested the girl. +</P> + +<P> +Gahan smiled. "We do not speak of that except to enemies," he said, +"and then with tongues of steel rather than of flesh." +</P> + +<P> +"But what practice in the art of war has a people which nature has thus +protected from attack?" asked Tara of Helium, who had liked the young +jed's answer to her previous question, but yet in whose mind persisted +a vague conviction of the possible effeminacy of her companion, +induced, doubtless, by the magnificence of his trappings and weapons +which carried a suggestion of splendid show rather than grim utility. +</P> + +<P> +"Our natural barriers, while they have doubtless saved us from defeat +on countless occasions, have not by any means rendered us immune from +attack," he explained, "for so great is the wealth of Gathol's diamond +treasury that there yet may be found those who will risk almost certain +defeat in an effort to loot our unconquered city; so thus we find +occasional practice in the exercise of arms; but there is more to +Gathol than the mountain city. My country extends from Polodona +(Equator) north ten karads and from the tenth karad west of Horz to the +twentieth west, including thus a million square haads, the greater +proportion of which is fine grazing land where run our great herds of +thoats and zitidars. +</P> + +<P> +"Surrounded as we are by predatory enemies our herdsmen must indeed be +warriors or we should have no herds, and you may be assured they get +plenty of fighting. Then there is our constant need of workers in the +mines. The Gatholians consider themselves a race of warriors and as +such prefer not to labor in the mines. The law is, however, that each +male Gatholian shall give an hour a day in labor to the government. +That is practically the only tax that is levied upon them. They prefer +however, to furnish a substitute to perform this labor, and as our own +people will not hire out for labor in the mines it has been necessary +to obtain slaves, and I do not need to tell you that slaves are not won +without fighting. We sell these slaves in the public market, the +proceeds going, half and half, to the government and the warriors who +bring them in. The purchasers are credited with the amount of labor +performed by their particular slaves. At the end of a year a good slave +will have performed the labor tax of his master for six years, and if +slaves are plentiful he is freed and permitted to return to his own +people." +</P> + +<P> +"You fight in platinum and diamonds?" asked Tara, indicating his +gorgeous trappings with a quizzical smile. +</P> + +<P> +Gahan laughed. "We are a vain people," he admitted, good-naturedly, +"and it is possible that we place too much value on personal +appearances. We vie with one another in the splendor of our +accoutrements when trapped for the observance of the lighter duties of +life, though when we take the field our leather is the plainest I ever +have seen worn by fighting men of Barsoom. We pride ourselves, too, +upon our physical beauty, and especially upon the beauty of our women. +May I dare to say, Tara of Helium, that I am hoping for the day when +you will visit Gathol that my people may see one who is really +beautiful?" +</P> + +<P> +"The women of Helium are taught to frown with displeasure upon the +tongue of the flatterer," rejoined the girl, but Gahan, Jed of Gathol, +observed that she smiled as she said it. +</P> + +<P> +A bugle sounded, clear and sweet, above the laughter and the talk. "The +Dance of Barsoom!" exclaimed the young warrior. "I claim you for it, +Tara of Helium." +</P> + +<P> +The girl glanced in the direction of the bench where she had last seen +Djor Kantos. He was not in sight. She inclined her head in assent to +the claim of the Gatholian. Slaves were passing among the guests, +distributing small musical instruments of a single string. Upon each +instrument were characters which indicated the pitch and length of its +tone. The instruments were of skeel, the string of gut, and were shaped +to fit the left forearm of the dancer, to which it was strapped. There +was also a ring wound with gut which was worn between the first and +second joints of the index finger of the right hand and which, when +passed over the string of the instrument, elicited the single note +required of the dancer. +</P> + +<P> +The guests had risen and were slowly making their way toward the +expanse of scarlet sward at the south end of the gardens where the +dance was to be held, when Djor Kantos came hurriedly toward Tara of +Helium. "I claim—" he exclaimed as he neared her; but she interrupted +him with a gesture. +</P> + +<P> +"You are too late, Djor Kantos," she cried in mock anger. "No laggard +may claim Tara of Helium; but haste now lest thou lose also Olvia +Marthis, whom I have never seen wait long to be claimed for this or any +other dance." +</P> + +<P> +"I have already lost her," admitted Djor Kantos ruefully. +</P> + +<P> +"And you mean to say that you came for Tara of Helium only after having +lost Olvia Marthis?" demanded the girl, still simulating displeasure. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Tara of Helium, you know better than that," insisted the young +man. "Was it not natural that I should assume that you would expect me, +who alone has claimed you for the Dance of Barsoom for at least twelve +times past?" +</P> + +<P> +"And sit and play with my thumbs until you saw fit to come for me?" she +questioned. "Ah, no, Djor Kantos; Tara of Helium is for no laggard," +and she threw him a sweet smile and passed on toward the assembling +dancers with Gahan, Jed of far Gathol. +</P> + +<P> +The Dance of Barsoom bears a relation similar to the more formal +dancing functions of Mars that The Grand March does to ours, though it +is infinitely more intricate and more beautiful. Before a Martian youth +of either sex may attend an important social function where there is +dancing, he must have become proficient in at least three dances—The +Dance of Barsoom, his national dance, and the dance of his city. In +these three dances the dancers furnish their own music, which never +varies; nor do the steps or figures vary, having been handed down from +time immemorial. All Barsoomian dances are stately and beautiful, but +The Dance of Barsoom is a wondrous epic of motion and harmony—there is +no grotesque posturing, no vulgar or suggestive movements. It has been +described as the interpretation of the highest ideals of a world that +aspired to grace and beauty and chastity in woman, and strength and +dignity and loyalty in man. +</P> + +<P> +Today, John Carter, Warlord of Mars, with Dejah Thoris, his mate, led +in the dancing, and if there was another couple that vied with them in +possession of the silent admiration of the guests it was the +resplendent Jed of Gathol and his beautiful partner. In the +ever-changing figures of the dance the man found himself now with the +girl's hand in his and again with an arm about the lithe body that the +jeweled harness but inadequately covered, and the girl, though she had +danced a thousand dances in the past, realized for the first time the +personal contact of a man's arm against her naked flesh. It troubled +her that she should notice it, and she looked up questioningly and +almost with displeasure at the man as though it was his fault. Their +eyes met and she saw in his that which she had never seen in the eyes +of Djor Kantos. It was at the very end of the dance and they both +stopped suddenly with the music and stood there looking straight into +each other's eyes. It was Gahan of Gathol who spoke first. +</P> + +<P> +"Tara of Helium, I love you!" he said. +</P> + +<P> +The girl drew herself to her full height. "The Jed of Gathol forgets +himself," she exclaimed haughtily. +</P> + +<P> +"The Jed of Gathol would forget everything but you, Tara of Helium," he +replied. Fiercely he pressed the soft hand that he still retained from +the last position of the dance. "I love you, Tara of Helium," he +repeated. "Why should your ears refuse to hear what your eyes but just +now did not refuse to see—and answer?" +</P> + +<P> +"What meanest thou?" she cried. "Are the men of Gathol such boors, +then?" +</P> + +<P> +"They are neither boors nor fools," he replied, quietly. "They know +when they love a woman—and when she loves them." +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium stamped her little foot in anger. "Go!" she said, +"before it is necessary to acquaint my father with the dishonor of his +guest." +</P> + +<P> +She turned and walked away. "Wait!" cried the man. "Just another word." +</P> + +<P> +"Of apology?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Of prophecy," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not care to hear it," replied Tara of Helium, and left him +standing there. She was strangely unstrung and shortly thereafter +returned to her own quarter of the palace, where she stood for a long +time by a window looking out beyond the scarlet tower of Greater Helium +toward the northwest. +</P> + +<P> +Presently she turned angrily away. "I hate him!" she exclaimed aloud. +</P> + +<P> +"Whom?" inquired the privileged Uthia. +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium stamped her foot. "That ill-mannered boor, the Jed of +Gathol," she replied. +</P> + +<P> +Uthia raised her slim brows. +</P> + +<P> +At the stamping of the little foot, a great beast rose from the corner +of the room and crossed to Tara of Helium where it stood looking up +into her face. She placed her hand upon the ugly head. "Dear old +Woola," she said; "no love could be deeper than yours, yet it never +offends. Would that men might pattern themselves after you!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AT THE GALE'S MERCY +</H3> + +<P> +Tara of Helium did not return to her father's guests, but awaited in +her own apartments the word from Djor Kantos which she knew must come, +begging her to return to the gardens. She would then refuse, haughtily. +But no appeal came from Djor Kantos. At first Tara of Helium was angry, +then she was hurt, and always she was puzzled. She could not +understand. Occasionally she thought of the Jed of Gathol and then she +would stamp her foot, for she was very angry indeed with Gahan. The +presumption of the man! He had insinuated that he read love for him in +her eyes. Never had she been so insulted and humiliated. Never had she +so thoroughly hated a man. Suddenly she turned toward Uthia. +</P> + +<P> +"My flying leather!" she commanded. +</P> + +<P> +"But the guests!" exclaimed the slave girl. "Your father, The Warlord, +will expect you to return." +</P> + +<P> +"He will be disappointed," snapped Tara of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +The slave hesitated. "He does not approve of your flying alone," she +reminded her mistress. +</P> + +<P> +The young princess sprang to her feet and seized the unhappy slave by +the shoulders, shaking her. "You are becoming unbearable, Uthia," she +cried. "Soon there will be no alternative than to send you to the +public slave-market. Then possibly you will find a master to your +liking." +</P> + +<P> +Tears came to the soft eyes of the slave girl. "It is because I love +you, my princess," she said softly. Tara of Helium melted. She took the +slave in her arms and kissed her. +</P> + +<P> +"I have the disposition of a thoat, Uthia," she said. "Forgive me! I +love you and there is nothing that I would not do for you and nothing +would I do to harm you. Again, as I have so often in the past, I offer +you your freedom." +</P> + +<P> +"I do not wish my freedom if it will separate me from you, Tara of +Helium," replied Uthia. "I am happy here with you—I think that I +should die without you." +</P> + +<P> +Again the girls kissed. "And you will not fly alone, then?" questioned +the slave. +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium laughed and pinched her companion. "You persistent +little pest," she cried. "Of course I shall fly—does not Tara of +Helium always do that which pleases her?" +</P> + +<P> +Uthia shook her head sorrowfully. "Alas! she does," she admitted. "Iron +is the Warlord of Barsoom to the influences of all but two. In the +hands of Dejah Thoris and Tara of Helium he is as potters' clay." +</P> + +<P> +"Then run and fetch my flying leather like the sweet slave you are," +directed the mistress. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Far out across the ochre sea-bottoms beyond the twin cities of Helium +raced the swift flier of Tara of Helium. Thrilling to the speed and the +buoyancy and the obedience of the little craft the girl drove toward +the northwest. Why she should choose that direction she did not pause +to consider. Perhaps because in that direction lay the least known +areas of Barsoom, and, ergo, Romance, Mystery, and Adventure. In that +direction also lay far Gathol; but to that fact she gave no conscious +thought. +</P> + +<P> +She did, however, think occasionally of the jed of that distant +kingdom, but the reaction to these thoughts was scarcely pleasurable. +They still brought a flush of shame to her cheeks and a surge of angry +blood to her heart. She was very angry with the Jed of Gathol, and +though she should never see him again she was quite sure that hate of +him would remain fresh in her memory forever. Mostly her thoughts +revolved about another—Djor Kantos. And when she thought of him she +thought also of Olvia Marthis of Hastor. Tara of Helium thought that +she was jealous of the fair Olvia and it made her very angry to think +that. She was angry with Djor Kantos and herself, but she was not angry +at all with Olvia Marthis, whom she loved, and so of course she was not +jealous really. The trouble was, that Tara of Helium had failed for +once to have her own way. Djor Kantos had not come running like a +willing slave when she had expected him, and, ah, here was the nub of +the whole thing! Gahan, Jed of Gathol, a stranger, had been a witness +to her humiliation. He had seen her unclaimed at the beginning of a +great function and he had had to come to her rescue to save her, as he +doubtless thought, from the inglorious fate of a wall-flower. At the +recurring thought, Tara of Helium could feel her whole body burning +with scarlet shame and then she went suddenly white and cold with rage; +whereupon she turned her flier about so abruptly that she was all but +torn from her lashings upon the flat, narrow deck. She reached home +just before dark. The guests had departed. Quiet had descended upon the +palace. An hour later she joined her father and mother at the evening +meal. +</P> + +<P> +"You deserted us, Tara of Helium," said John Carter. "It is not what +the guests of John Carter should expect." +</P> + +<P> +"They did not come to see me," replied Tara of Helium. "I did not ask +them." +</P> + +<P> +"They were no less your guests," replied her father. +</P> + +<P> +The girl rose, and came and stood beside him and put her arms about his +neck. +</P> + +<P> +"My proper old Virginian," she cried, rumpling his shock of black hair. +</P> + +<P> +"In Virginia you would be turned over your father's knee and spanked," +said the man, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +She crept into his lap and kissed him. "You do not love me any more," +she announced. "No one loves me," but she could not compose her +features into a pout because bubbling laughter insisted upon breaking +through. +</P> + +<P> +"The trouble is there are too many who love you," he said. "And now +there is another." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed!" she cried. "What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"Gahan of Gathol has asked permission to woo you." +</P> + +<P> +The girl sat up very straight and tilted her chin in the air. "I would +not wed with a walking diamond-mine," she said. "I will not have him." +</P> + +<P> +"I told him as much," replied her father, "and that you were as good as +betrothed to another. He was very courteous about it; but at the same +time he gave me to understand that he was accustomed to getting what he +wanted and that he wanted you very much. I suppose it will mean another +war. Your mother's beauty kept Helium at war for many years, and—well, +Tara of Helium, if I were a young man I should doubtless be willing to +set all Barsoom afire to win you, as I still would to keep your divine +mother," and he smiled across the sorapus table and its golden service +at the undimmed beauty of Mars' most beautiful woman. +</P> + +<P> +"Our little girl should not yet be troubled with such matters," said +Dejah Thoris. "Remember, John Carter, that you are not dealing with an +Earth child, whose span of life would be more than half completed +before a daughter of Barsoom reached actual maturity." +</P> + +<P> +"But do not the daughters of Barsoom sometimes marry as early as +twenty?" he insisted. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but they will still be desirable in the eyes of men after forty +generations of Earth folk have returned to dust—there is no hurry, at +least, upon Barsoom. We do not fade and decay here as you tell me those +of your planet do, though you, yourself, belie your own words. When the +time seems proper Tara of Helium shall wed with Djor Kantos, and until +then let us give the matter no further thought." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said the girl, "the subject irks me, and I shall not marry Djor +Kantos, or another—I do not intend to wed." +</P> + +<P> +Her father and mother looked at her and smiled. "When Gahan of Gathol +returns he may carry you off," said the former. +</P> + +<P> +"He has gone?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"His flier departs for Gathol in the morning," John Carter replied. +</P> + +<P> +"I have seen the last of him then," remarked Tara of Helium with a sigh +of relief. +</P> + +<P> +"He says not," returned John Carter. +</P> + +<P> +The girl dismissed the subject with a shrug and the conversation passed +to other topics. A letter had arrived from Thuvia of Ptarth, who was +visiting at her father's court while Carthoris, her mate, hunted in +Okar. Word had been received that the Tharks and Warhoons were again at +war, or rather that there had been an engagement, for war was their +habitual state. In the memory of man there had been no peace between +these two savage green hordes—only a single temporary truce. Two new +battleships had been launched at Hastor. A little band of holy therns +was attempting to revive the ancient and discredited religion of Issus, +who they claimed still lived in spirit and had communicated with them. +There were rumors of war from Dusar. A scientist claimed to have +discovered human life on the further moon. A madman had attempted to +destroy the atmosphere plant. Seven people had been assassinated in +Greater Helium during the last ten zodes, (the equivalent of an Earth +day). +</P> + +<P> +Following the meal Dejah Thoris and The Warlord played at jetan, the +Barsoomian game of chess, which is played upon a board of a hundred +alternate black and orange squares. One player has twenty black pieces, +the other, twenty orange pieces. A brief description of the game may +interest those Earth readers who care for chess, and will not be lost +upon those who pursue this narrative to its conclusion, since before +they are done they will find that a knowledge of jetan will add to the +interest and the thrills that are in store for them. +</P> + +<P> +The men are placed upon the board as in chess upon the first two rows +next the players. In order from left to right on the line of squares +nearest the players, the jetan pieces are Warrior, Padwar, Dwar, Flier, +Chief, Princess, Flier, Dwar, Padwar, Warrior. In the next line all are +Panthans except the end pieces, which are called Thoats, and represent +mounted warriors. +</P> + +<P> +The Panthans, which are represented as warriors with one feather, may +move one space in any direction except backward; the Thoats, mounted +warriors with three feathers, may move one straight and one diagonal, +and may jump intervening pieces; Warriors, foot soldiers with two +feathers, straight in any direction, or diagonally, two spaces; +Padwars, lieutenants wearing two feathers, two diagonal in any +direction, or combination; Dwars, captains wearing three feathers, +three spaces straight in any direction, or combination; Fliers, +represented by a propellor with three blades, three spaces in any +direction, or combination, diagonally, and may jump intervening pieces; +the Chief, indicated by a diadem with ten jewels, three spaces in any +direction, straight, or diagonal; Princess, diadem with a single jewel, +same as Chief, and can jump intervening pieces. +</P> + +<P> +The game is won when a player places any of his pieces on the same +square with his opponent's Princess, or when a Chief takes a Chief. It +is drawn when a Chief is taken by any opposing piece other than the +opposing Chief; or when both sides have been reduced to three pieces, +or less, of equal value, and the game is not terminated in the +following ten moves, five apiece. This is but a general outline of the +game, briefly stated. +</P> + +<P> +It was this game that Dejah Thoris and John Carter were playing when +Tara of Helium bid them good night, retiring to her own quarters and +her sleeping silks and furs. "Until morning, my beloved," she called +back to them as she passed from the apartment, nor little did she +guess, nor her parents, that this might indeed be the last time that +they would ever set eyes upon her. +</P> + +<P> +The morning broke dull and gray. Ominous clouds billowed restlessly and +low. Beneath them torn fragments scudded toward the northwest. From her +window Tara of Helium looked out upon this unusual scene. Dense clouds +seldom overcast the Barsoomian sky. At this hour of the day it was her +custom to ride one of those small thoats that are the saddle animals of +the red Martians, but the sight of the billowing clouds lured her to a +new adventure. Uthia still slept and the girl did not disturb her. +Instead, she dressed quietly and went to the hangar upon the roof of +the palace directly above her quarters where her own swift flier was +housed. She had never driven through the clouds. It was an adventure +that always she had longed to experience. The wind was strong and it +was with difficulty that she maneuvered the craft from the hangar +without accident, but once away it raced swiftly out above the twin +cities. The buffeting winds caught and tossed it, and the girl laughed +aloud in sheer joy of the resultant thrills. She handled the little +ship like a veteran, though few veterans would have faced the menace of +such a storm in so light a craft. Swiftly she rose toward the clouds, +racing with the scudding streamers of the storm-swept fragments, and a +moment later she was swallowed by the dense masses billowing above. +Here was a new world, a world of chaos unpeopled except for herself; +but it was a cold, damp, lonely world and she found it depressing after +the novelty of it had been dissipated, by an overpowering sense of the +magnitude of the forces surging about her. Suddenly she felt very +lonely and very cold and very little. Hurriedly, therefore, she rose +until presently her craft broke through into the glorious sunlight that +transformed the upper surface of the somber element into rolling masses +of burnished silver. Here it was still cold, but without the dampness +of the clouds, and in the eye of the brilliant sun her spirits rose +with the mounting needle of her altimeter. Gazing at the clouds, now +far beneath, the girl experienced the sensation of hanging stationary +in mid-heaven; but the whirring of her propellor, the wind beating upon +her, the high figures that rose and fell beneath the glass of her +speedometer, these told her that her speed was terrific. It was then +that she determined to turn back. +</P> + +<P> +The first attempt she made above the clouds, but it was unsuccessful. +To her surprise she discovered that she could not even turn against the +high wind, which rocked and buffeted the frail craft. Then she dropped +swiftly to the dark and wind-swept zone between the hurtling clouds and +the gloomy surface of the shadowed ground. Here she tried again to +force the nose of the flier back toward Helium, but the tempest seized +the frail thing and hurled it remorselessly about, rolling it over and +over and tossing it as it were a cork in a cataract. At last the girl +succeeded in righting the flier, perilously close to the ground. Never +before had she been so close to death, yet she was not terrified. Her +coolness had saved her, that and the strength of the deck lashings that +held her. Traveling with the storm she was safe, but where was it +bearing her? She pictured the apprehension of her father and mother +when she failed to appear at the morning meal. They would find her +flier missing and they would guess that somewhere in the path of the +storm it lay a wrecked and tangled mass upon her dead body, and then +brave men would go out in search of her, risking their lives; and that +lives would be lost in the search, she knew, for she realized now that +never in her life-time had such a tempest raged upon Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +She must turn back! She must reach Helium before her mad lust for +thrills had cost the sacrifice of a single courageous life! She +determined that greater safety and likelihood of success lay above the +clouds, and once again she rose through the chilling, wind-tossed +vapor. Her speed again was terrific, for the wind seemed to have +increased rather than to have lessened. She sought gradually to check +the swift flight of her craft, but though she finally succeeded in +reversing her motor the wind but carried her on as it would. Then it +was that Tara of Helium lost her temper. Had her world not always bowed +in acquiescence to her every wish? What were these elements that they +dared to thwart her? She would demonstrate to them that the daughter of +The Warlord was not to be denied! They would learn that Tara of Helium +might not be ruled even by the forces of nature! +</P> + +<P> +And so she drove her motor forward again and then with her firm, white +teeth set in grim determination she drove the steering lever far down +to port with the intention of forcing the nose of her craft straight +into the teeth of the wind, and the wind seized the frail thing and +toppled it over upon its back, and twisted and turned it and hurled it +over and over; the propellor raced for an instant in an air pocket and +then the tempest seized it again and twisted it from its shaft, leaving +the girl helpless upon an unmanageable atom that rose and fell, and +rolled and tumbled—the sport of the elements she had defied. Tara of +Helium's first sensation was one of surprise—that she had failed to +have her own way. Then she commenced to feel concern—not for her own +safety but for the anxiety of her parents and the dangers that the +inevitable searchers must face. She reproached herself for the +thoughtless selfishness that had jeopardized the peace and safety of +others. She realized her own grave danger, too; but she was still +unterrified, as befitted the daughter of Dejah Thoris and John Carter. +She knew that her buoyancy tanks might keep her afloat indefinitely, +but she had neither food nor water, and she was being borne toward the +least-known area of Barsoom. Perhaps it would be better to land +immediately and await the coming of the searchers, rather than to allow +herself to be carried still further from Helium, thus greatly reducing +the chances of early discovery; but when she dropped toward the ground +she discovered that the violence of the wind rendered an attempt to +land tantamount to destruction and she rose again, rapidly. +</P> + +<P> +Carried along a few hundred feet above the ground she was better able +to appreciate the Titanic proportions of the storm than when she had +flown in the comparative serenity of the zone above the clouds, for now +she could distinctly see the effect of the wind upon the surface of +Barsoom. The air was filled with dust and flying bits of vegetation and +when the storm carried her across an irrigated area of farm land she +saw great trees and stone walls and buildings lifted high in air and +scattered broadcast over the devastated country; and then she was +carried swiftly on to other sights that forced in upon her +consciousness a rapidly growing conviction that after all Tara of +Helium was a very small and insignificant and helpless person. It was +quite a shock to her self-pride while it lasted, and toward evening she +was ready to believe that it was going to last forever. There had been +no abatement in the ferocity of the tempest, nor was there indication +of any. She could only guess at the distance she had been carried for +she could not believe in the correctness of the high figures that had +been piled upon the record of her odometer. They seemed unbelievable +and yet, had she known it, they were quite true—in twelve hours she +had flown and been carried by the storm full seven thousand haads. Just +before dark she was carried over one of the deserted cities of ancient +Mars. It was Torquas, but she did not know it. Had she, she might +readily have been forgiven for abandoning the last vestige of hope, for +to the people of Helium Torquas seems as remote as do the South Sea +Islands to us. And still the tempest, its fury unabated, bore her on. +</P> + +<P> +All that night she hurtled through the dark beneath the clouds, or rose +to race through the moonlit void beneath the glory of Barsoom's two +satellites. She was cold and hungry and altogether miserable, but her +brave little spirit refused to admit that her plight was hopeless even +though reason proclaimed the truth. Her reply to reason, sometime +spoken aloud in sudden defiance, recalled the Spartan stubbornness of +her sire in the face of certain annihilation: "I still live!" +</P> + +<P> +That morning there had been an early visitor at the palace of The +Warlord. It was Gahan, Jed of Gathol. He had arrived shortly after the +absence of Tara of Helium had been noted, and in the excitement he had +remained unannounced until John Carter had happened upon him in the +great reception corridor of the palace as The Warlord was hurrying out +to arrange for the dispatch of ships in search of his daughter. +</P> + +<P> +Gahan read the concern upon the face of The Warlord. "Forgive me if I +intrude, John Carter," he said. "I but came to ask the indulgence of +another day since it would be fool-hardy to attempt to navigate a ship +in such a storm." +</P> + +<P> +"Remain, Gahan, a welcome guest until you choose to leave us," replied +The Warlord; "but you must forgive any seeming inattention upon the +part of Helium until my daughter is restored to us." +</P> + +<P> +"You daughter! Restored! What do you mean?" exclaimed the Gatholian. "I +do not understand." +</P> + +<P> +"She is gone, together with her light flier. That is all we know. We +can only assume that she decided to fly before the morning meal and was +caught in the clutches of the tempest. You will pardon me, Gahan, if I +leave you abruptly—I am arranging to send ships in search of her;" but +Gahan, Jed of Gathol, was already speeding in the direction of the +palace gate. There he leaped upon a waiting thoat and followed by two +warriors in the metal of Gathol, he dashed through the avenues of +Helium toward the palace that had been set aside for his entertainment. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE HEADLESS HUMANS +</H3> + +<P> +Above the roof of the palace that housed the Jed of Gathol and his +entourage, the cruiser Vanator tore at her stout moorings. The groaning +tackle bespoke the mad fury of the gale, while the worried faces of +those members of the crew whose duties demanded their presence on the +straining craft gave corroborative evidence of the gravity of the +situation. Only stout lashings prevented these men from being swept +from the deck, while those upon the roof below were constantly +compelled to cling to rails and stanchions to save themselves from +being carried away by each new burst of meteoric fury. Upon the prow of +the Vanator was painted the device of Gathol, but no pennants were +displayed in the upper works since the storm had carried away several +in rapid succession, just as it seemed to the watching men that it must +carry away the ship itself. They could not believe that any tackle +could withstand for long this Titanic force. To each of the twelve +lashings clung a brawny warrior with drawn short-sword. Had but a +single mooring given to the power of the tempest eleven short-swords +would have cut the others; since, partially moored, the ship was +doomed, while free in the tempest it stood at least some slight chance +for life. +</P> + +<P> +"By the blood of Issus, I believe they will hold!" screamed one warrior +to another. +</P> + +<P> +"And if they do not hold may the spirits of our ancestors reward the +brave warriors upon the Vanator," replied another of those upon the +roof of the palace, "for it will not be long from the moment her cables +part before her crew dons the leather of the dead; but yet, Tanus, I +believe they will hold. Give thanks at least that we did not sail +before the tempest fell, since now each of us has a chance to live." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Tanus, "I should hate to be abroad today upon the +stoutest ship that sails the Barsoomian sky." +</P> + +<P> +It was then that Gahan the Jed appeared upon the roof. With him were +the balance of his own party and a dozen warriors of Helium. The young +chief turned to his followers. +</P> + +<P> +"I sail at once upon the Vanator," he said, "in search of Tara of +Helium who is thought to have been carried away upon a one-man flier by +the storm. I do not need to explain to you the slender chances the +Vanator has to withstand the fury of the tempest, nor will I order you +to your deaths. Let those who wish remain behind without dishonor. The +others will follow me," and he leaped for the rope ladder that lashed +wildly in the gale. +</P> + +<P> +The first man to follow him was Tanus and when the last reached the +deck of the cruiser there remained upon the palace roof only the twelve +warriors of Helium, who, with naked swords, had taken the posts of the +Gatholians at the moorings. +</P> + +<P> +Not a single warrior who had remained aboard the Vanator would leave +her now. +</P> + +<P> +"I expected no less," said Gahan, as with the help of those already on +the deck he and the others found secure lashings. The commander of the +Vanator shook his head. He loved his trim craft, the pride of her class +in the little navy of Gathol. It was of her he thought—not of himself. +He saw her lying torn and twisted upon the ochre vegetation of some +distant sea-bottom, to be presently overrun and looted by some savage, +green horde. He looked at Gahan. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you ready, San Tothis?" asked the jed. +</P> + +<P> +"All is ready." +</P> + +<P> +"Then cut away!" +</P> + +<P> +Word was passed across the deck and over the side to the Heliumetic +warriors below that at the third gun they were to cut away. Twelve keen +swords must strike simultaneously and with equal power, and each must +sever completely and instantly three strands of heavy cable that no +loose end fouling a block bring immediate disaster upon the Vanator. +</P> + +<P> +Boom! The voice of the signal gun rolled down through the screaming +wind to the twelve warriors upon the roof. Boom! Twelve swords were +raised above twelve brawny shoulders. Boom! Twelve keen edges severed +twelve complaining moorings, clean and as one. +</P> + +<P> +The Vanator, her propellors whirling, shot forward with the storm. The +tempest struck her in the stern as with a mailed fist and stood the +great ship upon her nose, and then it caught her and spun her as a +child's top spins; and upon the palace roof the twelve men looked on in +silent helplessness and prayed for the souls of the brave warriors who +were going to their death. And others saw, from Helium's lofty landing +stages and from a thousand hangars upon a thousand roofs; but only for +an instant did the preparations stop that would send other brave men +into the frightful maelstrom of that apparently hopeless search, for +such is the courage of the warriors of Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +But the Vanator did not fall to the ground, within sight of the city at +least, though as long as the watchers could see her never for an +instant did she rest upon an even keel. Sometimes she lay upon one side +or the other, or again she hurtled along keel up, or rolled over and +over, or stood upon her nose or her tail at the caprice of the great +force that carried her along. And the watchers saw that this great ship +was merely being blown away with the other bits of debris great and +small that filled the sky. Never in the memory of man or the annals of +recorded history had such a storm raged across the face of Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +And in another instant was the Vanator forgotten as the lofty, scarlet +tower that had marked Lesser Helium for ages crashed to ground, +carrying death and demolition upon the city beneath. Panic reigned. A +fire broke out in the ruins. The city's every force seemed crippled, +and it was then that The Warlord ordered the men that were about to set +forth in search of Tara of Helium to devote their energies to the +salvation of the city, for he too had witnessed the start of the +Vanator and realized the futility of wasting men who were needed sorely +if Lesser Helium was to be saved from utter destruction. +</P> + +<P> +Shortly after noon of the second day the storm commenced to abate, and +before the sun went down, the little craft upon which Tara of Helium +had hovered between life and death these many hours drifted slowly +before a gentle breeze above a landscape of rolling hills that once had +been lofty mountains upon a Martian continent. The girl was exhausted +from loss of sleep, from lack of food and drink, and from the nervous +reaction consequent to the terrifying experiences through which she had +passed. In the near distance, just topping an intervening hill, she +caught a momentary glimpse of what appeared to be a dome-capped tower. +Quickly she dropped the flier until the hill shut it off from the view +of the possible occupants of the structure she had seen. The tower +meant to her the habitation of man, suggesting the presence of water +and, perhaps, of food. If the tower was the deserted relic of a bygone +age she would scarcely find food there, but there was still a chance +that there might be water. If it was inhabited, then must her approach +be cautious, for only enemies might be expected to abide in so far +distant a land. Tara of Helium knew that she must be far from the twin +cities of her grandfather's empire, but had she guessed within even a +thousand haads of the reality, she had been stunned by realization of +the utter hopelessness of her state. +</P> + +<P> +Keeping the craft low, for the buoyancy tanks were still intact, the +girl skimmed the ground until the gently-moving wind had carried her to +the side of the last hill that intervened between her and the structure +she had thought a man-built tower. Here she brought the flier to the +ground among some stunted trees, and dragging it beneath one where it +might be somewhat hidden from craft passing above, she made it fast and +set forth to reconnoiter. Like most women of her class she was armed +only with a single slender blade, so that in such an emergency as now +confronted her she must depend almost solely upon her cleverness in +remaining undiscovered by enemies. With utmost caution she crept warily +toward the crest of the hill, taking advantage of every natural screen +that the landscape afforded to conceal her approach from possible +observers ahead, while momentarily she cast quick glances rearward lest +she be taken by surprise from that quarter. +</P> + +<P> +She came at last to the summit, where, from the concealment of a low +bush, she could see what lay beyond. Beneath her spread a beautiful +valley surrounded by low hills. Dotting it were numerous circular +towers, dome-capped, and surrounding each tower was a stone wall +enclosing several acres of ground. The valley appeared to be in a high +state of cultivation. Upon the opposite side of the hill and just +beneath her was a tower and enclosure. It was the roof of the former +that had first attracted her attention. In all respects it seemed +identical in construction with those further out in the valley—a high, +plastered wall of massive construction surrounding a similarly +constructed tower, upon whose gray surface was painted in vivid colors +a strange device. The towers were about forty sofads in diameter, +approximately forty earth-feet, and sixty in height to the base of the +dome. To an Earth man they would have immediately suggested the silos +in which dairy farmers store ensilage for their herds; but closer +scrutiny, revealing an occasional embrasured opening together with the +strange construction of the domes, would have altered such a +conclusion. Tara of Helium saw that the domes seemed to be faced with +innumerable prisms of glass, those that were exposed to the declining +sun scintillating so gorgeously as to remind her suddenly of the +magnificent trappings of Gahan of Gathol. As she thought of the man she +shook her head angrily, and moved cautiously forward a foot or two that +she might get a less obstructed view of the nearer tower and its +enclosure. +</P> + +<P> +As Tara of Helium looked down into the enclosure surrounding the +nearest tower, her brows contracted momentarily in frowning surprise, +and then her eyes went wide in an expression of incredulity tinged with +horror, for what she saw was a score or two of human bodies—naked and +headless. For a long moment she watched, breathless; unable to believe +the evidence of her own eyes—that these grewsome things moved and had +life! She saw them crawling about on hands and knees over and across +one another, searching about with their fingers. And she saw some of +them at troughs, for which the others seemed to be searching, and those +at the troughs were taking something from these receptacles and +apparently putting it in a hole where their necks should have been. +They were not far beneath her—she could see them distinctly and she +saw that there were the bodies of both men and women, and that they +were beautifully proportioned, and that their skin was similar to hers, +but of a slightly lighter red. At first she had thought that she was +looking upon a shambles and that the bodies, but recently decapitated, +were moving under the impulse of muscular reaction; but presently she +realized that this was their normal condition. The horror of them +fascinated her, so that she could scarce take her eyes from them. It +was evident from their groping hands that they were eyeless, and their +sluggish movements suggested a rudimentary nervous system and a +correspondingly minute brain. The girl wondered how they subsisted for +she could not, even by the wildest stretch of imagination, picture +these imperfect creatures as intelligent tillers of the soil. Yet that +the soil of the valley was tilled was evident and that these things had +food was equally so. But who tilled the soil? Who kept and fed these +unhappy things, and for what purpose? It was an enigma beyond her +powers of deduction. +</P> + +<P> +The sight of food aroused again a consciousness of her own gnawing +hunger and the thirst that parched her throat. She could see both food +and water within the enclosure; but would she dare enter even should +she find means of ingress? She doubted it, since the very thought of +possible contact with these grewsome creatures sent a shudder through +her frame. +</P> + +<P> +Then her eyes wandered again out across the valley until presently they +picked out what appeared to be a tiny stream winding its way through +the center of the farm lands—a strange sight upon Barsoom. Ah, if it +were but water! Then might she hope with a real hope, for the fields +would give her sustenance which she could gain by night, while by day +she hid among the surrounding hills, and sometime, yes, sometime she +knew, the searchers would come, for John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom, +would never cease to search for his daughter until every square haad of +the planet had been combed again and again. She knew him and she knew +the warriors of Helium and so she knew that could she but manage to +escape harm until they came, they would indeed come at last. +</P> + +<P> +She would have to wait until dark before she dare venture into the +valley, and in the meantime she thought it well to search out a place +of safety nearby where she might be reasonably safe from savage beasts. +It was possible that the district was free from carnivora, but one +might never be sure in a strange land. As she was about to withdraw +behind the brow of the hill her attention was again attracted to the +enclosure below. Two figures had emerged from the tower. Their +beautiful bodies seemed identical with those of the headless creatures +among which they moved, but the newcomers were not headless. Upon their +shoulders were heads that seemed human, yet which the girl intuitively +sensed were not human. They were just a trifle too far away for her to +see them distinctly in the waning light of the dying day, but she knew +that they were too large, they were out of proportion to the perfectly +proportioned bodies, and they were oblate in form. She could see that +the men wore some manner of harness to which were slung the customary +long-sword and short-sword of the Barsoomian warrior, and that about +their short necks were massive leather collars cut to fit closely over +the shoulders and snugly to the lower part of the head. Their features +were scarce discernible, but there was a suggestion of grotesqueness +about them that carried to her a feeling of revulsion. +</P> + +<P> +The two carried a long rope to which were fastened, at intervals of +about two sofads, what she later guessed were light manacles, for she +saw the warriors passing among the poor creatures in the enclosure and +about the right wrist of each they fastened one of the manacles. When +all had been thus fastened to the rope one of the warriors commenced to +pull and tug at the loose end as though attempting to drag the headless +company toward the tower, while the other went among them with a long, +light whip with which he flicked them upon the naked skin. Slowly, +dully, the creatures rose to their feet and between the tugging of the +warrior in front and the lashing of him behind the hopeless band was +finally herded within the tower. Tara of Helium shuddered as she turned +away. What manner of creatures were these? +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly it was night. The Barsoomian day had ended, and then the brief +period of twilight that renders the transition from daylight to +darkness almost as abrupt as the switching off of an electric light, +and Tara of Helium had found no sanctuary. But perhaps there were no +beasts to fear, or rather to avoid—Tara of Helium liked not the word +fear. She would have been glad, however, had there been a cabin, even a +very tiny cabin, upon her small flier; but there was no cabin. The +interior of the hull was completely taken up by the buoyancy tanks. Ah, +she had it! How stupid of her not to have thought of it before! She +could moor the craft to the tree beneath which it rested and let it +rise the length of the rope. Lashed to the deck rings she would then be +safe from any roaming beast of prey that chanced along. In the morning +she could drop to the ground again before the craft was discovered. +</P> + +<P> +As Tara of Helium crept over the brow of the hill down toward the +valley, her presence was hidden by the darkness of the night from the +sight of any chance observer who might be loitering by a window in the +nearby tower. Cluros, the farther moon, was just rising above the +horizon to commence his leisurely journey through the heavens. Eight +zodes later he would set—a trifle over nineteen and a half Earth +hours—and during that time Thuria, his vivacious mate, would have +circled the planet twice and be more than half way around on her third +trip. She had but just set. It would be more than three and a half +hours before she shot above the opposite horizon to hurtle, swift and +low, across the face of the dying planet. During this temporary absence +of the mad moon Tara of Helium hoped to find both food and water, and +gain again the safety of her flier's deck. +</P> + +<P> +She groped her way through the darkness, giving the tower and its +enclosure as wide a berth as possible. Sometimes she stumbled, for in +the long shadows cast by the rising Cluros objects were grotesquely +distorted though the light from the moon was still not sufficient to be +of much assistance to her. Nor, as a matter of fact, did she want +light. She could find the stream in the dark, by the simple expedient +of going down hill until she walked into it and she had seen that +bearing trees and many crops grew throughout the valley, so that she +would pass food in plenty ere she reached the stream. If the moon +showed her the way more clearly and thus saved her from an occasional +fall, he would, too, show her more clearly to the strange denizens of +the towers, and that, of course, must not be. Could she have waited +until the following night conditions would have been better, since +Cluros would not appear in the heavens at all and so, during Thuria's +absence, utter darkness would reign; but the pangs of thirst and the +gnawing of hunger could be endured no longer with food and drink both +in sight, and so she had decided to risk discovery rather than suffer +longer. +</P> + +<P> +Safely past the nearest tower, she moved as rapidly as she felt +consistent with safety, choosing her way wherever possible so that she +might take advantage of the shadows of the trees that grew at intervals +and at the same time discover those which bore fruit. In this latter +she met with almost immediate success, for the very third tree beneath +which she halted was heavy with ripe fruit. Never, thought Tara of +Helium, had aught so delicious impinged upon her palate, and yet it was +naught else than the almost tasteless usa, which is considered to be +palatable only after having been cooked and highly spiced. It grows +easily with little irrigation and the trees bear abundantly. The fruit, +which ranks high in food value, is one of the staple foods of the less +well-to-do, and because of its cheapness and nutritive value forms one +of the principal rations of both armies and navies upon Barsoom, a use +which has won for it a Martian sobriquet which, freely translated into +English, would be, The Fighting Potato. The girl was wise enough to eat +but sparingly, but she filled her pocket-pouch with the fruit before +she continued upon her way. +</P> + +<P> +Two towers she passed before she came at last to the stream, and here +again was she temperate, drinking but little and that very slowly, +contenting herself with rinsing her mouth frequently and bathing her +face, her hands, and her feet; and even though the night was cold, as +Martian nights are, the sensation of refreshment more than compensated +for the physical discomfort of the low temperature. Replacing her +sandals she sought among the growing track near the stream for whatever +edible berries or tubers might be planted there, and found a couple of +varieties that could be eaten raw. With these she replaced some of the +usa in her pocket-pouch, not only to insure a variety but because she +found them more palatable. Occasionally she returned to the stream to +drink, but each time moderately. Always were her eyes and ears alert +for the first signs of danger, but she had neither seen nor heard aught +to disturb her. And presently the time approached when she felt she +must return to her flier lest she be caught in the revealing light of +low swinging Thuria. She dreaded leaving the water for she knew that +she must become very thirsty before she could hope to come again to the +stream. If she only had some little receptacle in which to carry water, +even a small amount would tide her over until the following night; but +she had nothing and so she must content herself as best she could with +the juices of the fruit and tubers she had gathered. +</P> + +<P> +After a last drink at the stream, the longest and deepest she had +allowed herself, she rose to retrace her steps toward the hills; but +even as she did so she became suddenly tense with apprehension. What +was that? She could have sworn that she saw something move in the +shadows beneath a tree not far away. For a long minute the girl did not +move—she scarce breathed. Her eyes remained fixed upon the dense +shadows below the tree, her ears strained through the silence of the +night. A low moaning came down from the hills where her flier was +hidden. She knew it well—the weird note of the hunting banth. And the +great carnivore lay directly in her path. But he was not so close as +this other thing, hiding there in the shadows just a little way off. +What was it? It was the strain of uncertainty that weighed heaviest +upon her. Had she known the nature of the creature lurking there half +its menace would have vanished. She cast quickly about her in search of +some haven of refuge should the thing prove dangerous. +</P> + +<P> +Again arose the moaning from the hills, but this time closer. Almost +immediately it was answered from the opposite side of the valley, +behind her, and then from the distance to the right of her, and twice +upon her left. Her eyes had found a tree, quite near. Slowly, and +without taking her eyes from the shadows of that other tree, she moved +toward the overhanging branches that might afford her sanctuary in the +event of need, and at her first move a low growl rose from the spot she +had been watching and she heard the sudden moving of a big body. +Simultaneously the creature shot into the moonlight in full charge upon +her, its tail erect, its tiny ears laid flat, its great mouth with its +multiple rows of sharp and powerful fangs already yawning for its prey, +its ten legs carrying it forward in great leaps, and now from the +beast's throat issued the frightful roar with which it seeks to +paralyze its prey. It was a banth—the great, maned lion of Barsoom. +Tara of Helium saw it coming and leaped for the tree toward which she +had been moving, and the banth realized her intention and redoubled his +speed. As his hideous roar awakened the echoes in the hills, so too it +awakened echoes in the valley; but these echoes came from the living +throats of others of his kind, until it seemed to the girl that Fate +had thrown her into the midst of a countless multitude of these savage +beasts. +</P> + +<P> +Almost incredibly swift is the speed of a charging banth, and fortunate +it was that the girl had not been caught farther in the open. As it +was, her margin of safety was next to negligible, for as she swung +nimbly to the lower branches the creature in pursuit of her crashed +among the foliage almost upon her as it sprang upward to seize her. It +was only a combination of good fortune and agility that saved her. A +stout branch deflected the raking talons of the carnivore, but so close +was the call that a giant forearm brushed her flesh in the instant +before she scrambled to the higher branches. +</P> + +<P> +Baffled, the banth gave vent to his rage and disappointment in a series +of frightful roars that caused the very ground to tremble, and to these +were added the roarings and the growlings and the moanings of his +fellows as they approached from every direction, in the hope of +wresting from him whatever of his kill they could take by craft or +prowess. And now he turned snarling upon them as they circled the tree, +while the girl, huddled in a crotch above them, looked down upon the +gaunt, yellow monsters padding on noiseless feet in a restless circle +about her. She wondered now at the strange freak of fate that had +permitted her to come down this far into the valley by night unharmed, +but even more she wondered how she was to return to the hills. She knew +that she would not dare venture it by night and she guessed, too, that +by day she might be confronted by even graver perils. To depend upon +this valley for sustenance she now saw to be beyond the pale of +possibility because of the banths that would keep her from food and +water by night, while the dwellers in the towers would doubtless make +it equally impossible for her to forage by day. There was but one +solution of her difficulty and that was to return to her flier and pray +that the wind would waft her to some less terrorful land; but when +might she return to the flier? The banths gave little evidence of +relinquishing hope of her, and even if they wandered out of sight would +she dare risk the attempt? She doubted it. +</P> + +<P> +Hopeless indeed seemed her situation—hopeless it was. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CAPTURED +</H3> + +<P> +As Thuria, swift racer of the night, shot again into the sky the scene +changed. As by magic a new aspect fell athwart the face of Nature. It +was as though in the instant one had been transported from one planet +to another. It was the age-old miracle of the Martian nights that is +always new, even to Martians—two moons resplendent in the heavens, +where one had been but now; conflicting, fast-changing shadows that +altered the very hills themselves; far Cluros, stately, majestic, +almost stationary, shedding his steady light upon the world below; +Thuria, a great and glorious orb, swinging swift across the vaulted +dome of the blue-black night, so low that she seemed to graze the +hills, a gorgeous spectacle that held the girl now beneath the spell of +its enchantment as it always had and always would. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, Thuria, mad queen of heaven!" murmured Tara of Helium. "The hills +pass in stately procession, their bosoms rising and falling; the trees +move in restless circles; the little grasses describe their little +arcs; and all is movement, restless, mysterious movement without sound, +while Thuria passes." The girl sighed and let her gaze fall again to +the stern realities beneath. There was no mystery in the huge banths. +He who had discovered her squatted there looking hungrily up at her. +Most of the others had wandered away in search of other prey, but a few +remained hoping yet to bury their fangs in that soft body. +</P> + +<P> +The night wore on. Again Thuria left the heavens to her lord and +master, hurrying on to keep her tryst with the Sun in other skies. But +a single banth waited impatiently beneath the tree which harbored Tara +of Helium. The others had left, but their roars, and growls, and moans +thundered or rumbled, or floated back to her from near and far. What +prey found they in this little valley? There must be something that +they were accustomed to find here that they should be drawn in so great +numbers. The girl wondered what it could be. +</P> + +<P> +How long the night! Numb, cold, and exhausted, Tara of Helium clung to +the tree in growing desperation, for once she had dozed and almost +fallen. Hope was low in her brave little heart. How much more could she +endure? She asked herself the question and then, with a brave shake of +her head, she squared her shoulders. "I still live!" she said aloud. +</P> + +<P> +The banth looked up and growled. +</P> + +<P> +Came Thuria again and after awhile the great Sun—a flaming lover, +pursuing his heart's desire. And Cluros, the cold husband, continued +his serene way, as placid as before his house had been violated by this +hot Lothario. And now the Sun and both Moons rode together in the sky, +lending their far mysteries to make weird the Martian dawn. Tara of +Helium looked out across the fair valley that spread upon all sides of +her. It was rich and beautiful, but even as she looked upon it she +shuddered, for to her mind came a picture of the headless things that +the towers and the walls hid. Those by day and the banths by night! Ah, +was it any wonder that she shuddered? +</P> + +<P> +With the coming of the Sun the great Barsoomian lion rose to his feet. +He turned angry eyes upon the girl above him, voiced a single ominous +growl, and slunk away toward the hills. The girl watched him, and she +saw that he gave the towers as wide a berth as possible and that he +never took his eyes from one of them while he was passing it. Evidently +the inmates had taught these savage creatures to respect them. +Presently he passed from sight in a narrow defile, nor in any direction +that she could see was there another. Momentarily at least the +landscape was deserted. The girl wondered if she dared to attempt to +regain the hills and her flier. She dreaded the coming of the workmen +to the fields as she was sure they would come. She shrank from again +seeing the headless bodies, and found herself wondering if these things +would come out into the fields and work. She looked toward the nearest +tower. There was no sign of life there. The valley lay quiet now and +deserted. She lowered herself stiffly to the ground. Her muscles were +cramped and every move brought a twinge of pain. Pausing a moment to +drink again at the stream she felt refreshed and then turned without +more delay toward the hills. To cover the distance as quickly as +possible seemed the only plan to pursue. The trees no longer offered +concealment and so she did not go out of her way to be near them. The +hills seemed very far away. She had not thought, the night before, that +she had traveled so far. Really it had not been far, but now, with the +three towers to pass in broad daylight, the distance seemed great +indeed. +</P> + +<P> +The second tower lay almost directly in her path. To make a detour +would not lessen the chance of detection, it would only lengthen the +period of her danger, and so she laid her course straight for the hill +where her flier was, regardless of the tower. As she passed the first +enclosure she thought that she heard the sound of movement within, but +the gate did not open and she breathed more easily when it lay behind +her. She came then to the second enclosure, the outer wall of which she +must circle, as it lay across her route. As she passed close along it +she distinctly heard not only movement within, but voices. In the +world-language of Barsoom she heard a man issuing instructions—so many +were to pick usa, so many were to irrigate this field, so many to +cultivate that, and so on, as a foreman lays out the day's work for his +crew. +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium had just reached the gate in the outer wall. Without +warning it swung open toward her. She saw that for a moment it would +hide her from those within and in that moment she turned and ran, +keeping close to the wall, until, passing out of sight beyond the curve +of the structure, she came to the opposite side of the enclosure. Here, +panting from her exertion and from the excitement of her narrow escape, +she threw herself among some tall weeds that grew close to the foot of +the wall. There she lay trembling for some time, not even daring to +raise her head and look about. Never before had Tara of Helium felt the +paralyzing effects of terror. She was shocked and angry at herself, +that she, daughter of John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom, should exhibit +fear. Not even the fact that there had been none there to witness it +lessened her shame and anger, and the worst of it was she knew that +under similar circumstances she would again be equally as craven. It +was not the fear of death—she knew that. No, it was the thought of +those headless bodies and that she might see them and that they might +even touch her—lay hands upon her—seize her. She shuddered and +trembled at the thought. +</P> + +<P> +After a while she gained sufficient command of herself to raise her +head and look about. To her horror she discovered that everywhere she +looked she saw people working in the fields or preparing to do so. +Workmen were coming from other towers. Little bands were passing to +this field and that. There were even some already at work within thirty +ads of her—about a hundred yards. There were ten, perhaps, in the +party nearest her, both men and women, and all were beautiful of form +and grotesque of face. So meager were their trappings that they were +practically naked; a fact that was in no way remarkable among the +tillers of the fields of Mars. Each wore the peculiar, high leather +collar that completely hid the neck, and each wore sufficient other +leather to support a single sword and a pocket-pouch. The leather was +very old and worn, showing long, hard service, and was absolutely plain +with the exception of a single device upon the left shoulder. The +heads, however, were covered with ornaments of precious metals and +jewels, so that little more than eyes, nose, and mouth were +discernible. These were hideously inhuman and yet grotesquely human at +the same time. The eyes were far apart and protruding, the nose scarce +more than two small, parallel slits set vertically above a round hole +that was the mouth. The heads were peculiarly repulsive—so much so +that it seemed unbelievable to the girl that they formed an integral +part of the beautiful bodies below them. +</P> + +<P> +So fascinated was Tara of Helium that she could scarce take her eyes +from the strange creatures—a fact that was to prove her undoing, for +in order that she might see them she was forced to expose a part of her +own head and presently, to her consternation, she saw that one of the +creatures had stopped his work and was staring directly at her. She did +not dare move, for it was still possible that the thing had not seen +her, or at least was only suspicious that some creature lay hid among +the weeds. If she could allay this suspicion by remaining motionless +the creature might believe that he had been mistaken and return to his +work; but, alas, such was not to be the case. She saw the thing call +the attention of others to her and almost immediately four or five of +them started to move in her direction. +</P> + +<P> +It was impossible now to escape discovery. Her only hope lay in flight. +If she could elude them and reach the hills and the flier ahead of them +she might escape, and that could be accomplished in but one +way—flight, immediate and swift. Leaping to her feet she darted along +the base of the wall which she must skirt to the opposite side, beyond +which lay the hill that was her goal. Her act was greeted by strange +whistling sounds from the things behind her, and casting a glance over +her shoulder she saw them all in rapid pursuit. +</P> + +<P> +There were also shrill commands that she halt, but to these she paid no +attention. Before she had half circled the enclosure she discovered +that her chances for successful escape were great, since it was evident +to her that her pursuers were not so fleet as she. High indeed then +were her hopes as she came in sight of the hill, but they were soon +dashed by what lay before her, for there, in the fields that lay +between, were fully a hundred creatures similar to those behind her and +all were on the alert, evidently warned by the whistling of their +fellows. Instructions and commands were shouted to and fro, with the +result that those before her spread roughly into a great half circle to +intercept her, and when she turned to the right, hoping to elude the +net, she saw others coming from fields beyond, and to the left the same +was true. But Tara of Helium would not admit defeat. Without once +pausing she turned directly toward the center of the advancing +semi-circle, beyond which lay her single chance of escape, and as she +ran she drew her long, slim dagger. Like her valiant sire, if die she +must, she would die fighting. There were gaps in the thin line +confronting her and toward the widest of one of these she directed her +course. The things on either side of the opening guessed her intent for +they closed in to place themselves in her path. This widened the +openings on either side of them and as the girl appeared almost to rush +into their arms she turned suddenly at right angles, ran swiftly in the +new direction for a few yards, and then dashed quickly toward the hill +again. Now only a single warrior, with a wide gap on either side of +him, barred her clear way to freedom, though all the others were +speeding as rapidly as they could to intercept her. If she could pass +this one without too much delay she could escape, of that she was +certain. Her every hope hinged on this. The creature before her +realized it, too, for he moved cautiously, though swiftly, to intercept +her, as a Rugby fullback might maneuver in the realization that he +alone stood between the opposing team and a touchdown. +</P> + +<P> +At first Tara of Helium had hoped that she might dodge him, for she +could not but guess that she was not only more fleet but infinitely +more agile than these strange creatures; but soon there came to her the +realization that in the time consumed in an attempt to elude his grasp +his nearer fellows would be upon her and escape then impossible, so she +chose instead to charge straight for him, and when he guessed her +decision he stood, half crouching and with outstretched arms, awaiting +her. In one hand was his sword, but a voice arose, crying in tones of +authority. "Take her alive! Do not harm her!" Instantly the fellow +returned his sword to its scabbard and then Tara of Helium was upon +him. Straight for that beautiful body she sprang and in the instant +that the arms closed to seize her her sharp blade drove deep into the +naked chest. The impact hurled them both to the ground and as Tara of +Helium sprang to her feet again she saw, to her horror, that the +loathsome head had rolled from the body and was now crawling away from +her on six short, spider-like legs. The body struggled spasmodically +and lay still. As brief as had been the delay caused by the encounter, +it still had been of sufficient duration to undo her, for even as she +rose two more of the things fell upon her and instantly thereafter she +was surrounded. Her blade sank once more into naked flesh and once more +a head rolled free and crawled away. Then they overpowered her and in +another moment she was surrounded by fully a hundred of the creatures, +all seeking to lay hands upon her. At first she thought that they +wished to tear her to pieces in revenge for her having slain two of +their fellows, but presently she realized that they were prompted more +by curiosity than by any sinister motive. +</P> + +<P> +"Come!" said one of her captors, both of whom had retained a hold upon +her. As he spoke he tried to lead her away with him toward the nearest +tower. +</P> + +<P> +"She belongs to me," cried the other. "Did not I capture her? She will +come with me to the tower of Moak." +</P> + +<P> +"Never!" insisted the first. "She is Luud's. To Luud I will take her, +and whosoever interferes may feel the keenness of my sword—in the +head!" He almost shouted the last three words. +</P> + +<P> +"Come! Enough of this," cried one who spoke with some show of +authority. "She was captured in Luud's fields—she will go to Luud." +</P> + +<P> +"She was discovered in Moak's fields, at the very foot of the tower of +Moak," insisted he who had claimed her for Moak. +</P> + +<P> +"You have heard the Nolach speak," cried the Luud. "It shall be as he +says." +</P> + +<P> +"Not while this Moak holds a sword," replied the other. "Rather will I +cut her in twain and take my half to Moak than to relinquish her all to +Luud," and he drew his sword, or rather he laid his hand upon its hilt +in a threatening gesture; but before ever he could draw it the Luud had +whipped his out and with a fearful blow cut deep into the head of his +adversary. Instantly the big, round head collapsed, almost as a +punctured balloon collapses, as a grayish, semi-fluid matter spurted +from it. The protruding eyes, apparently lidless, merely stared, the +sphincter-like muscle of the mouth opened and closed, and then the head +toppled from the body to the ground. The body stood dully for a moment +and then slowly started to wander aimlessly about until one of the +others seized it by the arm. +</P> + +<P> +One of the two heads crawling about on the ground now approached. "This +rykor belongs to Moak," it said. "I am a Moak. I will take it," and +without further discussion it commenced to crawl up the front of the +headless body, using its six short, spiderlike legs and two stout +chelae which grew just in front of its legs and strongly resembled +those of an Earthly lobster, except that they were both of the same +size. The body in the meantime stood in passive indifference, its arms +hanging idly at its sides. The head climbed to the shoulders and +settled itself inside the leather collar that now hid its chelae and +legs. Almost immediately the body gave evidence of intelligent +animation. It raised its hands and adjusted the collar more +comfortably, it took the head between its palms and settled it in place +and when it moved around it did not wander aimlessly, but instead its +steps were firm and to some purpose. +</P> + +<P> +The girl watched all these things in growing wonder, and presently, no +other of the Moaks seeming inclined to dispute the right of the Luud to +her, she was led off by her captor toward the nearest tower. Several +accompanied them, including one who carried the loose head under his +arm. The head that was being carried conversed with the head upon the +shoulders of the thing that carried it. Tara of Helium shivered. It was +horrible! All that she had seen of these frightful creatures was +horrible. And to be a prisoner, wholly in their power. Shadow of her +first ancestor! What had she done to deserve so cruel a fate? +</P> + +<P> +At the wall enclosing the tower they paused while one opened the gate +and then they passed within the enclosure, which, to the girl's horror, +she found filled with headless bodies. The creature who carried the +bodiless head now set its burden upon the ground and the latter +immediately crawled toward one of the bodies that was lying near by. +Some wandered stupidly to and fro, but this one lay still. It was a +female. The head crawled to it and made its way to the shoulders where +it settled itself. At once the body sprang lightly erect. Another of +those who had accompanied them from the fields approached with the +harness and collar that had been taken from the dead body that the head +had formerly topped. The new body now appropriated these and the hands +deftly adjusted them. The creature was now as good as before Tara of +Helium had struck down its former body with her slim blade. But there +was a difference. Before it had been male—now it was female. That, +however, seemed to make no difference to the head. In fact, Tara of +Helium had noticed during the scramble and the fight about her that sex +differences seemed of little moment to her captors. Males and females +had taken equal part in her pursuit, both were identically harnessed +and both carried swords, and she had seen as many females as males draw +their weapons at the moment that a quarrel between the two factions +seemed imminent. +</P> + +<P> +The girl was given but brief opportunity for further observation of the +pitiful creatures in the enclosure as her captor, after having directed +the others to return to the fields, led her toward the tower, which +they entered, passing into an apartment about ten feet wide and twenty +long, in one end of which was a stairway leading to an upper level and +in the other an opening to a similar stairway leading downward. The +chamber, though on a level with the ground, was brilliantly lighted by +windows in its inner wall, the light coming from a circular court in +the center of the tower. The walls of this court appeared to be faced +with what resembled glazed, white tile and the whole interior of it was +flooded with dazzling light, a fact which immediately explained to the +girl the purpose of the glass prisms of which the domes were +constructed. The stairways themselves were sufficient to cause remark, +since in nearly all Barsoomian architecture inclined runways are +utilized for purposes of communication between different levels, and +especially is this true of the more ancient forms and of those of +remote districts where fewer changes have come to alter the customs of +antiquity. +</P> + +<P> +Down the stairway her captor led Tara of Helium. Down and down through +chambers still lighted from the brilliant well. Occasionally they +passed others going in the opposite direction and these always stopped +to examine the girl and ask questions of her captor. +</P> + +<P> +"I know nothing but that she was found in the fields and that I caught +her after a fight in which she slew two rykors and in which I slew a +Moak, and that I take her to Luud, to whom, of course, she belongs. If +Luud wishes to question her that is for Luud to do—not for me." Thus +always he answered the curious. +</P> + +<P> +Presently they reached a room from which a circular tunnel led away +from the tower, and into this the creature conducted her. The tunnel +was some seven feet in diameter and flattened on the bottom to form a +walk. For a hundred feet from the tower it was lined with the same +tile-like material of the light well and amply illuminated by reflected +light from that source. Beyond it was faced with stone of various +shapes and sizes, neatly cut and fitted together—a very fine mosaic +without a pattern. There were branches, too, and other tunnels which +crossed this, and occasionally openings not more than a foot in +diameter; these latter being usually close to the floor. Above each of +these smaller openings was painted a different device, while upon the +walls of the larger tunnels at all intersections and points of +convergence hieroglyphics appeared. These the girl could not read +though she guessed that they were the names of the tunnels, or notices +indicating the points to which they led. She tried to study some of +them out, but there was not a character that was familiar to her, which +seemed strange, since, while the written languages of the various +nations of Barsoom differ, it still is true that they have many +characters and words in common. +</P> + +<P> +She had tried to converse with her guard but he had not seemed inclined +to talk with her and she had finally desisted. She could not but note +that he had offered her no indignities, nor had he been either +unnecessarily rough or in any way cruel. The fact that she had slain +two of the bodies with her dagger had apparently aroused no animosity +or desire for revenge in the minds of the strange heads that surmounted +the bodies—even those whose bodies had been killed. She did not try to +understand it, since she could not approach the peculiar relationship +between the heads and the bodies of these creatures from the basis of +any past knowledge or experience of her own. So far their treatment of +her seemed to augur naught that might arouse her fears. Perhaps, after +all, she had been fortunate to fall into the hands of these strange +people, who might not only protect her from harm, but even aid her in +returning to Helium. That they were repulsive and uncanny she could not +forget, but if they meant her no harm she could, at least, overlook +their repulsiveness. Renewed hope aroused within her a spirit of +greater cheerfulness, and it was almost blithely now that she moved at +the side of her weird companion. She even caught herself humming a gay +little tune that was then popular in Helium. The creature at her side +turned its expressionless eyes upon her. +</P> + +<P> +"What is that noise that you are making?" it asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I was but humming an air," she replied. +</P> + +<P> +"'Humming an air,'" he repeated. "I do not know what you mean; but do +it again, I like it." +</P> + +<P> +This time she sang the words, while her companion listened intently. +His face gave no indication of what was passing in that strange head. +It was as devoid of expression as that of a spider. It reminded her of +a spider. When she had finished he turned toward her again. +</P> + +<P> +"That was different," he said. "I liked that better, even, than the +other. How do you do it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why," she said, "it is singing. Do you not know what song is?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," he replied. "Tell me how you do it." +</P> + +<P> +"It is difficult to explain," she told him, "since any explanation of +it presupposes some knowledge of melody and of music, while your very +question indicates that you have no knowledge of either." +</P> + +<P> +"No," he said, "I do not know what you are talking about; but tell me +how you do it." +</P> + +<P> +"It is merely the melodious modulations of my voice," she explained. +"Listen!" and again she sang. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not understand," he insisted; "but I like it. Could you teach me +to do it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know, but I shall be glad to try." +</P> + +<P> +"We will see what Luud does with you," he said. "If he does not want +you I will keep you and you shall teach me to make sounds like that." +</P> + +<P> +At his request she sang again as they continued their way along the +winding tunnel, which was now lighted by occasional bulbs which +appeared to be similar to the radium bulbs with which she was familiar +and which were common to all the nations of Barsoom, insofar as she +knew, having been perfected at so remote a period that their very +origin was lost in antiquity. They consist, usually, of a hemispherical +bowl of heavy glass in which is packed a compound containing what, +according to John Carter, must be radium. The bowl is then cemented +into a metal plate with a heavily insulated back and the whole affair +set in the masonry of wall or ceiling as desired, where it gives off +light of greater or less intensity, according to the composition of the +filling material, for an almost incalculable period of time. +</P> + +<P> +As they proceeded they met a greater number of the inhabitants of this +underground world, and the girl noted that among many of these the +metal and harness were more ornate than had been those of the workers +in the fields above. The heads and bodies, however, were similar, even +identical, she thought. No one offered her harm and she was now +experiencing a feeling of relief almost akin to happiness, when her +guide turned suddenly into an opening on the right side of the tunnel +and she found herself in a large, well lighted chamber. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE PERFECT BRAIN +</H3> + +<P> +The song that had been upon her lips as she entered died there—frozen +by the sight of horror that met her eyes. In the center of the chamber +a headless body lay upon the floor—a body that had been partially +devoured—while over and upon it crawled a half a dozen heads upon +their short, spider legs, and they tore at the flesh of the woman with +their chelae and carried the bits to their awful mouths. They were +eating human flesh—eating it raw! +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium gasped in horror and turning away covered her eyes with +her palms. +</P> + +<P> +"Come!" said her captor. "What is the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +"They are eating the flesh of the woman," she whispered in tones of +horror. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" he inquired. "Did you suppose that we kept the rykor for +labor alone? Ah, no. They are delicious when kept and fattened. +Fortunate, too, are those that are bred for food, since they are never +called upon to do aught but eat." +</P> + +<P> +"It is hideous!" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +He looked at her steadily for a moment, but whether in surprise, in +anger, or in pity his expressionless face did not reveal. Then he led +her on across the room past the frightful thing, from which she turned +away her eyes. Lying about the floor near the walls were half a dozen +headless bodies in harness. These she guessed had been abandoned +temporarily by the feasting heads until they again required their +services. In the walls of this room there were many of the small, round +openings she had noticed in various parts of the tunnels, the purpose +of which she could not guess. +</P> + +<P> +They passed through another corridor and then into a second chamber, +larger than the first and more brilliantly illuminated. Within were +several of the creatures with heads and bodies assembled, while many +headless bodies lay about near the walls. Here her captor halted and +spoke to one of the occupants of the chamber. +</P> + +<P> +"I seek Luud," he said. "I bring to Luud a creature that I captured in +the fields above." +</P> + +<P> +The others crowded about to examine Tara of Helium. One of them +whistled, whereupon the girl learned something of the smaller openings +in the walls, for almost immediately there crawled from them, like +giant spiders, a score or more of the hideous heads. Each sought one of +the recumbent bodies and fastened itself in place. Immediately the +bodies reacted to the intelligent direction of the heads. They arose, +the hands adjusted the leather collars and put the balance of the +harness in order, then the creatures crossed the room to where Tara of +Helium stood. She noted that their leather was more highly ornamented +than that worn by any of the others she had previously seen, and so she +guessed that these must be higher in authority than the others. Nor was +she mistaken. The demeanor of her captor indicated it. He addressed +them as one who holds intercourse with superiors. +</P> + +<P> +Several of those who examined her felt her flesh, pinching it gently +between thumb and forefinger, a familiarity that the girl resented. She +struck down their hands. "Do not touch me!" she cried, imperiously, for +was she not a princess of Helium? The expression on those terrible +faces did not change. She could not tell whether they were angry or +amused, whether her action had filled them with respect for her, or +contempt. Only one of them spoke immediately. +</P> + +<P> +"She will have to be fattened more," he said. +</P> + +<P> +The girl's eyes went wide with horror. She turned upon her captor. "Do +these frightful creatures intend to devour me?" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +"That is for Luud to say," he replied, and then he leaned closer so +that his mouth was near her ear. "That noise you made which you called +song pleased me," he whispered, "and I will repay you by warning you +not to antagonize these kaldanes. They are very powerful. Luud listens +to them. Do not call them frightful. They are very handsome. Look at +their wonderful trappings, their gold, their jewels." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," she said. "You called them kaldanes—what does that mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"We are all kaldanes," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +"You, too?" and she pointed at him, her slim finger directed toward his +chest. +</P> + +<P> +"No, not this," he explained, touching his body; "this is a rykor; but +this," and he touched his head, "is a kaldane. It is the brain, the +intellect, the power that directs all things. The rykor," he indicated +his body, "is nothing. It is not so much even as the jewels upon our +harness; no, not so much as the harness itself. It carries us about. It +is true that we would find difficulty getting along without it; but it +has less value than harness or jewels because it is less difficult to +reproduce." He turned again to the other kaldanes. "Will you notify +Luud that I am here?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Sept has already gone to Luud. He will tell him," replied one. "Where +did you find this rykor with the strange kaldane that cannot detach +itself?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl's captor narrated once more the story of her capture. He +stated facts just as they had occurred, without embellishment, his +voice as expressionless as his face, and his story was received in the +same manner that it was delivered. The creatures seemed totally lacking +in emotion, or, at least, the capacity to express it. It was impossible +to judge what impression the story made upon them, or even if they +heard it. Their protruding eyes simply stared and occasionally the +muscles of their mouths opened and closed. Familiarity did not lessen +the horror the girl felt for them. The more she saw of them the more +repulsive they seemed. Often her body was shaken by convulsive shudders +as she looked at the kaldanes, but when her eyes wandered to the +beautiful bodies and she could for a moment expunge the heads from her +consciousness the effect was soothing and refreshing, though when the +bodies lay, headless, upon the floor they were quite as shocking as the +heads mounted on bodies. But by far the most grewsome and uncanny sight +of all was that of the heads crawling about upon their spider legs. If +one of these should approach and touch her Tara of Helium was positive +that she should scream, while should one attempt to crawl up her +person—ugh! the very idea induced a feeling of faintness. +</P> + +<P> +Sept returned to the chamber. "Luud will see you and the captive. +Come!" he said, and turned toward a door opposite that through which +Tara of Helium had entered the chamber. "What is your name?" His +question was directed to the girl's captor. +</P> + +<P> +"I am Ghek, third foreman of the fields of Luud," he answered. +</P> + +<P> +"And hers?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know." +</P> + +<P> +"It makes no difference. Come!" +</P> + +<P> +The patrician brows of Tara of Helium went high. It made no difference, +indeed! She, a princess of Helium; only daughter of The Warlord of +Barsoom! +</P> + +<P> +"Wait!" she cried. "It makes much difference who I am. If you are +conducting me into the presence of your jed you may announce The +Princess Tara of Helium, daughter of John Carter, The Warlord of +Barsoom." +</P> + +<P> +"Hold your peace!" commanded Sept. "Speak when you are spoken to. Come +with me!" +</P> + +<P> +The anger of Tara of Helium all but choked her. "Come," admonished +Ghek, and took her by the arm, and Tara of Helium came. She was naught +but a prisoner. Her rank and titles meant nothing to these inhuman +monsters. They led her through a short, S-shaped passageway into a +chamber entirely lined with the white, tile-like material with which +the interior of the light wall was faced. Close to the base of the +walls were numerous smaller apertures, circular in shape, but larger +than those of similar aspect that she had noted elsewhere. The majority +of these apertures were sealed. Directly opposite the entrance was one +framed in gold, and above it a peculiar device was inlaid in the same +precious metal. +</P> + +<P> +Sept and Ghek halted just within the room, the girl between them, and +all three stood silently facing the opening in the opposite wall. On +the floor beside the aperture lay a headless male body of almost heroic +proportions, and on either side of this stood a heavily armed warrior, +with drawn sword. For perhaps five minutes the three waited and then +something appeared in the opening. It was a pair of large chelae and +immediately thereafter there crawled forth a hideous kaldane of +enormous proportions. He was half again as large as any that Tara of +Helium had yet seen and his whole aspect infinitely more terrible. The +skin of the others was a bluish gray—this one was of a little bluer +tinge and the eyes were ringed with bands of white and scarlet, as was +its mouth. +</P> + +<P> +From each nostril a band of white and one of scarlet extended outward +horizontally the width of the face. +</P> + +<P> +No one spoke or moved. The creature crawled to the prostrate body and +affixed itself to the neck. Then the two rose as one and approached the +girl. He looked at her and then he spoke to her captor. +</P> + +<P> +"You are the third foreman of the fields of Luud?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Luud; I am called Ghek." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me what you know of this," and he nodded toward Tara of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +Ghek did as he was bid and then Luud addressed the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"What were you doing within the borders of Bantoom?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I was blown hither in a great storm that injured my flier and carried +me I knew not where. I came down into the valley at night for food and +drink. The banths came and drove me to the safety of a tree, and then +your people caught me as I was trying to leave the valley. I do not +know why they took me. I was doing no harm. All I ask is that you let +me go my way in peace." +</P> + +<P> +"None who enters Bantoom ever leaves," replied Luud. +</P> + +<P> +"But my people are not at war with yours. I am a princess of Helium; my +great-grandfather is a jeddak; my grandfather a jed; and my father is +Warlord of all Barsoom. You have no right to keep me and I demand that +you liberate me at once." +</P> + +<P> +"None who enters Bantoom ever leaves," repeated the creature without +expression. "I know nothing of the lesser creatures of Barsoom, of whom +you speak. There is but one high race—the race of Bantoomians. All +Nature exists to serve them. You shall do your share, but not yet—you +are too skinny. We shall have to put some fat upon it, Sept. I tire of +rykor. Perhaps this will have a different flavor. The banths are too +rank and it is seldom that any other creature enters the valley. And +you, Ghek; you shall be rewarded. I shall promote you from the fields +to the burrows. Hereafter you shall remain underground as every +Bantoomian longs to. No more shall you be forced to endure the hated +sun, or look upon the hideous sky, or the hateful growing things that +defile the surface. For the present you shall look after this thing +that you have brought me, seeing that it sleeps and eats—and does +nothing else. You understand me, Ghek; nothing else!" +</P> + +<P> +"I understand, Luud," replied the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Take it away!" commanded the creature. +</P> + +<P> +Ghek turned and led Tara of Helium from the apartment. The girl was +horrified by contemplation of the fate that awaited her—a fate from +which it seemed, there was no escape. It was only too evident that +these creatures possessed no gentle or chivalric sentiments to which +she could appeal, and that she might escape from the labyrinthine mazes +of their underground burrows appeared impossible. +</P> + +<P> +Outside the audience chamber Sept overtook them and conversed with Ghek +for a brief period, then her keeper led her through a confusing web of +winding tunnels until they came to a small apartment. +</P> + +<P> +"We are to remain here for a while. It may be that Luud will send for +you again. If he does you will probably not be fattened—he will use +you for another purpose." It was fortunate for the girl's peace of mind +that she did not realize what he meant. "Sing for me," said Ghek, +presently. +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium did not feel at all like singing, but she sang, +nevertheless, for there was always the hope that she might escape if +given the opportunity and if she could win the friendship of one of the +creatures, her chances would be increased proportionately. All during +the ordeal, for such it was to the overwrought girl, Ghek stood with +his eyes fixed upon her. +</P> + +<P> +"It is wonderful," he said, when she had finished; "but I did not tell +Luud—you noticed that I did not tell Luud about it. Had he known, he +would have had you sing to him and that would have resulted in your +being kept with him that he might hear you sing whenever he wished; but +now I can have you all the time." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know he would like my singing?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"He would have to," replied Ghek. "If I like a thing he has to like it, +for are we not identical—all of us?" +</P> + +<P> +"The people of my race do not all like the same things," said the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"How strange!" commented Ghek. "All kaldanes like the same things and +dislike the same things. If I discover something new and like it I know +that all kaldanes will like it. That is how I know that Luud would like +your singing. You see we are all exactly alike." +</P> + +<P> +"But you do not look like Luud," said the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Luud is king. He is larger and more gorgeously marked; but otherwise +he and I are identical, and why not? Did not Luud produce the egg from +which I hatched?" +</P> + +<P> +"What?" queried the girl; "I do not understand you." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," explained Ghek, "all of us are from Luud's eggs, just as all the +swarm of Moak are from Moak's eggs." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" exclaimed Tara of Helium understandingly; "you mean that Luud has +many wives and that you are the offspring of one of them." +</P> + +<P> +"No, not that at all," replied Ghek. "Luud has no wife. He lays the +eggs himself. You do not understand." +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium admitted that she did not. +</P> + +<P> +"I will try to explain, then," said Ghek, "if you will promise to sing +to me later." +</P> + +<P> +"I promise," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"We are not like the rykors," he began. "They are creatures of a low +order, like yourself and the banths and such things. We have no +sex—not one of us except our king, who is bi-sexual. He produces many +eggs from which we, the workers and the warriors, are hatched; and one +in every thousand eggs is another king egg, from which a king is +hatched. Did you notice the sealed openings in the room where you saw +Luud? Sealed in each of those is another king. If one of them escaped +he would fall upon Luud and try to kill him and if he succeeded we +should have a new king; but there would be no difference. His name +would be Luud and all would go on as before, for are we not all alike? +Luud has lived a long time and has produced many kings, so he lets only +a few live that there may be a successor to him when he dies. The +others he kills." +</P> + +<P> +"Why does he keep more than one?" queried the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Sometimes accidents occur," replied Ghek, "and all the kings that a +swarm has saved are killed. When this happens the swarm comes and +obtains another king from a neighboring swarm." +</P> + +<P> +"Are all of you the children of Luud?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"All but a few, who are from the eggs of the preceding king, as was +Luud; but Luud has lived a long time and not many of the others are +left." +</P> + +<P> +"You live a long time, or short?" Tara asked. +</P> + +<P> +"A very long time." +</P> + +<P> +"And the rykors, too; they live a long time?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; the rykors live for ten years, perhaps," he said, "if they remain +strong and useful. When they can no longer be of service to us, either +through age or sickness, we leave them in the fields and the banths +come at night and get them." +</P> + +<P> +"How horrible!" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"Horrible?" he repeated. "I see nothing horrible about that. The rykors +are but brainless flesh. They neither see, nor feel, nor hear. They can +scarce move but for us. If we did not bring them food they would starve +to death. They are less deserving of thought than our leather. All that +they can do for themselves is to take food from a trough and put it in +their mouths, but with us—look at them!" and he proudly exhibited the +noble figure that he surmounted, palpitant with life and energy and +feeling. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you do it?" asked Tara of Helium. "I do not understand it at +all." +</P> + +<P> +"I will show you," he said, and lay down upon the floor. Then he +detached himself from the body, which lay as a thing dead. On his +spider legs he walked toward the girl. "Now look," he admonished her. +"Do you see this thing?" and he extended what appeared to be a bundle +of tentacles from the posterior part of his head. "There is an aperture +just back of the rykor's mouth and directly over the upper end of his +spinal column. Into this aperture I insert my tentacles and seize the +spinal cord. Immediately I control every muscle of the rykor's body—it +becomes my own, just as you direct the movement of the muscles of your +body. I feel what the rykor would feel if he had a head and brain. If +he is hurt, I would suffer if I remained connected with him; but the +instant one of them is injured or becomes sick we desert it for +another. As we would suffer the pains of their physical injuries, +similarly do we enjoy the physical pleasures of the rykors. When your +body becomes fatigued you are comparatively useless; it is sick, you +are sick; if it is killed, you die. You are the slave of a mass of +stupid flesh and bone and blood. There is nothing more wonderful about +your carcass than there is about the carcass of a banth. It is only +your brain that makes you superior to the banth, but your brain is +bound by the limitations of your body. Not so, ours. With us brain is +everything. Ninety per centum of our volume is brain. We have only the +simplest of vital organs and they are very small for they do not have +to assist in the support of a complicated system of nerves, muscles, +flesh and bone. We have no lungs, for we do not require air. Far below +the levels to which we can take the rykors is a vast network of burrows +where the real life of the kaldane is lived. There the air-breathing +rykor would perish as you would perish. There we have stored vast +quantities of food in hermetically sealed chambers. It will last +forever. Far beneath the surface is water that will flow for countless +ages after the surface water is exhausted. We are preparing for the +time we know must come—the time when the last vestige of the +Barsoomian atmosphere is spent—when the waters and the food are gone. +For this purpose were we created, that there might not perish from the +planet Nature's divinest creation—the perfect brain." +</P> + +<P> +"But what purpose can you serve when that time comes?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"You do not understand," he said. "It is too big for you to grasp, but +I will try to explain it. Barsoom, the moons, the sun, the stars, were +created for a single purpose. From the beginning of time Nature has +labored arduously toward the consummation of this purpose. At the very +beginning things existed with life, but with no brain. Gradually +rudimentary nervous systems and minute brains evolved. Evolution +proceeded. The brains became larger and more powerful. In us you see +the highest development; but there are those of us who believe that +there is yet another step—that some time in the far future our race +shall develop into the super-thing—just brain. The incubus of legs and +chelae and vital organs will be removed. The future kaldane will be +nothing but a great brain. Deaf, dumb, and blind it will lie sealed in +its buried vault far beneath the surface of Barsoom—just a great, +wonderful, beautiful brain with nothing to distract it from eternal +thought." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean it will just lie there and think?" cried Tara of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +"Just that!" he exclaimed. "Could aught be more wonderful?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied the girl, "I can think of a number of things that would +be infinitely more wonderful." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IN THE TOILS OF HORROR +</H3> + +<P> +What the creature had told her gave Tara of Helium food for thought. +She had been taught that every created thing fulfilled some useful +purpose, and she tried conscientiously to discover just what was the +rightful place of the kaldane in the universal scheme of things. She +knew that it must have its place but what that place was it was beyond +her to conceive. She had to give it up. They recalled to her mind a +little group of people in Helium who had forsworn the pleasures of life +in the pursuit of knowledge. They were rather patronizing in their +relations with those whom they thought not so intellectual. They +considered themselves quite superior. She smiled at recollection of a +remark her father had once made concerning them, to the effect that if +one of them ever dropped his egotism and broke it it would take a week +to fumigate Helium. Her father liked normal people—people who knew too +little and people who knew too much were equally a bore. Tara of Helium +was like her father in this respect and like him, too, she was both +sane and normal. +</P> + +<P> +Outside of her personal danger there was much in this strange world +that interested her. The rykors aroused her keenest pity, and vast +conjecture. How and from what form had they evolved? She asked Ghek. +</P> + +<P> +"Sing to me again and I will tell you," he said. "If Luud would let me +have you, you should never die. I should keep you always to sing to me." +</P> + +<P> +The girl marvelled at the effect her voice had upon the creature. +Somewhere in that enormous brain there was a chord that was touched by +melody. It was the sole link between herself and the brain when +detached from the rykor. When it dominated the rykor it might have +other human instincts; but these she dreaded even to think of. After +she had sung she waited for Ghek to speak. For a long time he was +silent, just looking at her through those awful eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder," he said presently, "if it might not be pleasant to be of +your race. Do you all sing?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nearly all, a little," she said; "but we do many other interesting and +enjoyable things. We dance and play and work and love and sometimes we +fight, for we are a race of warriors." +</P> + +<P> +"Love!" said the kaldane. "I think I know what you mean; but we, +fortunately, are above sentiment—when we are detached. But when we +dominate the rykor—ah, that is different, and when I hear you sing and +look at your beautiful body I know what you mean by love. I could love +you." +</P> + +<P> +The girl shrank from him. "You promised to tell me the origin of the +rykor," she reminded him. +</P> + +<P> +"Ages ago," he commenced, "our bodies were larger and our heads +smaller. Our legs were very weak and we could not travel fast or far. +There was a stupid creature that went upon four legs. It lived in a +hole in the ground, to which it brought its food, so we ran our burrows +into this hole and ate the food it brought; but it did not bring enough +for all—for itself and all the kaldanes that lived upon it, so we had +also to go abroad and get food. This was hard work for our weak legs. +Then it was that we commenced to ride upon the backs of these primitive +rykors. It took many ages, undoubtedly, but at last came the time when +the kaldane had found means to guide the rykor, until presently the +latter depended entirely upon the superior brain of his master to guide +him to food. The brain of the rykor grew smaller as time went on. His +ears went and his eyes, for he no longer had use for them—the kaldane +saw and heard for him. By similar steps the rykor came to go upon its +hind feet that the kaldane might be able to see farther. As the brain +shrank, so did the head. The mouth was the only feature of the head +that was used and so the mouth alone remains. Members of the red race +fell into the hands of our ancestors from time to time. They saw the +beauties and the advantages of the form that nature had given the red +race over that which the rykor was developing into. By intelligent +crossing the present rykor was achieved. He is really solely the +product of the super-intelligence of the kaldane—he is our body, to do +with as we see fit, just as you do what you see fit with your body, +only we have the advantage of possessing an unlimited supply of bodies. +Do you not wish that you were a kaldane?" +</P> + +<P> +For how long they kept her in the subterranean chamber Tara of Helium +did not know. It seemed a very long time. She ate and slept and watched +the interminable lines of creatures that passed the entrance to her +prison. There was a laden line passing from above carrying food, food, +food. In the other line they returned empty handed. When she saw them +she knew that it was daylight above. When they did not pass she knew it +was night, and that the banths were about devouring the rykors that had +been abandoned in the fields the previous day. She commenced to grow +pale and thin. She did not like the food they gave her—it was not +suited to her kind—nor would she have eaten overmuch palatable food, +for the fear of becoming fat. The idea of plumpness had a new +significance here—a horrible significance. +</P> + +<P> +Ghek noted that she was growing thin and white. He spoke to her about +it and she told him that she could not thrive thus beneath the +ground—that she must have fresh air and sunshine, or she would wither +and die. Evidently he carried her words to Luud, since it was not long +after that he told her that the king had ordered that she be confined +in the tower and to the tower she was taken. She had hoped against hope +that this very thing might result from her conversation with Ghek. Even +to see the sun again was something, but now there sprang to her breast +a hope that she had not dared to nurse before, while she lay in the +terrible labyrinth from which she knew she could never have found her +way to the outer world; but now there was some slight reason to hope. +At least she could see the hills and if she could see them might there +not come also the opportunity to reach them? If she could have but ten +minutes—just ten little minutes! The flier was still there—she knew +that it must be. Just ten minutes and she would be free—free forever +from this frightful place; but the days wore on and she was never +alone, not even for half of ten minutes. Many times she planned her +escape. Had it not been for the banths it had been easy of +accomplishment by night. Ghek always detached his body then and sank +into what seemed a semi-comatose condition. It could not be said that +he slept, or at least it did not appear like sleep, since his lidless +eyes were unchanged; but he lay quietly in a corner. Tara of Helium +enacted a thousand times in her mind the scene of her escape. She would +rush to the side of the rykor and seize the sword that hung in its +harness. Before Ghek knew what she purposed, she would have this and +then before he could give an alarm she would drive the blade through +his hideous head. It would take but a moment to reach the enclosure. +The rykors could not stop her, for they had no brains to tell them that +she was escaping. She had watched from her window the opening and +closing of the gate that led from the enclosure out into the fields and +she knew how the great latch operated. She would pass through and make +a quick dash for the hill. It was so near that they could not overtake +her. It was so easy! Or it would have been but for the banths! The +banths at night and the workers in the fields by day. +</P> + +<P> +Confined to the tower and without proper exercise or food, the girl +failed to show the improvement that her captors desired. Ghek +questioned her in an effort to learn why it was that she did not grow +round and plump; that she did not even look as well as when they had +captured her. His concern was prompted by repeated inquiries on the +part of Luud and finally resulted in suggesting to Tara of Helium a +plan whereby she might find a new opportunity of escape. +</P> + +<P> +"I am accustomed to walking in the fresh air and the sunlight," she +told Ghek. "I cannot become as I was before if I am to be always shut +away in this one chamber, breathing poor air and getting no proper +exercise. Permit me to go out in the fields every day and walk about +while the sun is shining. Then, I am sure, I shall become nice and fat." +</P> + +<P> +"You would run away," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"But how could I if you were always with me?" she asked. "And even if I +wished to run away where could I go? I do not know even the direction +of Helium. It must be very far. The very first night the banths would +get me, would they not?" +</P> + +<P> +"They would," said Ghek. "I will ask Luud about it." +</P> + +<P> +The following day he told her that Luud had said that she was to be +taken into the fields. He would try that for a time and see if she +improved. +</P> + +<P> +"If you do not grow fatter he will send for you anyway," said Ghek; +"but he will not use you for food." +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium shuddered. +</P> + +<P> +That day and for many days thereafter she was taken from the tower, +through the enclosure and out into the fields. Always was she alert for +an opportunity to escape; but Ghek was always close by her side. It was +not so much his presence that deterred her from making the attempt as +the number of workers that were always between her and the hills where +the flier lay. She could easily have eluded Ghek, but there were too +many of the others. And then, one day, Ghek told her as he accompanied +her into the open that this would be the last time. +</P> + +<P> +"Tonight you go to Luud," he said. "I am sorry as I shall not hear you +sing again." +</P> + +<P> +"Tonight!" She scarce breathed the word, yet it was vibrant with horror. +</P> + +<P> +She glanced quickly toward the hills. They were so close! Yet between +were the inevitable workers—perhaps a score of them. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us walk over there?" she said, indicating them. "I should like to +see what they are doing." +</P> + +<P> +"It is too far," said Ghek. "I hate the sun. It is much pleasanter here +where I can stand beneath the shade of this tree." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," she agreed; "then you stay here and I will walk over. It +will take me but a minute." +</P> + +<P> +"No," he answered. "I will go with you. You want to escape; but you are +not going to." +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot escape," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"I know it," agreed Ghek; "but you might try. I do not wish you to try. +Possibly it will be better if we return to the tower at once. It would +go hard with me should you escape." +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium saw her last chance fading into oblivion. There would +never be another after today. She cast about for some pretext to lure +him even a little nearer to the hills. +</P> + +<P> +"It is very little that I ask," she said. "Tonight you will want me to +sing to you. It will be the last time, if you do not let me go and see +what those kaldanes are doing I shall never sing to you again." +</P> + +<P> +Ghek hesitated. "I will hold you by the arm all the time, then," he +said. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, of course, if you wish," she assented. "Come!" +</P> + +<P> +The two moved toward the workers and the hills. The little party was +digging tubers from the ground. She had noted this and that nearly +always they were stooped low over their work, the hideous eyes bent +upon the upturned soil. She led Ghek quite close to them, pretending +that she wished to see exactly how they did the work, and all the time +he held her tightly by her left wrist. +</P> + +<P> +"It is very interesting," she said, with a sigh, and then, suddenly; +"Look, Ghek!" and pointed quickly back in the direction of the tower. +The kaldane, still holding her turned half away from her to look in the +direction she had indicated and simultaneously, with the quickness of a +banth, she struck him with her right fist, backed by every ounce of +strength she possessed—struck the back of the pulpy head just above +the collar. The blow was sufficient to accomplish her design, +dislodging the kaldane from its rykor and tumbling it to the ground. +Instantly the grasp upon her wrist relaxed as the body, no longer +controlled by the brain of Ghek, stumbled aimlessly about for an +instant before it sank to its knees and then rolled over on its back; +but Tara of Helium waited not to note the full results of her act. The +instant the fingers loosened upon her wrist she broke away and dashed +toward the hills. Simultaneously a warning whistle broke from Ghek's +lips and in instant response the workers leaped to their feet, one +almost in the girl's path. She dodged the outstretched arms and was +away again toward the hills and freedom, when her foot caught in one of +the hoe-like instruments with which the soil had been upturned and +which had been left, half imbedded in the ground. For an instant she +ran on, stumbling, in a mad effort to regain her equilibrium, but the +upturned furrows caught her feet—again she stumbled and this time went +down, and as she scrambled to rise again a heavy body fell upon her and +seized her arms. A moment later she was surrounded and dragged to her +feet and as she looked around she saw Ghek crawling to his prostrate +rykor. A moment later he advanced to her side. +</P> + +<P> +The hideous face, incapable of registering emotion, gave no clue to +what was passing in the enormous brain. Was he nursing thoughts of +anger, of hate, of revenge? Tara of Helium could not guess, nor did she +care. The worst had happened. She had tried to escape and she had +failed. There would never be another opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +"Come!" said Ghek. "We will return to the tower." The deadly monotone +of his voice was unbroken. It was worse than anger, for it revealed +nothing of his intentions. It but increased her horror of these great +brains that were beyond the possibility of human emotions. +</P> + +<P> +And so she was dragged back to her prison in the tower and Ghek took up +his vigil again, squatting by the doorway, but now he carried a naked +sword in his hand and did not quit his rykor, only to change to another +that he had brought to him when the first gave indications of +weariness. The girl sat looking at him. He had not been unkind to her, +but she felt no sense of gratitude, nor, on the other hand, any sense +of hatred. The brains, incapable themselves of any of the finer +sentiments, awoke none in her. She could not feel gratitude, or +affection, or hatred of them. There was only the same unceasing sense +of horror in their presence. She had heard great scientists discuss the +future of the red race and she recalled that some had maintained that +eventually the brain would entirely dominate the man. There would be no +more instinctive acts or emotions, nothing would be done on impulse; +but on the contrary reason would direct our every act. The propounder +of the theory regretted that he might never enjoy the blessings of such +a state, which, he argued, would result in the ideal life for mankind. +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium wished with all her heart that this learned scientist +might be here to experience to the full the practical results of the +fulfillment of his prophecy. Between the purely physical rykor and the +purely mental kaldane there was little choice; but in the happy medium +of normal, and imperfect man, as she knew him, lay the most desirable +state of existence. It would have been a splendid object lesson, she +thought, to all those idealists who seek mass perfection in any phase +of human endeavor, since here they might discover the truth that +absolute perfection is as little to be desired as is its antithesis. +</P> + +<P> +Gloomy were the thoughts that filled the mind of Tara of Helium as she +awaited the summons from Luud—the summons that could mean for her but +one thing; death. She guessed why he had sent for her and she knew that +she must find the means for self-destruction before the night was over; +but still she clung to hope and to life. She would not give up until +there was no other way. She startled Ghek once by exclaiming aloud, +almost fiercely: "I still live!" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" asked the kaldane. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean just what I say," she replied. "I still live and while I live I +may still find a way. Dead, there is no hope." +</P> + +<P> +"Find a way to what?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"To life and liberty and mine own people," she responded. +</P> + +<P> +"None who enters Bantoom ever leaves," he droned. +</P> + +<P> +She did not reply and after a time he spoke again. "Sing to me," he +said. +</P> + +<P> +It was while she was singing that four warriors came to take her to +Luud. They told Ghek that he was to remain where he was. +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" asked Ghek. +</P> + +<P> +"You have displeased Luud," replied one of the warriors. +</P> + +<P> +"How?" demanded Ghek. +</P> + +<P> +"You have demonstrated a lack of uncontaminated reasoning power. You +have permitted sentiment to influence you, thus demonstrating that you +are a defective. You know the fate of defectives." +</P> + +<P> +"I know the fate of defectives, but I am no defective," insisted Ghek. +</P> + +<P> +"You permitted the strange noises which issue from her throat to please +and soothe you, knowing well that their origin and purpose had nothing +whatever to do with logic or the powers of reason. This in itself +constitutes an unimpeachable indictment of weakness. Then, influenced +doubtless by an illogical feeling of sentiment, you permitted her to +walk abroad in the fields to a place where she was able to make an +almost successful attempt to escape. Your own reasoning power, were it +not defective, would convince you that you are unfit. The natural, and +reasonable, consequence is destruction. Therefore you will be destroyed +in such a way that the example will be beneficial to all other kaldanes +of the swarm of Luud. In the meantime you will remain where you are." +</P> + +<P> +"You are right," said Ghek. "I will remain here until Luud sees fit to +destroy me in the most reasonable manner." +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium shot a look of amazement at him as they led her from the +chamber. Over her shoulder she called back to him: "Remember, Ghek, you +still live!" Then they led her along the interminable tunnels to where +Luud awaited her. +</P> + +<P> +When she was conducted into his presence he was squatting in a corner +of the chamber upon his six spidery legs. Near the opposite wall lay +his rykor, its beautiful form trapped in gorgeous harness—a dead thing +without a guiding kaldane. Luud dismissed the warriors who had +accompanied the prisoner. Then he sat with his terrible eyes fixed upon +her and without speaking for some time. Tara of Helium could but wait. +What was to come she could only guess. When it came would be +sufficiently the time to meet it. There was no necessity for +anticipating the end. Presently Luud spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"You think to escape," he said, in the deadly, expressionless monotone +of his kind—the only possible result of orally expressing reason +uninfluenced by sentiment. "You will not escape. You are merely the +embodiment of two imperfect things—an imperfect brain and an imperfect +body. The two cannot exist together in perfection. There you see a +perfect body." He pointed toward the rykor. "It has no brain. Here," +and he raised one of his chelae to his head, "is the perfect brain. It +needs no body to function perfectly and properly as a brain. You would +pit your feeble intellect against mine! Even now you are planning to +slay me. If you are thwarted in that you expect to slay yourself. You +will learn the power of mind over matter. I am the mind. You are the +matter. What brain you have is too weak and ill-developed to deserve +the name of brain. You have permitted it to be weakened by impulsive +acts dictated by sentiment. It has no value. It has practically no +control over your existence. You will not kill me. You will not kill +yourself. When I am through with you you shall be killed if it seems +the logical thing to do. You have no conception of the possibilities +for power which lie in a perfectly developed brain. Look at that rykor. +He has no brain. He can move but slightly of his own volition. An +inherent mechanical instinct that we have permitted to remain in him +allows him to carry food to his mouth; but he could not find food for +himself. We have to place it within his reach and always in the same +place. Should we put food at his feet and leave him alone he would +starve to death. But now watch what a real brain may accomplish." +</P> + +<P> +He turned his eyes upon the rykor and squatted there glaring at the +insensate thing. Presently, to the girl's horror, the headless body +moved. It rose slowly to its feet and crossed the room to Luud; it +stooped and took the hideous head in its hands; it raised the head and +set it on its shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"What chance have you against such power?" asked Luud. "As I did with +the rykor so can I do with you." +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium made no reply. Evidently no vocal reply was necessary. +</P> + +<P> +"You doubt my ability!" stated Luud, which was precisely the fact, +though the girl had only thought it—she had not said it. +</P> + +<P> +Luud crossed the room and lay down. Then he detached himself from the +body and crawled across the floor until he stood directly in front of +the circular opening through which she had seen him emerge the day that +she had first been brought to his presence. He stopped there and +fastened his terrible eyes upon her. He did not speak, but his eyes +seemed to be boring straight to the center of her brain. She felt an +almost irresistible force urging her toward the kaldane. She fought to +resist it; she tried to turn away her eyes, but she could not. They +were held as in horrid fascination upon the glittering, lidless orbs of +the great brain that faced her. Slowly, every step a painful struggle +of resistance, she moved toward the horrific monster. She tried to cry +aloud in an effort to awaken her numbing faculties, but no sound passed +her lips. If those eyes would but turn away, just for an instant, she +felt that she might regain the power to control her steps; but the eyes +never left hers. They seemed but to burn deeper and deeper, gathering +up every vestige of control of her entire nervous system. +</P> + +<P> +As she approached the thing it backed slowly away upon its spider legs. +She noticed that its chelae waved slowly to and fro before it as it +backed, backed, backed, through the round aperture in the wall. Must +she follow it there, too? What new and nameless horror lay concealed in +that hidden chamber? No! she would not do it. Yet before she reached +the wall she found herself down and crawling upon her hands and knees +straight toward the hole from which the two eyes still clung to hers. +At the very threshold of the opening she made a last, heroic stand, +battling against the force that drew her on; but in the end she +succumbed. With a gasp that ended in a sob Tara of Helium passed +through the aperture into the chamber beyond. +</P> + +<P> +The opening was but barely large enough to admit her. Upon the opposite +side she found herself in a small chamber. Before her squatted Luud. +Against the opposite wall lay a large and beautiful male rykor. He was +without harness or other trappings. +</P> + +<P> +"You see now," said Luud, "the futility of revolt." +</P> + +<P> +The words seemed to release her momentarily from the spell. Quickly she +turned away her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at me!" commanded Luud. +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium kept her eyes averted. She felt a new strength, or at +least a diminution of the creature's power over her. Had she stumbled +upon the secret of its uncanny domination over her will? She dared not +hope. With eyes averted she turned toward the aperture through which +those baleful eyes had drawn her. Again Luud commanded her to stop, but +the voice alone lacked all authority to influence her. It was not like +the eyes. She heard the creature whistle and knew that it was summoning +assistance, but because she did not dare look toward it she did not see +it turn and concentrate its gaze upon the great, headless body lying by +the further wall. +</P> + +<P> +The girl was still slightly under the spell of the creature's +influence—she had not regained full and independent domination of her +powers. She moved as one in the throes of some hideous +nightmare—slowly, painfully, as though each limb was hampered by a +great weight, or as she were dragging her body through a viscous fluid. +The aperture was close, ah, so close, yet, struggle as she would, she +seemed to be making no appreciable progress toward it. +</P> + +<P> +Behind her, urged on by the malevolent power of the great brain, the +headless body crawled upon all-fours toward her. At last she had +reached the aperture. Something seemed to tell her that once beyond it +the domination of the kaldane would be broken. She was almost through +into the adjoining chamber when she felt a heavy hand close upon her +ankle. The rykor had reached forth and seized her, and though she +struggled the thing dragged her back into the room with Luud. It held +her tight and drew her close, and then, to her horror, it commenced to +caress her. +</P> + +<P> +"You see now," she heard Luud's dull voice, "the futility of +revolt—and its punishment." +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium fought to defend herself, but pitifully weak were her +muscles against this brainless incarnation of brute power. Yet she +fought, fought on in the face of hopeless odds for the honor of the +proud name she bore—fought alone, she whom the fighting men of a +mighty empire, the flower of Martian chivalry, would gladly have lain +down their lives to save. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A REPELLENT SIGHT +</H3> + +<P> +The cruiser Vanator careened through the tempest. That she had not been +dashed to the ground, or twisted by the force of the elements into +tangled wreckage, was due entirely to the caprice of Nature. For all +the duration of the storm she rode, a helpless derelict, upon those +storm-tossed waves of wind. But for all the dangers and vicissitudes +they underwent, she and her crew might have borne charmed lives up to +within an hour of the abating of the hurricane. It was then that the +catastrophe occurred—a catastrophe indeed to the crew of the Vanator +and the kingdom of Gathol. +</P> + +<P> +The men had been without food or drink since leaving Helium, and they +had been hurled about and buffeted in their lashings until all were +worn to exhaustion. There was a brief lull in the storm during which +one of the crew attempted to reach his quarters, after releasing the +lashings which had held him to the precarious safety of the deck. The +act in itself was a direct violation of orders and, in the eyes of the +other members of the crew, the effect, which came with startling +suddenness, took the form of a swift and terrible retribution. Scarce +had the man released the safety snaps ere a swift arm of the +storm-monster encircled the ship, rolling it over and over, with the +result that the foolhardy warrior went overboard at the first turn. +</P> + +<P> +Unloosed from their lashing by the constant turning and twisting of the +ship and the force of the wind, the boarding and landing tackle had +been trailing beneath the keel, a tangled mass of cordage and leather. +Upon the occasions that the Vanator rolled completely over, these +things would be wrapped around her until another revolution in the +opposite direction, or the wind itself, carried them once again clear +of the deck to trail, whipping in the storm, beneath the hurtling ship. +</P> + +<P> +Into this fell the body of the warrior, and as a drowning man clutches +at a straw so the fellow clutched at the tangled cordage that caught +him and arrested his fall. With the strength of desperation he clung to +the cordage, seeking frantically to entangle his legs and body in it. +With each jerk of the ship his hand holds were all but torn loose, and +though he knew that eventually they would be and that he must be dashed +to the ground beneath, yet he fought with the madness that is born of +hopelessness for the pitiful second which but prolonged his agony. +</P> + +<P> +It was upon this sight then that Gahan of Gathol looked, over the edge +of the careening deck of the Vanator, as he sought to learn the fate of +his warrior. Lashed to the gunwale close at hand a single landing +leather that had not fouled the tangled mass beneath whipped free from +the ship's side, the hook snapping at its outer end. The Jed of Gathol +grasped the situation in a single glance. Below him one of his people +looked into the eyes of Death. To the jed's hand lay the means for +succor. +</P> + +<P> +There was no instant's hesitation. Casting off his deck lashings, he +seized the landing leather and slipped over the ship's side. Swinging +like a bob upon a mad pendulum he swung far out and back again, turning +and twisting three thousand feet above the surface of Barsoom, and +then, at last, the thing he had hoped for occurred. He was carried +within reach of the cordage where the warrior still clung, though with +rapidly diminishing strength. Catching one leg on a loop of the tangled +strands Gahan pulled himself close enough to seize another quite near +to the fellow. Clinging precariously to this new hold the jed slowly +drew in the landing leather, down which he had clambered until he could +grasp the hook at its end. This he fastened to a ring in the warrior's +harness, just before the man's weakened fingers slipped from their hold +upon the cordage. +</P> + +<P> +Temporarily, at least, he had saved the life of his subject, and now he +turned his attention toward insuring his own safety. Inextricably +entangled in the mess to which he was clinging were numerous other +landing hooks such as he had attached to the warrior's harness, and +with one of these he sought to secure himself until the storm should +abate sufficiently to permit him to climb to the deck, but even as he +reached for one that swung near him the ship was caught in a renewed +burst of the storm's fury, the thrashing cordage whipped and snapped to +the lunging of the great craft and one of the heavy metal hooks, +lashing through the air, struck the Jed of Gathol fair between the eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Momentarily stunned, Gahan's fingers slipped from their hold upon the +cordage and the man shot downward through the thin air of dying Mars +toward the ground three thousand feet beneath, while upon the deck of +the rolling Vanator his faithful warriors clung to their lashings all +unconscious of the fate of their beloved leader; nor was it until more +than an hour later, after the storm had materially subsided, that they +realized he was lost, or knew the self-sacrificing heroism of the act +that had sealed his doom. The Vanator now rested upon an even keel as +she was carried along by a strong, though steady, wind. The warriors +had cast off their deck lashings and the officers were taking account +of losses and damage when a weak cry was heard from oversides, +attracting their attention to the man hanging in the cordage beneath +the keel. Strong arms hoisted him to the deck and then it was that the +crew of the Vanator learned of the heroism of their jed and his end. +How far they had traveled since his loss they could only vaguely guess, +nor could they return in search of him in the disabled condition of the +ship. It was a saddened company that drifted onward through the air +toward whatever destination Fate was to choose for them. +</P> + +<P> +And Gahan, Jed of Gathol--what of him? Plummet-like he fell for a +thousand feet and then the storm seized him in its giant clutch and +bore him far aloft again. As a bit of paper borne upon a gale he was +tossed about in mid-air, the sport and plaything of the wind. Over and +over it turned him and upward and downward it carried him, but after +each new sally of the element he was brought nearer to the ground. The +freaks of cyclonic storms are the rule of cyclonic storms, since +such storms are in themselves freaks. They uproot and demolish +giant trees, and in the same gust they transport frail infants for +miles and deposit them unharmed in their wake. +</P> + +<P> +And so it was with Gahan of Gathol. Expecting momentarily to be dashed +to destruction he presently found himself deposited gently upon the +soft, ochre moss of a dead sea-bottom, bodily no worse off for his +harrowing adventure than in the possession of a slight swelling upon +his forehead where the metal hook had struck him. Scarcely able to +believe that Fate had dealt thus gently with him, the jed arose slowly, +as though more than half convinced that he should discover crushed and +splintered bones that would not support his weight. But he was intact. +He looked about him in a vain effort at orientation. The air was filled +with flying dust and debris. The Sun was obliterated. His vision was +confined to a radius of a few hundred yards of ochre moss and +dust-filled air. Five hundred yards away in any direction there might +have arisen the walls of a great city and he not known it. It was +useless to move from where he was until the air cleared, since he could +not know in what direction he was moving, and so he stretched himself +upon the moss and waited, pondering the fate of his warriors and his +ship, but giving little thought to his own precarious situation. +</P> + +<P> +Lashed to his harness were his swords, his pistols, and a dagger, and +in his pocket-pouch a small quantity of the concentrated rations that +form a part of the equipment of the fighting men of Barsoom. These +things together with trained muscles, high courage, and an undaunted +spirit sufficed him for whatever misadventures might lie between him +and Gathol, which lay in what direction he knew not, nor at what +distance. +</P> + +<P> +The wind was falling rapidly and with it the dust that obscured the +landscape. That the storm was over he was convinced, but he chafed at +the inactivity the low visibility put upon him, nor did conditions +better materially before night fell, so that he was forced to await the +new day at the very spot at which the tempest had deposited him. +Without his sleeping silks and furs he spent a far from comfortable +night, and it was with feelings of unmixed relief that he saw the +sudden dawn burst upon him. The air was now clear and in the light of +the new day he saw an undulating plain stretching in all directions +about him, while to the northwest there were barely discernible the +outlines of low hills. Toward the southeast of Gathol was such a +country, and as Gahan surmised the direction and the velocity of the +storm to have carried him somewhere in the vicinity of the country he +thought he recognized, he assumed that Gathol lay behind the hills he +now saw, whereas, in reality, it lay far to the northeast. +</P> + +<P> +It was two days before Gahan had crossed the plain and reached the +summit of the hills from which he hoped to see his own country, only to +meet at last with disappointment. Before him stretched another plain, +of even greater proportions than that he had but just crossed, and +beyond this other hills. In one material respect this plain differed +from that behind him in that it was dotted with occasional isolated +hills. Convinced, however, that Gathol lay somewhere in the direction +of his search he descended into the valley and bent his steps toward +the northwest. +</P> + +<P> +For weeks Gahan of Gathol crossed valleys and hills in search of some +familiar landmark that might point his way toward his native land, but +the summit of each succeeding ridge revealed but another unfamiliar +view. He saw few animals and no men, until he finally came to the +belief that he had fallen upon that fabled area of ancient Barsoom +which lay under the curse of her olden gods—the once rich and fertile +country whose people in their pride and arrogance had denied the +deities, and whose punishment had been extermination. +</P> + +<P> +And then, one day, he scaled low hills and looked into an inhabited +valley—a valley of trees and cultivated fields and plots of ground +enclosed by stone walls surrounding strange towers. He saw people +working in the fields, but he did not rush down to greet them. First he +must know more of them and whether they might be assumed to be friends +or enemies. Hidden by concealing shrubbery he crawled to a vantage +point upon a hill that projected further into the valley, and here he +lay upon his belly watching the workers closest to him. They were still +quite a distance from him and he could not be quite sure of them, but +there was something verging upon the unnatural about them. Their heads +seemed out of proportion to their bodies—too large. +</P> + +<P> +For a long time he lay watching them and ever more forcibly it was +borne in upon his consciousness that they were not as he, and that it +would be rash to trust himself among them. Presently he saw a couple +appear from the nearest enclosure and slowly approach those who were +working nearest to the hill where he lay in hiding. Immediately he was +aware that one of these differed from all the others. Even at the +greater distance he noted that the head was smaller and as they +approached, he was confident that the harness of one of them was not as +the harness of its companion or of that of any of those who tilled the +fields. +</P> + +<P> +The two stopped often, apparently in argument, as though one would +proceed in the direction that they were going while the other demurred. +But each time the smaller won reluctant consent from the other, and so +they came closer and closer to the last line of workers toiling between +the enclosure from which they had come and the hill where Gahan of +Gathol lay watching, and then suddenly the smaller figure struck its +companion full in the face. Gahan, horrified, saw the latter's head +topple from its body, saw the body stagger and fall to the ground. The +man half rose from his concealment the better to view the happening in +the valley below. The creature that had felled its companion was +dashing madly in the direction of the hill upon which he was hidden, it +dodged one of the workers that sought to seize it. Gahan hoped that it +would gain its liberty, why he did not know other than at closer range +it had every appearance of being a creature of his own race. Then he +saw it stumble and go down and instantly its pursuers were upon it. +Then it was that Gahan's eyes chanced to return to the figure of the +creature the fugitive had felled. +</P> + +<P> +What horror was this that he was witnessing? Or were his eyes playing +some ghastly joke upon him? No, impossible though it was—it was +true—the head was moving slowly to the fallen body. It placed itself +upon the shoulders, the body rose, and the creature, seemingly as good +as new, ran quickly to where its fellows were dragging the hapless +captive to its feet. +</P> + +<P> +The watcher saw the creature take its prisoner by the arm and lead it +back to the enclosure, and even across the distance that separated them +from him he could note dejection and utter hopelessness in the bearing +of the prisoner, and, too, he was half convinced that it was a woman, +perhaps a red Martian of his own race. Could he be sure that this was +true he must make some effort to rescue her even though the customs of +his strange world required it only in case she was of his own country; +but he was not sure; she might not be a red Martian at all, or, if she +were, it was as possible that she sprang from an enemy people as not. +His first duty was to return to his own people with as little personal +risk as possible, and though the thought of adventure stirred his blood +he put the temptation aside with a sigh and turned away from the +peaceful and beautiful valley that he longed to enter, for it was his +intention to skirt its eastern edge and continue his search for Gathol +beyond. +</P> + +<P> +As Gahan of Gathol turned his steps along the southern slopes of the +hills that bound Bantoom upon the south and east, his attention was +attracted toward a small cluster of trees a short distance to his +right. The low sun was casting long shadows. It would soon be night. +The trees were off the path that he had chosen and he had little mind +to be diverted from his way; but as he looked again he hesitated. There +was something there besides boles of trees, and underbrush. There were +suggestions of familiar lines of the handicraft of man. Gahan stopped +and strained his eyes in the direction of the thing that had arrested +his attention. No, he must be mistaken—the branches of the trees and a +low bush had taken on an unnatural semblance in the horizontal rays of +the setting sun. He turned and continued upon his way; but as he cast +another side glance in the direction of the object of his interest, the +sun's rays were shot back into his eyes from a glistening point of +radiance among the trees. +</P> + +<P> +Gahan shook his head and walked quickly toward the mystery, determined +now to solve it. The shining object still lured him on and when he had +come closer to it his eyes went wide in surprise, for the thing they +saw was naught else than the jewel-encrusted emblem upon the prow of a +small flier. Gahan, his hand upon his short-sword, moved silently +forward, but as he neared the craft he saw that he had naught to fear, +for it was deserted. Then he turned his attention toward the emblem. As +its significance was flashed to his understanding his face paled and +his heart went cold—it was the insignia of the house of The Warlord of +Barsoom. Instantly he saw the dejected figure of the captive being led +back to her prison in the valley just beyond the hills. Tara of Helium! +And he had been so near to deserting her to her fate. The cold sweat +stood in beads upon his brow. +</P> + +<P> +A hasty examination of the deserted craft unfolded to the young jed the +whole tragic story. The same tempest that had proved his undoing had +borne Tara of Helium to this distant country. Here, doubtless, she had +landed in hope of obtaining food and water since, without a propellor, +she could not hope to reach her native city, or any other friendly +port, other than by the merest caprice of Fate. The flier seemed intact +except for the missing propellor and the fact that it had been +carefully moored in the shelter of the clump of trees indicated that +the girl had expected to return to it, while the dust and leaves upon +its deck spoke of the long days, and even weeks, since she had landed. +Mute yet eloquent proofs, these things, that Tara of Helium was a +prisoner, and that she was the very prisoner whose bold dash for +liberty he had so recently witnessed he now had not the slightest doubt. +</P> + +<P> +The question now revolved solely about her rescue. He knew to which +tower she had been taken—that much and no more. Of the number, the +kind, or the disposition of her captors he knew nothing; nor did he +care—for Tara of Helium he would face a hostile world alone. Rapidly +he considered several plans for succoring her; but the one that +appealed most strongly to him was that which offered the greatest +chance of escape for the girl should he be successful in reaching her. +His decision reached he turned his attention quickly toward the flier. +Casting off its lashings he dragged it out from beneath the trees, and, +mounting to the deck tested out the various controls. The motor started +at a touch and purred sweetly, the buoyancy tanks were well stocked, +and the ship answered perfectly to the controls which regulated her +altitude. There was nothing needed but a propellor to make her fit for +the long voyage to Helium. Gahan shrugged impatiently—there must not +be a propellor within a thousand haads. But what mattered it? The craft +even without a propellor would still answer the purpose his plan +required of it—provided the captors of Tara of Helium were a people +without ships, and he had seen nothing to suggest that they had ships. +The architecture of their towers and enclosures assured him that they +had not. +</P> + +<P> +The sudden Barsoomian night had fallen. Cluros rode majestically the +high heavens. The rumbling roar of a banth reverberated among the +hills. Gahan of Gathol let the ship rise a few feet from the ground, +then, seizing a bow rope, he dropped over the side. To tow the little +craft was now a thing of ease, and as Gahan moved rapidly toward the +brow of the hill above Bantoom the flier floated behind him as lightly +as a swan upon a quiet lake. Now down the hill toward the tower dimly +visible in the moonlight the Gatholian turned his steps. Closer behind +him sounded the roar of the hunting banth. He wondered if the beast +sought him or was following some other spoor. He could not be delayed +now by any hungry beast of prey, for what might that very instant be +befalling Tara of Helium he could not guess; and so he hastened his +steps. But closer and closer came the horrid screams of the great +carnivore, and now he heard the swift fall of padded feet upon the +hillside behind him. He glanced back just in time to see the beast +break into a rapid charge. His hand leaped to the hilt of his +long-sword, but he did not draw, for in the same instant he saw the +futility of armed resistance, since behind the first banth came a herd +of at least a dozen others. There was but a single alternative to a +futile stand and that he grasped in the instant that he saw the +overwhelming numbers of his antagonists. +</P> + +<P> +Springing lightly from the ground he swarmed up the rope toward the bow +of the flier. His weight drew the craft slightly lower and at the very +instant that the man drew himself to the deck at the bow of the vessel, +the leading banth sprang for the stern. Gahan leaped to his feet and +rushed toward the great beast in the hope of dislodging it before it +had succeeded in clambering aboard. At the same instant he saw that +others of the banths were racing toward them with the quite evident +intention of following their leader to the ship's deck. Should they +reach it in any numbers he would be lost. There was but a single hope. +Leaping for the altitude control Gahan pulled it wide. Simultaneously +three banths leaped for the deck. The craft rose swiftly. Gahan felt +the impact of a body against the keel, followed by the soft thuds of +the great bodies as they struck the ground beneath. His act had not +been an instant too soon. And now the leader had gained the deck and +stood at the stern with glaring eyes and snarling jaws. Gahan drew his +sword. The beast, possibly disconcerted by the novelty of its position, +did not charge. Instead it crept slowly toward its intended prey. The +craft was rising and Gahan placed a foot upon the control and stopped +the ascent. He did not wish to chance rising to some higher air current +that would bear him away. Already the craft was moving slowly toward +the tower, carried thither by the impetus of the banth's heavy body +leaping upon it from astern. +</P> + +<P> +The man watched the slow approach of the monster, the slavering jowls, +the malignant expression of the devilish face. The creature, finding +the deck stable, appeared to be gaining confidence, and then the man +leaped suddenly to one side of the deck and the tiny flier heeled as +suddenly in response. The banth slipped and clutched frantically at the +deck. Gahan leaped in with his naked sword; the great beast caught +itself and reared upon its hind legs to reach forth and seize this +presumptuous mortal that dared question its right to the flesh it +craved; and then the man sprang to the opposite side of the deck. The +banth toppled sideways at the same instant that it attempted to spring; +a raking talon passed close to Gahan's head at the moment that his +sword lunged through the savage heart, and as the warrior wrenched his +blade from the carcass it slipped silently over the side of the ship. +</P> + +<P> +A glance below showed that the vessel was drifting in the direction of +the tower to which Gahan had seen the prisoner led. In another moment +or two it would be directly over it. The man sprang to the control and +let the craft drop quickly toward the ground where followed the banths, +still hot for their prey. To land outside the enclosure spelled certain +death, while inside he could see many forms huddled upon the ground as +in sleep. The ship floated now but a few feet above the wall of the +enclosure. There was nothing for it but to risk all on a bold bid for +fortune, or drift helplessly past without hope of returning through the +banth-infested valley, from many points of which he could now hear the +roars and growls of these fierce Barsoomian lions. +</P> + +<P> +Slipping over the side Gahan descended by the trailing anchor-rope +until his feet touched the top of the wall, where he had no difficulty +in arresting the slow drifting of the ship. Then he drew up the anchor +and lowered it inside the enclosure. Still there was no movement upon +the part of the sleepers beneath—they lay as dead men. Dull lights +shone from openings in the tower; but there was no sign of guard or +waking inmate. Clinging to the rope Gahan lowered himself within the +enclosure, where he had his first close view of the creatures lying +there in what he had thought sleep. With a half smothered exclamation +of horror the man drew back from the headless bodies of the rykors. At +first he thought them the corpses of decapitated humans like himself, +which was quite bad enough; but when he saw them move and realized that +they were endowed with life, his horror and disgust became even greater. +</P> + +<P> +Here then was the explanation of the thing he had witnessed that +afternoon, when Tara of Helium had struck +the head from her captor and Gahan had seen the head crawl back to its body. And to +think that the pearl of Helium was in the power of such hideous things +as these. Again the man shuddered, but he hastened to make fast the +flier, clamber again to its deck and lower it to the floor of the +enclosure. Then he strode toward a door in the base of the tower, +stepping lightly over the recumbent forms of the unconscious rykors, +and crossing the threshold disappeared within. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CLOSE WORK +</H3> + +<P> +Ghek, in his happier days third foreman of the fields of Luud, sat +nursing his anger and his humiliation. Recently something had awakened +within him the existence of which he had never before even dreamed. Had +the influence of the strange captive woman aught to do with this unrest +and dissatisfaction? He did not know. He missed the soothing influence +of the noise she called singing. Could it be that there were other +things more desirable than cold logic and undefiled brain power? Was +well balanced imperfection more to be sought after then, than the high +development of a single characteristic? He thought of the great, +ultimate brain toward which all kaldanes were striving. It would be +deaf, and dumb, and blind. A thousand beautiful strangers might sing +and dance about it, but it could derive no pleasure from the singing or +the dancing since it would possess no perceptive faculties. Already had +the kaldanes shut themselves off from most of the gratifications of the +senses. Ghek wondered if much was to be gained by denying themselves +still further, and with the thought came a question as to the whole +fabric of their theory. After all perhaps the girl was right; what +purpose could a great brain serve sealed in the bowels of the earth? +</P> + +<P> +And he, Ghek, was to die for this theory. Luud had decreed it. The +injustice of it overwhelmed him with rage. But he was helpless. There +was no escape. Beyond the enclosure the banths awaited him; within, his +own kind, equally as merciless and ferocious. Among them there was no +such thing as love, or loyalty, or friendship—they were just brains. +He might kill Luud; but what would that profit him? Another king would +be loosed from his sealed chamber and Ghek would be killed. He did not +know it but he would not even have the poor satisfaction of satisfied +revenge, since he was not capable of feeling so abstruse a sentiment. +</P> + +<P> +Ghek, mounted upon his rykor, paced the floor of the tower chamber in +which he had been ordered to remain. Ordinarily he would have accepted +the sentence of Luud with perfect equanimity, since it was but the +logical result of reason; but now it seemed different. The stranger +woman had bewitched him. Life appeared a pleasant thing—there were +great possibilities in it. The dream of the ultimate brain had receded +into a tenuous haze far in the background of his thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment there appeared in the doorway of the chamber a red +warrior with naked sword. He was a male counterpart of the prisoner +whose sweet voice had undermined the cold, calculating reason of the +kaldane. +</P> + +<P> +"Silence!" admonished the newcomer, his straight brows gathered in an +ominous frown and the point of his longsword playing menacingly before +the eyes of the kaldane. "I seek the woman, Tara of Helium. Where is +she? If you value your life speak quickly and speak the truth." +</P> + +<P> +If he valued his life! It was a truth that Ghek had but just learned. +He thought quickly. After all, a great brain is not without its uses. +Perhaps here lay escape from the sentence of Luud. +</P> + +<P> +"You are of her kind?" he asked. "You come to rescue her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, then. I have befriended her, and because of this I am to die. +If I help you to liberate her, will you take me with you?" +</P> + +<P> +Gahan of Gathol eyed the weird creature from crown to foot—the perfect +body, the grotesque head, the expressionless face. Among such as these +had the beautiful daughter of Helium been held captive for days and +weeks. +</P> + +<P> +"If she lives and is unharmed," he said, "I will take you with us." +</P> + +<P> +"When they took her from me she was alive and unharmed," replied Ghek. +"I cannot say what has befallen her since. Luud sent for her." +</P> + +<P> +"Who is Luud? Where is he? Lead me to him." Gahan spoke quickly in +tones vibrant with authority. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, then," said Ghek, leading the way from the apartment and down a +stairway toward the underground burrows of the kaldanes. "Luud is my +king. I will take you to his chambers." +</P> + +<P> +"Hasten!" urged Gahan. +</P> + +<P> +"Sheathe your sword," warned Ghek, "so that should we pass others of my +kind I may say to them that you are a new prisoner with some likelihood +of winning their belief." +</P> + +<P> +Gahan did as he was bid, but warning the kaldane that his hand was ever +ready at his dagger's hilt. +</P> + +<P> +"You need have no fear of treachery," said Ghek. "My only hope of life +lies in you." +</P> + +<P> +"And if you fail me," Gahan admonished him, "I can promise you as sure +a death as even your king might guarantee you." +</P> + +<P> +Ghek made no reply, but moved rapidly through the winding subterranean +corridors until Gahan began to realize how truly was he in the hands of +this strange monster. If the fellow should prove false it would profit +Gahan nothing to slay him, since without his guidance the red man might +never hope to retrace his way to the tower and freedom. +</P> + +<P> +Twice they met and were accosted by other kaldanes; but in both +instances Ghek's simple statement that he was taking a new prisoner to +Luud appeared to allay all suspicion, and then at last they came to the +ante-chamber of the king. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, now, red man, thou must fight, if ever," whispered Ghek. "Enter +there!" and he pointed to a doorway before them. +</P> + +<P> +"And you?" asked Gahan, still fearful of treachery. +</P> + +<P> +"My rykor is powerful," replied the kaldane. "I shall accompany you and +fight at your side. As well die thus as in torture later at the will of +Luud. Come!" +</P> + +<P> +But Gahan had already crossed the room and entered the chamber beyond. +Upon the opposite side of the room was a circular opening guarded by +two warriors. Beyond this opening he could see two figures struggling +upon the floor, and the fleeting glimpse he had of one of the faces +suddenly endowed him with the strength of ten warriors and the ferocity +of a wounded banth. It was Tara of Helium, fighting for her honor or +her life. +</P> + +<P> +The warriors, startled by the unexpected appearance of a red man, stood +for a moment in dumb amazement, and in that moment Gahan of Gathol was +upon them, and one was down, a sword-thrust through its heart. +</P> + +<P> +"Strike at the heads," whispered the voice of Ghek in Gahan's ear. The +latter saw the head of the fallen warrior crawl quickly within the +aperture leading to the chamber where he had seen Tara of Helium in the +clutches of a headless body. Then the sword of Ghek struck the kaldane +of the remaining warrior from its rykor and Gahan ran his sword through +the repulsive head. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly the red warrior leaped for the aperture, while close behind +him came Ghek. +</P> + +<P> +"Look not upon the eyes of Luud," warned the kaldane, "or you are lost." +</P> + +<P> +Within the chamber Gahan saw Tara of Helium in the clutches of a mighty +body, while close to the wall upon the opposite side of the apartment +crouched the hideous, spider-like Luud. Instantly the king realized the +menace to himself and sought to fasten his eyes upon the eyes of Gahan, +and in doing so he was forced to relax his concentration upon the rykor +in whose embraces Tara struggled, so that almost immediately the girl +found herself able to tear away from the awful, headless thing. +</P> + +<P> +As she rose quickly to her feet she saw for the first time the cause of +the interruption of Luud's plans. A red warrior! Her heart leaped in +rejoicing and thanksgiving. What miracle of fate had sent him to her? +She did not recognize him, though, this travel-worn warrior in the +plain harness which showed no single jewel. How could she have guessed +him the same as the scintillant creature of platinum and diamonds that +she had seen for a brief hour under such different circumstances at the +court of her august sire? +</P> + +<P> +Luud saw Ghek following the strange warrior into the chamber. "Strike +him down, Ghek!" commanded the king. "Strike down the stranger and your +life shall be yours." +</P> + +<P> +Gahan glanced at the hideous face of the king. +</P> + +<P> +"Seek not his eyes," screamed Tara in warning; but it was too late. +Already the horrid hypnotic gaze of the king kaldane had seized upon +the eyes of Gahan. The red warrior hesitated in his stride. His sword +point drooped slowly toward the floor. Tara glanced toward Ghek. She +saw the creature glaring with his expressionless eyes upon the broad +back of the stranger. She saw the hand of the creature's rykor creeping +stealthily toward the hilt of its dagger. +</P> + +<P> +And then Tara of Helium raised her eyes aloft and poured forth the +notes of Mars' most beautiful melody, The Song of Love. +</P> + +<P> +Ghek drew his dagger from its sheath. His eyes turned toward the +singing girl. Luud's glance wavered from the eyes of the man to the +face of Tara, and the instant that the latter's song distracted his +attention from his victim, Gahan of Gathol shook himself and as with a +supreme effort of will forced his eyes to the wall above Luud's hideous +head. Ghek raised his dagger above his right shoulder, took a single +quick step forward, and struck. The girl's song ended in a stifled +scream as she leaped forward with the evident intention of frustrating +the kaldane's purpose; but she was too late, and well it was, for an +instant later she realized the purpose of Ghek's act as she saw the +dagger fly from his hand, pass Gahan's shoulder, and sink full to the +guard in the soft face of Luud. +</P> + +<P> +"Come!" cried the assassin, "we have no time to lose," and started for +the aperture through which they had entered the chamber; but in his +stride he paused as his glance was arrested by the form of the mighty +rykor lying prone upon the floor—a king's rykor; the most beautiful, +the most powerful, that the breeders of Bantoom could produce. Ghek +realized that in his escape he could take with him but a single rykor, +and there was none in Bantoom that could give him better service than +this giant lying here. Quickly he transferred himself to the shoulders +of the great, inert hulk. Instantly the latter was transformed to a +sentient creature, filled with pulsing life and alert energy. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," said the kaldane, "we are ready. Let whoso would revert to +nothingness impede me." Even as he spoke he stooped and crawled into +the chamber beyond, while Gahan, taking Tara by the arm, motioned her +to follow. The girl looked him full in the eyes for the first time. +"The Gods of my people have been kind," she said; "you came just in +time. To the thanks of Tara of Helium shall be added those of The +Warlord of Barsoom and his people. Thy reward shall surpass thy +greatest desires." +</P> + +<P> +Gahan of Gathol saw that she did not recognize him, and quickly he +checked the warm greeting that had been upon his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Be thou Tara of Helium or another," he replied, "is immaterial, to +serve thus a red woman of Barsoom is in itself sufficient reward." +</P> + +<P> +As they spoke the girl was making her way through the aperture after +Ghek, and presently all three had quitted the apartments of Luud and +were moving rapidly along the winding corridors toward the tower. Ghek +repeatedly urged them to greater speed, but the red men of Barsoom were +never keen for retreat, and so the two that followed him moved all too +slowly for the kaldane. +</P> + +<P> +"There are none to impede our progress," urged Gahan, "so why tax the +strength of the Princess by needless haste?" +</P> + +<P> +"I fear not so much opposition ahead, for there are none there who know +the thing that has been done in Luud's chambers this night; but the +kaldane of one of the warriors who stood guard before Luud's apartment +escaped, and you may count it a truth that he lost no time in seeking +aid. That it did not come before we left is due solely to the rapidity +with which events transpired in the king's* room. Long before we reach +the tower they will be upon us from behind, and that they will come in +numbers far superior to ours and with great and powerful rykors I well +know." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +* I have used the word king in describing the rulers or chiefs of the +Bantoomian swarms, since the word itself is unpronounceable in English, +nor does jed or jeddak of the red Martian tongue have quite the same +meaning as the Bantoomian word, which has practically the same +significance as the English word queen as applied to the leader of a +swarm of bees.—J. C. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Nor was Ghek's prophecy long in fulfilment. Presently the sounds of +pursuit became audible in the distant clanking of accouterments and the +whistling call to arms of the kaldanes. +</P> + +<P> +"The tower is but a short distance now," cried Ghek. "Make haste while +yet you may, and if we can barricade it until the sun rises we may yet +escape." +</P> + +<P> +"We shall need no barricades for we shall not linger in the tower," +replied Gahan, moving more rapidly as he realized from the volume of +sound behind them the great number of their pursuers. +</P> + +<P> +"But we may not go further than the tower tonight," insisted Ghek. +"Beyond the tower await the banths and certain death." +</P> + +<P> +Gahan smiled. "Fear not the banths," he assured them. "Can we but reach +the enclosure a little ahead of our pursuers we have naught to fear +from any evil power within this accursed valley." +</P> + +<P> +Ghek made no reply, nor did his expressionless face denote either +belief or skepticism. The girl looked into the face of the man +questioningly. She did not understand. +</P> + +<P> +"Your flier," he said. "It is moored before the tower." +</P> + +<P> +Her face lighted with pleasure and relief. "You found it!" she +exclaimed. "What fortune!" +</P> + +<P> +"It was fortune indeed," he replied. "Since it not only told that you +were a prisoner here; but it saved me from the banths as I was crossing +the valley from the hills to this tower into which I saw them take you +this afternoon after your brave attempt at escape." +</P> + +<P> +"How did you know it was I?" she asked, her puzzled brows scanning his +face as though she sought to recall from past memories some scene in +which he figured. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is there but knows of the loss of the Princess Tara of Helium?" he +replied. "And when I saw the device upon your flier I knew at once, +though I had not known when I saw you among them in the fields a short +time earlier. Too great was the distance for me to make certain whether +the captive was man or woman. Had chance not divulged the hiding place +of your flier I had gone my way, Tara of Helium. I shudder to think how +close was the chance at that. But for the momentary shining of the sun +upon the emblazoned device on the prow of your craft, I had passed on +unknowing." +</P> + +<P> +The girl shuddered. "The Gods sent you," she whispered reverently. +</P> + +<P> +"The Gods sent me, Tara of Helium," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +"But I do not recognize you," she said. "I have tried to recall you, +but I have failed. Your name, what may it be?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is not strange that so great a princess should not recall the face +of every roving panthan of Barsoom," he replied with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"But your name?" insisted the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Call me Turan," replied the man, for it had come to him that if Tara +of Helium recognized him as the man whose impetuous avowal of love had +angered her that day in the gardens of The Warlord, her situation might +be rendered infinitely less bearable than were she to believe him a +total stranger. Then, too, as a simple panthan* he might win a greater +degree of her confidence by his loyalty and faithfulness and a place in +her esteem that seemed to have been closed to the resplendent Jed of +Gathol. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +* Soldier of Fortune; free-lance warrior. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +They had reached the tower now, and as they entered it from the +subterranean corridor a backward glance revealed the van of their +pursuers—hideous kaldanes mounted upon swift and powerful rykors. As +rapidly as might be the three ascended the stairways leading to the +ground level, but after them, even more rapidly, came the minions of +Luud. Ghek led the way, grasping one of Tara's hands the more easily to +guide and assist her, while Gahan of Gathol followed a few paces in +their rear, his bared sword ready for the assault that all realized +must come upon them now before ever they reached the enclosure and the +flier. +</P> + +<P> +"Let Ghek drop behind to your side," said Tara, "and fight with you." +</P> + +<P> +"There is but room for a single blade in these narrow corridors," +replied the Gatholian. "Hasten on with Ghek and win to the deck of the +flier. Have your hand upon the control, and if I come far enough ahead +of these to reach the dangling cable you can rise at my word and I can +clamber to the deck at my leisure; but if one of them emerges first +into the enclosure you will know that I shall never come, and you will +rise quickly and trust to the Gods of our ancestors to give you a fair +breeze in the direction of a more hospitable people." +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium shook her head. "We will not desert you, panthan," she +said. +</P> + +<P> +Gahan, ignoring her reply, spoke above her head to Ghek. "Take her to +the craft moored within the enclosure," he commanded. "It is our only +hope. Alone, I may win to its deck; but have I to wait upon you two at +the last moment the chances are that none of us will escape. Do as I +bid." His tone was haughty and arrogant—the tone of a man who has +commanded other men from birth, and whose will has been law. Tara of +Helium was both angered and vexed. She was not accustomed to being +either commanded or ignored, but with all her royal pride she was no +fool, and she knew the man was right, that he was risking his life to +save hers, so she hastened on with Ghek as she was bid, and after the +first flush of anger she smiled, for the realization came to her that +this fellow was but a rough untutored warrior, skilled not in the finer +usages of cultured courts. His heart was right, though; a brave and +loyal heart, and gladly she forgave him the offense of his tone and +manner. But what a tone! Recollection of it gave her sudden pause. +Panthans were rough and ready men. Often they rose to positions of high +command, so it was not the note of authority in the fellow's voice that +seemed remarkable; but something else—a quality that was indefinable, +yet as distinct as it was familiar. She had heard it before when the +voice of her great-grandsire, Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium, had risen +in command; and in the voice of her grandfather, Mors Kajak, the jed; +and in the ringing tones of her illustrious sire, John Carter, Warlord +of Barsoom, when he addressed his warriors. +</P> + +<P> +But now she had no time to speculate upon so trivial a thing, for +behind her came the sudden clash of arms and she knew that Turan, the +panthan, had crossed swords with the first of their pursuers. As she +glanced back he was still visible beyond a turn in the stairway, so +that she could see the quick swordplay that ensued. Daughter of a +world's greatest swordsman, she knew well the finest points of the art. +She saw the clumsy attack of the kaldane and the quick, sure return of +the panthan. As she looked down from above upon his almost naked body, +trapped only in the simplest of unadorned harness, and saw the play of +the lithe muscles beneath the red-bronze skin, and witnessed the quick +and delicate play of his sword point, to her sense of obligation was +added a spontaneous admission of admiration that was but the natural +tribute of a woman to skill and bravery and, perchance, some trifle to +manly symmetry and strength. +</P> + +<P> +Three times the panthan's blade changed its position—once to fend a +savage cut; once to feint; and once to thrust. And as he withdrew it +from the last position the kaldane rolled lifeless from its stumbling +rykor and Turan sprang quickly down the steps to engage the next +behind, and then Ghek had drawn Tara upward and a turn in the stairway +shut the battling panthan from her view; but still she heard the ring +of steel on steel, the clank of accouterments and the shrill whistling +of the kaldanes. Her heart moved her to turn back to the side of her +brave defender; but her judgment told her that she could serve him best +by being ready at the control of the flier at the moment he reached the +enclosure. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ADRIFT OVER STRANGE REGIONS +</H3> + +<P> +Presently Ghek pushed aside a door that opened from the stairway, and +before them Tara saw the moonlight flooding the walled court where the +headless rykors lay beside their feeding-troughs. She saw the perfect +bodies, muscled as the best of her father's fighting men, and the +females whose figures would have been the envy of many of Helium's most +beautiful women. Ah, if she could but endow these with the power to +act! Then indeed might the safety of the panthan be assured; but they +were only poor lumps of clay, nor had she the power to quicken them to +life. Ever must they lie thus until dominated by the cold, heartless +brain of the kaldane. The girl sighed in pity even as she shuddered in +disgust as she picked her way over and among the sprawled creatures +toward the flier. +</P> + +<P> +Quickly she and Ghek mounted to the deck after the latter had cast off +the moorings. Tara tested the control, raising and lowering the ship a +few feet within the walled space. It responded perfectly. Then she +lowered it to the ground again and waited. From the open doorway came +the sounds of conflict, now nearing them, now receding. The girl, +having witnessed her champion's skill, had little fear of the outcome. +Only a single antagonist could face him at a time upon the narrow +stairway, he had the advantage of position and of the defensive, and he +was a master of the sword while they were clumsy bunglers by +comparison. Their sole advantage was in their numbers, unless they +might find a way to come upon him from behind. +</P> + +<P> +She paled at the thought. Could she have seen him she might have been +further perturbed, for he took no advantage of many opportunities to +win nearer the enclosure. He fought coolly, but with a savage +persistence that bore little semblance to purely defensive action. +Often he clambered over the body of a fallen foe to leap against the +next behind, and once there lay five dead kaldanes behind him, so far +had he pushed back his antagonists. They did not know it; these +kaldanes that he fought, nor did the girl awaiting him upon the flier, +but Gahan of Gathol was engaged in a more alluring sport than winning +to freedom, for he was avenging the indignities that had been put upon +the woman he loved; but presently he realized that he might be +jeopardizing her safety uselessly, and so he struck down another before +him and turning leaped quickly up the stairway, while the leading +kaldanes slipped upon the brain-covered floor and stumbled in pursuit. +</P> + +<P> +Gahan reached the enclosure twenty paces ahead of them and raced toward +the flier. "Rise!" he shouted to the girl. "I will ascend the cable." +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the small craft rose from the ground as Gahan leaped the inert +bodies of the rykors lying in his path. The first of the pursuers +sprang from the tower just as Gahan seized the trailing rope. +</P> + +<P> +"Faster!" he shouted to the girl above, "or they will drag us down!" +But the ship seemed scarcely to move, though in reality she was rising +as rapidly as might have been expected of a one-man flier carrying a +load of three. Gahan swung free above the top of the wall, but the end +of the rope still dragged the ground as the kaldanes reached it. They +were pouring in a steady stream from the tower into the enclosure. The +leader seized the rope. +</P> + +<P> +"Quick!" he cried. "Lay hold and we will drag them down." +</P> + +<P> +It needed but the weight of a few to accomplish his design. The ship +was stopped in its flight and then, to the horror of the girl, she felt +it being dragged steadily downward. Gahan, too, realized the danger and +the necessity for instant action. Clinging to the rope with his left +hand, he had wound a leg about it, leaving his right hand free for his +long-sword which he had not sheathed. A downward cut clove the soft +head of a kaldane, and another severed the taut rope beneath the +panthan's feet. The girl heard a sudden renewal of the shrill whistling +of her foes, and at the same time she realized that the craft was +rising again. Slowly it drifted upward, out of reach of the enemy, and +a moment later she saw the figure of Turan clamber over the side. For +the first time in many weeks her heart was filled with the joy of +thanksgiving; but her first thought was of another. +</P> + +<P> +"You are not wounded?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Tara of Helium," he replied. "They were scarce worth the effort of +my blade, and never were they a menace to me because of their swords." +</P> + +<P> +"They should have slain you easily," said Ghek. "So great and highly +developed is the power of reason among us that they should have known +before you struck just where, logically, you must seek to strike, and +so they should have been able to parry your every thrust and easily +find an opening to your heart." +</P> + +<P> +"But they did not, Ghek," Gahan reminded him. "Their theory of +development is wrong, for it does not tend toward a perfectly balanced +whole. You have developed the brain and neglected the body and you can +never do with the hands of another what you can do with your own hands. +Mine are trained to the sword—every muscle responds instantly and +accurately, and almost mechanically, to the need of the instant. I am +scarcely objectively aware that I think when I fight, so quickly does +my point take advantage of every opening, or spring to my defense if I +am threatened that it is almost as though the cold steel had eyes and +brains. You, with your kaldane brain and your rykor body, never could +hope to achieve in the same degree of perfection those things that I +can achieve. Development of the brain should not be the sum total of +human endeavor. The richest and happiest peoples will be those who +attain closest to well-balanced perfection of both mind and body, and +even these must always be short of perfection. In absolute and general +perfection lies stifling monotony and death. Nature must have +contrasts; she must have shadows as well as highlights; sorrow with +happiness; both wrong and right; and sin as well as virtue." +</P> + +<P> +"Always have I been taught differently," replied Ghek; "but since I +have known this woman and you, of another race, I have come to believe +that there may be other standards fully as high and desirable as those +of the kaldanes. At least I have had a glimpse of the thing you call +happiness and I realize that it may be good even though I have no means +of expressing it. I cannot laugh nor smile, and yet within me is a +sense of contentment when this woman sings—a sense that seems to open +before me wondrous vistas of beauty and unguessed pleasure that far +transcend the cold joys of a perfectly functioning brain. I would that +I had been born of thy race." +</P> + +<P> +Caught by a gentle current of air the flier was drifting slowly toward +the northeast across the valley of Bantoom. Below them lay the +cultivated fields, and one after another they passed over the strange +towers of Moak and Nolach and the other kings of the swarms that +inhabited this weird and terrible land. Within each enclosure +surrounding the towers grovelled the rykors, repellent, headless +things, beautiful yet hideous. +</P> + +<P> +"A lesson, those," remarked Gahan, indicating the rykors in an +enclosure above which they were drifting at the time, "to that +fortunately small minority of our race which worships the flesh and +makes a god of appetite. You know them, Tara of Helium; they can tell +you exactly what they had at the midday meal two weeks ago, and how the +loin of the thoat should be prepared, and what drink should be served +with the rump of the zitidar." +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium laughed. "But not one of them could tell you the name of +the man whose painting took the Jeddak's Award in The Temple of Beauty +this year," she said. "Like the rykors, their development has not been +balanced." +</P> + +<P> +"Fortunate indeed are those in which there is combined a little good +and a little bad, a little knowledge of many things outside their own +callings, a capacity for love and a capacity for hate, for such as +these can look with tolerance upon all, unbiased by the egotism of him +whose head is so heavy on one side that all his brains run to that +point." +</P> + +<P> +As Gahan ceased speaking Ghek made a little noise in his throat as one +does who would attract attention. "You speak as one who has thought +much upon many subjects. Is it, then, possible that you of the red race +have pleasure in thought? Do you know aught of the joys of +introspection? Do reason and logic form any part of your lives?" +</P> + +<P> +"Most assuredly," replied Gahan, "but not to the extent of occupying +all our time—at least not objectively. You, Ghek, are an example of +the egotism of which I spoke. Because you and your kind devote your +lives to the worship of mind, you believe that no other created beings +think. And possibly we do not in the sense that you do, who think only +of yourselves and your great brains. We think of many things that +concern the welfare of a world. Had it not been for the red men of +Barsoom even the kaldanes had perished from the planet, for while you +may live without air the things upon which you depend for existence +cannot, and there had been no air in sufficient quantities upon Barsoom +these many ages had not a red man planned and built the great +atmosphere plant which gave new life to a dying world. +</P> + +<P> +"What have all the brains of all the kaldanes that have ever lived done +to compare with that single idea of a single red man?" +</P> + +<P> +Ghek was stumped. Being a kaldane he knew that brains spelled the sum +total of universal achievement, but it had never occurred to him that +they should be put to use in practical and profitable ways. He turned +away and looked down upon the valley of his ancestors across which he +was slowly drifting, into what unknown world? He should be a veritable +god among the underlings, he knew; but somehow a doubt assailed him. It +was evident that these two from that other world were ready to question +his preeminence. Even through his great egotism was filtering a +suspicion that they patronized him; perhaps even pitied him. Then he +began to wonder what was to become of him. No longer would he have many +rykors to do his bidding. Only this single one and when it died there +could not be another. When it tired, Ghek must lie almost helpless +while it rested. He wished that he had never seen this red woman. She +had brought him only discontent and dishonor and now exile. Presently +Tara of Helium commenced to hum a tune and Ghek, the kaldane, was +content. +</P> + +<P> +Gently they drifted beneath the hurtling moons above the mad shadows of +a Martian night. The roaring of the banths came in diminishing volume +to their ears as their craft passed on beyond the boundaries of +Bantoom, leaving behind the terrors of that unhappy land. But to what +were they being borne? The girl looked at the man sitting cross-legged +upon the deck of the tiny flier, gazing off into the night ahead, +apparently absorbed in thought. +</P> + +<P> +"Where are we?" she asked. "Toward what are we drifting?" +</P> + +<P> +Turan shrugged his broad shoulders. "The stars tell me that we are +drifting toward the northeast," he replied, "but where we are, or what +lies in our path I cannot even guess. A week since I could have sworn +that I knew what lay behind each succeeding ridge that I approached; +but now I admit in all humility that I have no conception of what lies +a mile in any direction. Tara of Helium, I am lost, and that is all +that I can tell you." +</P> + +<P> +He was smiling and the girl smiled back at him. There was a slightly +puzzled expression on her face—there was something tantalizingly +familiar about that smile of his. She had met many a panthan—they came +and went, following the fighting of a world—but she could not place +this one. +</P> + +<P> +"From what country are you, Turan?" she asked suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Know you not, Tara of Helium," he countered, "that a panthan has no +country? Today he fights beneath the banner of one master, tomorrow +beneath that of another." +</P> + +<P> +"But you must own allegiance to some country when you are not +fighting," she insisted. "What banner, then, owns you now?" +</P> + +<P> +He rose and stood before her, then, bowing low. "And I am acceptable," +he said, "I serve beneath the banner of the daughter of The Warlord +now—and forever." +</P> + +<P> +She reached forth and touched his arm with a slim brown hand. "Your +services are accepted," she said; "and if ever we reach Helium I +promise that your reward shall be all that your heart could desire." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall serve faithfully, hoping for that reward," he said; but Tara +of Helium did not guess what was in his mind, thinking rather that he +was mercenary. For how could the proud daughter of The Warlord guess +that a simple panthan aspired to her hand and heart? +</P> + +<P> +The dawn found them moving rapidly over an unfamiliar landscape. The +wind had increased during the night and had borne them far from +Bantoom. The country below them was rough and inhospitable. No water +was visible and the surface of the ground was cut by deep gorges, while +nowhere was any but the most meager vegetation discernible. They saw no +life of any nature, nor was there any indication that the country could +support life. For two days they drifted over this horrid wasteland. +They were without food or water and suffered accordingly. Ghek had +temporarily abandoned his rykor after enlisting Turan's assistance in +lashing it safely to the deck. The less he used it the less would its +vitality be spent. Already it was showing the effects of privation. +Ghek crawled about the vessel like a great spider—over the side, down +beneath the keel, and up over the opposite rail. He seemed equally at +home one place as another. For his companions, however, the quarters +were cramped, for the deck of a one-man flier is not intended for three. +</P> + +<P> +Turan sought always ahead for signs of water. Water they must have, or +that water-giving plant which makes life possible upon many of the +seemingly arid areas of Mars; but there was neither the one nor the +other for these two days and now the third night was upon them. The +girl did not complain, but Turan knew that she must be suffering and +his heart was heavy within him. Ghek suffered least of all, and he +explained to them that his kind could exist for long periods without +food or water. Turan almost cursed him as he saw the form of Tara of +Helium slowly wasting away before his eyes, while the hideous kaldane +seemed as full of vitality as ever. +</P> + +<P> +"There are circumstances," remarked Ghek, "under which a gross and +material body is less desirable than a highly developed brain." +</P> + +<P> +Turan looked at him, but said nothing. Tara of Helium smiled faintly. +"One cannot blame him," she said, "were we not a bit boastful in the +pride of our superiority? When our stomachs were filled," she added. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps there is something to be said for their system," Turan +admitted. "If we could but lay aside our stomachs when they cried for +food and water I have no doubt but that we should do so." +</P> + +<P> +"I should never miss mine now," assented Tara; "it is mighty poor +company." +</P> + +<P> +A new day had dawned, revealing a less desolate country and renewing +again the hope that had been low within them. Suddenly Turan leaned +forward, pointing ahead. +</P> + +<P> +"Look, Tara of Helium!" he cried. "A city! As I am Ga—as I am Turan +the panthan, a city." +</P> + +<P> +Far in the distance the domes and walls and slender towers of a city +shone in the rising sun. Quickly the man seized the control and the +ship dropped rapidly behind a low range of intervening hills, for well +Turan knew that they must not be seen until they could discover whether +friend or foe inhabited the strange city. Chances were that they were +far from the abode of friends and so must the panthan move with the +utmost caution; but there was a city and where a city was, was water, +even though it were a deserted city, and food if it were inhabited. +</P> + +<P> +To the red man food and water, even in the citadel of an enemy, meant +food and drink for Tara of Helium. He would accept it from friends or +he would take it from enemies. Just so long as it was there he would +have it—and there was shown the egotism of the fighting man, though +Turan did not see it, nor Tara who came from a long line of fighting +men; but Ghek might have smiled had he known how. +</P> + +<P> +Turan permitted the flier to drift closer behind the screening hills, +and then when he could advance no farther without fear of discovery, he +dropped the craft gently to ground in a little ravine, and leaping over +the side made her fast to a stout tree. For several moments they +discussed their plans—whether it would be best to wait where they were +until darkness hid their movements and then approach the city in search +of food and water, or approach it now, taking advantage of what cover +they could, until they could glean something of the nature of its +inhabitants. +</P> + +<P> +It was Turan's plan which finally prevailed. They would approach as +close as safety dictated in the hope of finding water outside the city; +food, too, perhaps. If they did not they could at least reconnoiter the +ground by daylight, and then when night came Turan could quickly come +close to the city and in comparative safety prosecute his search for +food and drink. +</P> + +<P> +Following the ravine upward they finally topped the summit of the +ridge, from which they had an excellent view of that part of the city +which lay nearest them, though themselves hidden by the brush behind +which they crouched. Ghek had resumed his rykor, which had suffered +less than either Tara or Turan through their enforced fast. +</P> + +<P> +The first glance at the city, now much closer than when they had first +discovered it, revealed the fact that it was inhabited. Banners and +pennons broke from many a staff. People were moving about the gate +before them. The high white walls were paced by sentinels at far +intervals. Upon the roofs of higher buildings the women could be seen +airing the sleeping silks and furs. Turan watched it all in silence for +some time. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know them," he said at last. "I cannot guess what city this +may be. But it is an ancient city. Its people have no fliers and no +firearms. It must be old indeed." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know they have not these things?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"There are no landing-stages upon the roofs—not one that can be seen +from here; while were we looking similarly at Helium we would see +hundreds. And they have no firearms because their defenses are all +built to withstand the attack of spear and arrow, with spear and arrow. +They are an ancient people." +</P> + +<P> +"If they are ancient perhaps they are friendly," suggested the girl. +"Did we not learn as children in the history of our planet that it was +once peopled by a friendly, peace-loving race?" +</P> + +<P> +"But I fear they are not as ancient as that," replied Turan, laughing. +"It has been long ages since the men of Barsoom loved peace." +</P> + +<P> +"My father loves peace," returned the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"And yet he is always at war," said the man. +</P> + +<P> +She laughed. "But he says he likes peace." +</P> + +<P> +"We all like peace," he rejoined; "peace with honor; but our neighbors +will not let us have it, and so we must fight." +</P> + +<P> +"And to fight well men must like to fight," she added. +</P> + +<P> +"And to like to fight they must know how to fight," he said, "for no +man likes to do the thing that he does not know how to do well." +</P> + +<P> +"Or that some other man can do better than he." +</P> + +<P> +"And so always there will be wars and men will fight," he concluded, +"for always the men with hot blood in their veins will practice the art +of war." +</P> + +<P> +"We have settled a great question," said the girl, smiling; "but our +stomachs are still empty." +</P> + +<P> +"Your panthan is neglecting his duty," replied Turan; "and how can he +with the great reward always before his eyes!" +</P> + +<P> +She did not guess in what literal a sense he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"I go forthwith," he continued, "to wrest food and drink from the +ancients." +</P> + +<P> +"No," she cried, laying a hand upon his arm, "not yet. They would slay +you or make you prisoner. You are a brave panthan and a mighty one, but +you cannot overcome a city singlehanded." +</P> + +<P> +She smiled up into his face and her hand still lay upon his arm. He +felt the thrill of hot blood coursing through his veins. He could have +seized her in his arms and crushed her to him. There was only Ghek the +kaldane there, but there was something stronger within him that +restrained his hand. Who may define it—that inherent chivalry that +renders certain men the natural protectors of women? +</P> + +<P> +From their vantage point they saw a body of armed warriors ride forth +from the gate, and winding along a well-beaten road pass from sight +about the foot of the hill from which they watched. The men were red, +like themselves, and they rode the small saddle thoats of the red race. +Their trappings were barbaric and magnificent, and in their head-dress +were many feathers as had been the custom of ancients. They were armed +with swords and long spears and they rode almost naked, their bodies +being painted in ochre and blue and white. There were, perhaps, a score +of them in the party and as they galloped away on their tireless mounts +they presented a picture at once savage and beautiful. +</P> + +<P> +"They have the appearance of splendid warriors," said Turan. "I have a +great mind to walk boldly into their city and seek service." +</P> + +<P> +Tara shook her head. "Wait," she admonished. "What would I do without +you, and if you were captured how could you collect your reward?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should escape," he said. "At any rate I shall try it," and he +started to rise. +</P> + +<P> +"You shall not," said the girl, her tone all authority. +</P> + +<P> +The man looked at her quickly—questioningly. +</P> + +<P> +"You have entered my service," she said, a trifle haughtily. +</P> + +<P> +"You have entered my service for hire and you shall do as I bid you." +</P> + +<P> +Turan sank down beside her again with a half smile upon his lips. "It +is yours to command, Princess," he said. +</P> + +<P> +The day passed. Ghek, tiring of the sunlight, had deserted his rykor +and crawled down a hole he had discovered close by. Tara and Turan +reclined beneath the scant shade of a small tree. They watched the +people coming and going through the gate. The party of horsemen did not +return. A small herd of zitidars was driven into the city during the +day, and once a caravan of broad-wheeled carts drawn by these huge +animals wound out of the distant horizon and came down to the city. It, +too, passed from their sight within the gateway. Then darkness came and +Tara of Helium bid her panthan search for food and drink; but she +cautioned him against attempting to enter the city. Before he left her +he bent and kissed her hand as a warrior may kiss the hand of his queen. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ENTRAPPED +</H3> + +<P> +Turan the panthan approached the strange city under cover of the +darkness. He entertained little hope of finding either food or water +outside the wall, but he would try and then, if he failed, he would +attempt to make his way into the city, for Tara of Helium must have +sustenance and have it soon. He saw that the walls were poorly +sentineled, but they were sufficiently high to render an attempt to +scale them foredoomed to failure. Taking advantage of underbrush and +trees, Turan managed to reach the base of the wall without detection. +Silently he moved north past the gateway which was closed by a massive +gate which effectively barred even the slightest glimpse within the +city beyond. It was Turan's hope to find upon the north side of the +city away from the hills a level plain where grew the crops of the +inhabitants, and here too water from their irrigating system, but +though he traveled far along that seemingly interminable wall he found +no fields nor any water. He searched also for some means of ingress to +the city, yet here, too, failure was his only reward, and now as he +went keen eyes watched him from above and a silent stalker kept pace +with him for a time upon the summit of the wall; but presently the +shadower descended to the pavement within and hurrying swiftly raced +ahead of the stranger without. +</P> + +<P> +He came presently to a small gate beside which was a low building and +before the doorway of the building a warrior standing guard. He spoke a +few quick words to the warrior and then entered the building only to +return almost immediately to the street, followed by fully forty +warriors. Cautiously opening the gate the fellow peered carefully along +the wall upon the outside in the direction from which he had come. +Evidently satisfied, he issued a few words of instruction to those +behind him, whereupon half the warriors returned to the interior of the +building, while the other half followed the man stealthily through the +gateway where they crouched low among the shrubbery in a half circle +just north of the gateway which they had left open. Here they waited in +utter silence, nor had they long to wait before Turan the panthan came +cautiously along the base of the wall. To the very gate he came and +when he found it and that it was open he paused for a moment, +listening; then he approached and looked within. Assured that there was +none within sight to apprehend him he stepped through the gateway into +the city. +</P> + +<P> +He found himself in a narrow street that paralleled the wall. Upon the +opposite side rose buildings of an architecture unknown to him, yet +strangely beautiful. While the buildings were packed closely together +there seemed to be no two alike and their fronts were of all shapes and +heights and of many hues. The skyline was broken by spire and dome and +minaret and tall, slender towers, while the walls supported many a +balcony and in the soft light of Cluros, the farther moon, now low in +the west, he saw, to his surprise and consternation, the figures of +people upon the balconies. Directly opposite him were two women and a +man. They sat leaning upon the rail of the balcony looking, apparently, +directly at him; but if they saw him they gave no sign. +</P> + +<P> +Turan hesitated a moment in the face of almost certain discovery and +then, assured that they must take him for one of their own people, he +moved boldly into the avenue. Having no idea of the direction in which +he might best hope to find what he sought, and not wishing to arouse +suspicion by further hesitation, he turned to the left and stepped +briskly along the pavement with the intention of placing himself as +quickly as possible beyond the observation of those nocturnal watchers. +He knew that the night must be far spent; and so he could not but +wonder why people should sit upon their balconies when they should have +been asleep among their silks and furs. At first he had thought them +the late guests of some convivial host; but the windows behind them +were shrouded in darkness and utter quiet prevailed, quite upsetting +such a theory. And as he proceeded he passed many another group sitting +silently upon other balconies. They paid no attention to him, seeming +not even to note his passing. Some leaned with a single elbow upon the +rail, their chins resting in their palms; others leaned upon both arms +across the balcony, looking down into the street, while several that he +saw held musical instruments in their hands, but their fingers moved +not upon the strings. +</P> + +<P> +And then Turan came to a point where the avenue turned to the right, to +skirt a building that jutted from the inside of the city wall, and as +he rounded the corner he came full upon two warriors standing upon +either side of the entrance to a building upon his right. It was +impossible for them not to be aware of his presence, yet neither moved, +nor gave other evidence that they had seen him. He stood there waiting, +his hand upon the hilt of his long-sword, but they neither challenged +nor halted him. Could it be that these also thought him one of their +own kind? Indeed upon no other grounds could he explain their inaction. +</P> + +<P> +As Turan had passed through the gateway into the city and taken his +unhindered way along the avenue, twenty warriors had entered the city +and closed the gate behind them, and then one had taken to the wall and +followed along its summit in the rear of Turan, and another had +followed him along the avenue, while a third had crossed the street and +entered one of the buildings upon the opposite side. +</P> + +<P> +The balance of them, with the exception of a single sentinel beside the +gate, had re-entered the building from which they had been summoned. +They were well built, strapping, painted fellows, their naked figures +covered now by gorgeous robes against the chill of night. As they spoke +of the stranger they laughed at the ease with which they had tricked +him, and were still laughing as they threw themselves upon their +sleeping silks and furs to resume their broken slumber. It was evident +that they constituted a guard detailed for the gate beside which they +slept, and it was equally evident that the gates were guarded and the +city watched much more carefully than Turan had believed. Chagrined +indeed had been the Jed of Gathol had he dreamed that he was being so +neatly tricked. +</P> + +<P> +As Turan proceeded along the avenue he passed other sentries beside +other doors but now he gave them small heed, since they neither +challenged nor otherwise outwardly noted his passing; but while at +nearly every turn of the erratic avenue he passed one or more of these +silent sentinels he could not guess that he had passed one of them many +times and that his every move was watched by silent, clever stalkers. +Scarce had he passed a certain one of these rigid guardsmen before the +fellow awoke to sudden life, bounded across the avenue, entered a +narrow opening in the outer wall where he swiftly followed a corridor +built within the wall itself until presently he emerged a little +distance ahead of Turan, where he assumed the stiff and silent attitude +of a soldier upon guard. Nor did Turan know that a second followed in +the shadows of the buildings behind him, nor of the third who hastened +ahead of him upon some urgent mission. +</P> + +<P> +And so the panthan moved through the silent streets of the strange city +in search of food and drink for the woman he loved. Men and women +looked down upon him from shadowy balconies, but spoke not; and +sentinels saw him pass and did not challenge. Presently from along the +avenue before him came the familiar sound of clanking accouterments, +the herald of marching warriors, and almost simultaneously he saw upon +his right an open doorway dimly lighted from within. It was the only +available place where he might seek to hide from the approaching +company, and while he had passed several sentries unquestioned he could +scarce hope to escape scrutiny and questioning from a patrol, as he +naturally assumed this body of men to be. +</P> + +<P> +Inside the doorway he discovered a passage turning abruptly to the +right and almost immediately thereafter to the left. There was none in +sight within and so he stepped cautiously around the second turn the +more effectually to be hidden from the street. Before him stretched a +long corridor, dimly lighted like the entrance. Waiting there he heard +the party approach the building, he heard someone at the entrance to +his hiding place, and then he heard the door past which he had come +slam to. He laid his hand upon his sword, expecting momentarily to hear +footsteps approaching along the corridor; but none came. He approached +the turn and looked around it; the corridor was empty to the closed +door. Whoever had closed it had remained upon the outside. +</P> + +<P> +Turan waited, listening. He heard no sound. Then he advanced to the +door and placed an ear against it. All was silence in the street +beyond. A sudden draft must have closed the door, or perhaps it was the +duty of the patrol to see to such things. It was immaterial. They had +evidently passed on and now he would return to the street and continue +upon his way. Somewhere there would be a public fountain where he could +obtain water, and the chance of food lay in the strings of dried +vegetables and meat which hung before the doorways of nearly every +Barsoomian home of the poorer classes that he had ever seen. It was +this district he was seeking, and it was for this reason his search had +led him away from the main gate of the city which he knew would not be +located in a poor district. +</P> + +<P> +He attempted to open the door only to find that it resisted his every +effort—it was locked upon the outside. Here indeed was a sorry +contretemps. Turan the panthan scratched his head. "Fortune frowns upon +me," he murmured; but beyond the door, Fate, in the form of a painted +warrior, stood smiling. Neatly had he tricked the unwary stranger. The +lighted doorway, the marching patrol—these had been planned and timed +to a nicety by the third warrior who had sped ahead of Turan along +another avenue, and the stranger had done precisely what the fellow had +thought he would do—no wonder, then, that he smiled. +</P> + +<P> +This exit barred to him Turan turned back into the corridor. He +followed it cautiously and silently. Occasionally there was a door on +one side or the other. These he tried only to find each securely +locked. The corridor wound more erratically the farther he advanced. A +locked door barred his way at its end, but a door upon his right opened +and he stepped into a dimly-lighted chamber, about the walls of which +were three other doors, each of which he tried in turn. Two were +locked; the other opened upon a runway leading downward. It was spiral +and he could see no farther than the first turn. A door in the corridor +he had quitted opened after he had passed, and the third warrior +stepped out and followed after him. A faint smile still lingered upon +the fellow's grim lips. +</P> + +<P> +Turan drew his short-sword and cautiously descended. At the bottom was +a short corridor with a closed door at the end. He approached the +single heavy panel and listened. No sound came to him from beyond the +mysterious portal. Gently he tried the door, which swung easily toward +him at his touch. Before him was a low-ceiled chamber with a dirt +floor. Set in its walls were several other doors and all were closed. +As Turan stepped cautiously within, the third warrior descended the +spiral runway behind him. The panthan crossed the room quickly and +tried a door. It was locked. He heard a muffled click behind him and +turned about with ready sword. He was alone; but the door through which +he had entered was closed—it was the click of its lock that he had +heard. +</P> + +<P> +With a bound he crossed the room and attempted to open it; but to no +avail. No longer did he seek silence, for he knew now that the thing +had gone beyond the sphere of chance. He threw his weight against the +wooden panel; but the thick skeel of which it was constructed would +have withstood a battering ram. From beyond came a low laugh. +</P> + +<P> +Rapidly Turan examined each of the other doors. They were all locked. A +glance about the chamber revealed a wooden table and a bench. Set in +the walls were several heavy rings to which rusty chains were +attached—all too significant of the purpose to which the room was +dedicated. In the dirt floor near the wall were two or three holes +resembling the mouths of burrows—doubtless the habitat of the giant +Martian rat. He had observed this much when suddenly the dim light was +extinguished, leaving him in darkness utter and complete. Turan, +groping about, sought the table and the bench. Placing the latter +against the wall he drew the table in front of him and sat down upon +the bench, his long-sword gripped in readiness before him. At least +they should fight before they took him. +</P> + +<P> +For some time he sat there waiting for he knew not what. No sound +penetrated to his subterranean dungeon. He slowly revolved in his mind +the incidents of the evening—the open, unguarded gate; the lighted +doorway—the only one he had seen thus open and lighted along the +avenue he had followed; the advance of the warriors at precisely the +moment that he could find no other avenue of escape or concealment; the +corridors and chambers that led past many locked doors to this +underground prison leaving no other path for him to pursue. +</P> + +<P> +"By my first ancestor!" he swore; "but it was simple and I a simpleton. +They tricked me neatly and have taken me without exposing themselves to +a scratch; but for what purpose?" +</P> + +<P> +He wished that he might answer that question and then his thoughts +turned to the girl waiting there on the hill beyond the city for +him—and he would never come. He knew the ways of the more savage +peoples of Barsoom. No, he would never come, now. He had disobeyed her. +He smiled at the sweet recollection of those words of command that had +fallen from her dear lips. He had disobeyed her and now he had lost the +reward. +</P> + +<P> +But what of her? What now would be her fate—starving before a hostile +city with only an inhuman kaldane for company? Another thought—a +horrid thought—obtruded itself upon him. She had told him of the +hideous sights she had witnessed in the burrows of the kaldanes and he +knew that they ate human flesh. Ghek was starving. Should he eat his +rykor he would be helpless; but—there was sustenance there for them +both, for the rykor and the kaldane. Turan cursed himself for a fool. +Why had he left her? Far better to have remained and died with her, +ready always to protect her, than to have left her at the mercy of the +hideous Bantoomian. +</P> + +<P> +Now Turan detected a heavy odor in the air. It oppressed him with a +feeling of drowsiness. He would have risen to fight off the creeping +lethargy, but his legs seemed weak, so that he sank again to the bench. +Presently his sword slipped from his fingers and he sprawled forward +upon the table his head resting upon his arms. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Tara of Helium, as the night wore on and Turan did not return, became +more and more uneasy, and when dawn broke with no sign of him she +guessed that he had failed. Something more than her own unhappy +predicament brought a feeling of sorrow to her heart—of sorrow and +loneliness. She realized now how she had come to depend upon this +panthan not only for protection but for companionship as well. She +missed him, and in missing him realized suddenly that he had meant more +to her than a mere hired warrior. It was as though a friend had been +taken from her—an old and valued friend. She rose from her place of +concealment that she might have a better view of the city. +</P> + +<P> +U-Dor, dwar of the 8th Utan of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, rode back in +the early dawn toward Manator from a brief excursion to a neighboring +village. As he was rounding the hills south of the city, his keen eyes +were attracted by a slight movement among the shrubbery close to the +summit of the nearest hill. He halted his vicious mount and watched +more closely. He saw a figure rise facing away from him and peer down +toward Manator beyond the hill. +</P> + +<P> +"Come!" he signalled to his followers, and with a word to his thoat +turned the beast at a rapid gallop up the hillside. In his wake swept +his twenty savage warriors, the padded feet of their mounts soundless +upon the soft turf. It was the rattle of sidearms and harness that +brought Tara of Helium suddenly about, facing them. She saw a score of +warriors with couched lances bearing down upon her. +</P> + +<P> +She glanced at Ghek. What would the spiderman do in this emergency? She +saw him crawl to his rykor and attach himself. Then he arose, the +beautiful body once again animated and alert. She thought that the +creature was preparing for flight. Well, it made little difference to +her. Against such as were streaming up the hill toward them a single +mediocre swordsman such as Ghek was worse than no defense at all. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurry, Ghek!" she admonished him. "Back into the hills! You may find +there a hiding-place;" but the creature only stepped between her and +the oncoming riders, drawing his long-sword. +</P> + +<P> +"It is useless, Ghek," she said, when she saw that he intended to +defend her. "What can a single sword accomplish against such odds?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can die but once," replied the kaldane. "You and your panthan saved +me from Luud and I but do what your panthan would do were he here to +protect you." +</P> + +<P> +"It is brave, but it is useless," she replied. "Sheathe your sword. +They may not intend us harm." +</P> + +<P> +Ghek let the point of his weapon drop to the ground, but he did not +sheathe it, and thus the two stood waiting as U-Dor the dwar stopped +his thoat before them while his twenty warriors formed a rough circle +about. For a long minute U-Dor sat his mount in silence, looking +searchingly first at Tara of Helium and then at her hideous companion. +</P> + +<P> +"What manner of creature are you?" he asked presently. "And what do you +before the gates of Manator?" +</P> + +<P> +"We are from far countries," replied the girl, "and we are lost and +starving. We ask only food and rest and the privilege to go our way +seeking our own homes." +</P> + +<P> +U-Dor smiled a grim smile. "Manator and the hills which guard it alone +know the age of Manator," he said; "yet in all the ages that have +rolled by since Manator first was, there be no record in the annals of +Manator of a stranger departing from Manator." +</P> + +<P> +"But I am a princess," cried the girl haughtily, "and my country is not +at war with yours. You must give me and my companions aid and assist us +to return to our own land. It is the law of Barsoom." +</P> + +<P> +"Manator knows only the laws of Manator," replied U-Dor; "but come. You +shall go with us to the city, where you, being beautiful, need have no +fear. I, myself, will protect you if O-Tar so decrees. And as for your +companion—but hold! You said 'companions'—there are others of your +party then?" +</P> + +<P> +"You see what you see," replied Tara haughtily. +</P> + +<P> +"Be that as it may," said U-Dor. "If there be more they shall not +escape Manator; but as I was saying, if your companion fights well he +too may live, for O-Tar is just, and just are the laws of Manator. +Come!" +</P> + +<P> +Ghek demurred. +</P> + +<P> +"It is useless," said the girl, seeing that he would have stood his +ground and fought them. "Let us go with them. Why pit your puny blade +against their mighty ones when there should lie in your great brain the +means to outwit them?" She spoke in a low whisper, rapidly. +</P> + +<P> +"You are right, Tara of Helium," he replied and sheathed his sword. +</P> + +<P> +And so they moved down the hillside toward the gates of Manator—Tara, +Princess of Helium, and Ghek, the kaldane of Bantoom—and surrounding +them rode the savage, painted warriors of U-Dor, dwar of the 8th Utan +of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHOICE OF TARA +</H3> + +<P> +The dazzling sunlight of Barsoom clothed Manator in an aureole of +splendor as the girl and her captors rode into the city through The +Gate of Enemies. Here the wall was some fifty feet thick, and the sides +of the passageway within the gate were covered with parallel shelves of +masonry from bottom to top. Within these shelves, or long, horizontal +niches, stood row upon row of small figures, appearing like tiny, +grotesque statuettes of men, their long, black hair falling below their +feet and sometimes trailing to the shelf beneath. The figures were +scarce a foot in height and but for their diminutive proportions might +have been the mummified bodies of once living men. The girl noticed +that as they passed, the warriors saluted the figures with their spears +after the manner of Barsoomian fighting men in extending a military +courtesy, and then they rode on into the avenue beyond, which ran, wide +and stately, through the city toward the east. +</P> + +<P> +On either side were great buildings wondrously wrought. Paintings of +great beauty and antiquity covered many of the walls, their colors +softened and blended by the suns of ages. Upon the pavement the life of +the newly-awakened city was already afoot. Women in brilliant +trappings, befeathered warriors, their bodies daubed with paint; +artisans, armed but less gaily caparisoned, took their various ways +upon the duties of the day. A giant zitidar, magnificent in rich +harness, rumbled its broad-wheeled cart along the stone pavement toward +The Gate of Enemies. Life and color and beauty wrought together a +picture that filled the eyes of Tara of Helium with wonder and with +admiration, for here was a scene out of the dead past of dying Mars. +Such had been the cities of the founders of her race before Throxeus, +mightiest of oceans, had disappeared from the face of a world. And from +balconies on either side men and women looked down in silence upon the +scene below. +</P> + +<P> +The people in the street looked at the two prisoners, especially at the +hideous Ghek, and called out in question or comment to their guard; but +the watchers upon the balconies spoke not, nor did one so much as turn +a head to note their passing. There were many balconies on each +building and not a one that did not hold its silent party of richly +trapped men and women, with here and there a child or two, but even the +children maintained the uniform silence and immobility of their elders. +As they approached the center of the city the girl saw that even the +roofs bore companies of these idle watchers, harnessed and bejeweled as +for some gala-day of laughter and music, but no laughter broke from +those silent lips, nor any music from the strings of the instruments +that many of them held in jeweled fingers. +</P> + +<P> +And now the avenue widened into an immense square, at the far end of +which rose a stately edifice gleaming white in virgin marble among the +gaily painted buildings surrounding it and its scarlet sward and +gaily-flowering, green-foliaged shrubbery. Toward this U-Dor led his +prisoners and their guard to the great arched entrance before which a +line of fifty mounted warriors barred the way. When the commander of +the guard recognized U-Dor the guardsmen fell back to either side +leaving a broad avenue through which the party passed. Directly inside +the entrance were inclined runways leading upward on either side. U-Dor +turned to the left and led them upward to the second floor and down a +long corridor. Here they passed other mounted men and in chambers upon +either side they saw more. Occasionally there was another runway +leading either up or down. A warrior, his steed at full gallop, dashed +into sight from one of these and raced swiftly past them upon some +errand. +</P> + +<P> +Nowhere as yet had Tara of Helium seen a man afoot in this great +building; but when at a turn, U-Dor led them to the third floor she +caught glimpses of chambers in which many riderless thoats were penned +and others adjoining where dismounted warriors lolled at ease or played +games of skill or chance and many there were who played at jetan, and +then the party passed into a long, wide hall of state, as magnificent +an apartment as even a princess of mighty Helium ever had seen. The +length of the room ran an arched ceiling ablaze with countless radium +bulbs. The mighty spans extended from wall to wall leaving the vast +floor unbroken by a single column. The arches were of white marble, +apparently quarried in single, huge blocks from which each arch was cut +complete. Between the arches, the ceiling was set solid about the +radium bulbs with precious stones whose scintillant fire and color and +beauty filled the whole apartment. The stones were carried down the +walls in an irregular fringe for a few feet, where they appeared to +hang like a beautiful and gorgeous drapery against the white marble of +the wall. The marble ended some six or seven feet from the floor, the +walls from that point down being wainscoted in solid gold. The floor +itself was of marble richly inlaid with gold. In that single room was a +vast treasure equal to the wealth of many a large city. +</P> + +<P> +But what riveted the girl's attention even more than the fabulous +treasure of decorations were the files of gorgeously harnessed warriors +who sat their thoats in grim silence and immobility on either side of +the central aisle, rank after rank of them to the farther walls, and as +the party passed between them she could not note so much as the flicker +of an eyelid, or the twitching of a thoat's ear. +</P> + +<P> +"The Hall of Chiefs," whispered one of her guard, evidently noting her +interest. There was a note of pride in the fellow's voice and something +of hushed awe. Then they passed through a great doorway into the +chamber beyond, a large, square room in which a dozen mounted warriors +lolled in their saddles. +</P> + +<P> +As U-Dor and his party entered the room, the warriors came quickly +erect in their saddles and formed a line before another door upon the +opposite side of the wall. The padwar commanding them saluted U-Dor +who, with his party, had halted facing the guard. +</P> + +<P> +"Send one to O-Tar announcing that U-Dor brings two prisoners worthy of +the observation of the great jeddak," said U-Dor; "one because of her +extreme beauty, the other because of his extreme ugliness." +</P> + +<P> +"O-Tar sits in council with the lesser chiefs," replied the lieutenant; +"but the words of U-Dor the dwar shall be carried to him," and he +turned and gave instructions to one who sat his thoat behind him. +</P> + +<P> +"What manner of creature is the male?" he asked of U-Dor. "It cannot be +that both are of one race." +</P> + +<P> +"They were together in the hills south of the city," explained U-Dor, +"and they say that they are lost and starving." +</P> + +<P> +"The woman is beautiful," said the padwar. "She will not long go +begging in the city of Manator," and then they spoke of other +matters—of the doings of the palace, of the expedition of U-Dor, until +the messenger returned to say that O-Tar bade them bring the prisoners +to him. +</P> + +<P> +They passed then through a massive doorway, which, when opened, +revealed the great council chamber of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, beyond. +A central aisle led from the doorway the full length of the great hall, +terminating at the steps of a marble dais upon which a man sat in a +great throne-chair. Upon either side of the aisle were ranged rows of +highly carved desks and chairs of skeel, a hard wood of great beauty. +Only a few of the desks were occupied—those in the front row, just +below the rostrum. +</P> + +<P> +At the entrance U-Dor dismounted with four of his followers who formed +a guard about the two prisoners who were then conducted toward the foot +of the throne, following a few paces behind U-Dor. As they halted at +the foot of the marble steps, the proud gaze of Tara of Helium rested +upon the enthroned figure of the man above her. He sat erect without +stiffness—a commanding presence trapped in the barbaric splendor that +the Barsoomian chieftain loves. He was a large man, the perfection of +whose handsome face was marred only by the hauteur of his cold eyes and +the suggestion of cruelty imparted by too thin lips. It needed no +second glance to assure the least observing that here indeed was a +ruler of men—a fighting jeddak whose people might worship but not +love, and for whose slightest favor warriors would vie with one another +to go forth and die. This was O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, and as Tara of +Helium saw him for the first time she could not but acknowledge a +certain admiration for this savage chieftain who so virilely +personified the ancient virtues of the God of War. +</P> + +<P> +U-Dor and the jeddak interchanged the simple greetings of Barsoom, and +then the former recounted the details of the discovery and capture of +the prisoners. O-Tar scrutinized them both intently during U-Dor's +narration of events, his expression revealing naught of what passed in +the brain behind those inscrutable eyes. When the officer had finished +the jeddak fastened his gaze upon Ghek. +</P> + +<P> +"And you," he asked, "what manner of thing are you? From what country? +Why are you in Manator?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am a kaldane," replied Ghek; "the highest type of created creature +upon the face of Barsoom; I am mind, you are matter. I come from +Bantoom. I am here because we were lost and starving." +</P> + +<P> +"And you!" O-Tar turned suddenly on Tara. "You, too, are a kaldane?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am a princess of Helium," replied the girl. "I was a prisoner in +Bantoom. This kaldane and a warrior of my own race rescued me. The +warrior left us to search for food and water. He has doubtless fallen +into the hands of your people. I ask you to free him and give us food +and drink and let us go upon our way. I am a granddaughter of a jeddak, +the daughter of a jeddak of jeddaks, The Warlord of Barsoom. I ask only +the treatment that my people would accord you or yours." +</P> + +<P> +"Helium," repeated O-Tar. "I know naught of Helium, nor does the Jeddak +of Helium rule Manator. I, O-Tar, am Jeddak of Manator. I alone rule. I +protect my own. You have never seen a woman or a warrior of Manator +captive in Helium! Why should I protect the people of another jeddak? +It is his duty to protect them. If he cannot, he is weak, and his +people must fall into the hands of the strong. I, O-Tar, am strong. I +will keep you. That—" he pointed at Ghek—"can it fight?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is brave," replied Tara of Helium, "but it has not the skill at +arms which my people possess." +</P> + +<P> +"There is none then to fight for you?" asked O-Tar. "We are a just +people," he continued without waiting for a reply, "and had you one to +fight for you he might win to freedom for himself and you as well." +</P> + +<P> +"But U-Dor assured me that no stranger ever had departed from Manator," +she answered. +</P> + +<P> +O-Tar shrugged. "That does not disprove the justice of the laws of +Manator," replied O-Tar, "but rather that the warriors of Manator are +invincible. Had there come one who could defeat our warriors that one +had won to liberty." +</P> + +<P> +"And you fetch my warrior," cried Tara haughtily, "you shall see such +swordplay as doubtless the crumbling walls of your decaying city never +have witnessed, and if there be no trick in your offer we are already +as good as free." +</P> + +<P> +O-Tar smiled more broadly than before and U-Dor smiled, too, and the +chiefs and warriors who looked on nudged one another and whispered, +laughing. And Tara of Helium knew then that there was trickery in their +justice; but though her situation seemed hopeless she did not cease to +hope, for was she not the daughter of John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom, +whose famous challenge to Fate, "I still live!" remained the one +irreducible defense against despair? At thought of her noble sire the +patrician chin of Tara of Helium rose a shade higher. Ah! if he but +knew where she was there were little to fear then. The hosts of Helium +would batter at the gates of Manator, the great green warriors of John +Carter's savage allies would swarm up from the dead sea bottoms lusting +for pillage and for loot, the stately ships of her beloved navy would +soar above the unprotected towers and minarets of the doomed city which +only capitulation and heavy tribute could then save. +</P> + +<P> +But John Carter did not know! There was only one other to whom she +might hope to look—Turan the panthan; but where was he? She had seen +his sword in play and she knew that it had been wielded by a master +hand, and who should know swordplay better than Tara of Helium, who had +learned it well under the constant tutorage of John Carter himself. +Tricks she knew that discounted even far greater physical prowess than +her own, and a method of attack that might have been at once the envy +and despair of the cleverest of warriors. And so it was that her +thoughts turned to Turan the panthan, though not alone because of the +protection he might afford her. She had realized, since he had left her +in search of food, that there had grown between them a certain +comradeship that she now missed. There had been that about him which +seemed to have bridged the gulf between their stations in life. With +him she had failed to consider that he was a panthan or that she was a +princess—they had been comrades. Suddenly she realized that she missed +him for himself more than for his sword. She turned toward O-Tar. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is Turan, my warrior?" she demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"You shall not lack for warriors," replied the jeddak. "One of your +beauty will find plenty ready to fight for her. Possibly it shall not +be necessary to look farther than the jeddak of Manator. You please me, +woman. What say you to such an honor?" +</P> + +<P> +Through narrowed lids the Princess of Helium scrutinized the Jeddak of +Manator, from feathered headdress to sandaled foot and back to +feathered headdress. +</P> + +<P> +"'Honor'!" she mimicked in tones of scorn. "I please thee, do I? Then +know, swine, that thou pleaseth me not—that the daughter of John +Carter is not for such as thou!" +</P> + +<P> +A sudden, tense silence fell upon the assembled chiefs. Slowly the +blood receded from the sinister face of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, +leaving him a sickly purple in his wrath. His eyes narrowed to two thin +slits, his lips were compressed to a bloodless line of malevolence. For +a long moment there was no sound in the throne room of the palace at +Manator. Then the jeddak turned toward U-Dor. +</P> + +<P> +"Take her away," he said in a level voice that belied his appearance of +rage. "Take her away, and at the next games let the prisoners and the +common warriors play at Jetan for her." +</P> + +<P> +"And this?" asked U-Dor, pointing at Ghek. +</P> + +<P> +"To the pits until the next games," replied O-Tar. +</P> + +<P> +"So this is your vaunted justice!" cried Tara of Helium; "that two +strangers who have not wronged you shall be sentenced without trial? +And one of them is a woman. The swine of Manator are as just as they +are brave." +</P> + +<P> +"Away with her!" shouted O-Tar, and at a sign from U-Dor the guards +formed about the two prisoners and conducted them from the chamber. +</P> + +<P> +Outside the palace, Ghek and Tara of Helium were separated. The girl +was led through long avenues toward the center of the city and finally +into a low building, topped by lofty towers of massive construction. +Here she was turned over to a warrior who wore the insignia of a dwar, +or captain. +</P> + +<P> +"It is O-Tar's wish," explained U-Dor to this one, "that she be kept +until the next games, when the prisoners and the common warriors shall +play for her. Had she not the tongue of a thoat she had been a worthy +stake for our noblest steel," and U-Dor sighed. "Perhaps even yet I may +win a pardon for her. It were too bad to see such beauty fall to the +lot of some common fellow. I would have honored her myself." +</P> + +<P> +"If I am to be imprisoned, imprison me," said the girl. "I do not +recall that I was sentenced to listen to the insults of every low-born +boor who chanced to admire me." +</P> + +<P> +"You see, A-Kor," cried U-Dor, "the tongue that she has. Even so and +worse spoke she to O-Tar the jeddak." +</P> + +<P> +"I see," replied A-Kor, whom Tara saw was with difficulty restraining a +smile. "Come, then, with me, woman," he said, "and we shall find a safe +place within The Towers of Jetan—but stay! what ails thee?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl had staggered and would have fallen had not the man caught her +in his arms. She seemed to gather herself then and bravely sought to +stand erect without support. A-Kor glanced at U-Dor. "Knew you the +woman was ill?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Possibly it is lack of food," replied the other. "She mentioned, I +believe, that she and her companions had not eaten for several days." +</P> + +<P> +"Brave are the warriors of O-Tar," sneered A-Kor; "lavish their +hospitality. U-Dor, whose riches are uncounted, and the brave O-Tar, +whose squealing thoats are stabled within marble halls and fed from +troughs of gold, can spare no crust to feed a starving girl." +</P> + +<P> +The black haired U-Dor scowled. "Thy tongue will yet pierce thy heart, +son of a slave!" he cried. "Once too often mayst thou try the patience +of the just O-Tar. Hereafter guard thy speech as well as thy towers." +</P> + +<P> +"Think not to taunt me with my mother's state," said A-Kor. "'Tis the +blood of the slave woman that fills my veins with pride, and my only +shame is that I am also the son of thy jeddak." +</P> + +<P> +"And O-Tar heard this?" queried U-Dor. +</P> + +<P> +"O-Tar has already heard it from my own lips," replied A-Kor; "this, +and more." +</P> + +<P> +He turned upon his heel, a supporting arm still around the waist of +Tara of Helium and thus he half led, half carried her into The Towers +of Jetan, while U-Dor wheeled his thoat and galloped back in the +direction of the palace. +</P> + +<P> +Within the main entrance to The Tower of Jetan lolled a half-dozen +warriors. To one of these spoke A-Kor, keeper of the towers. "Fetch +Lan-O, the slave girl, and bid her bring food and drink to the upper +level of the Thurian tower," then he lifted the half-fainting girl in +his arms and bore her along the spiral, inclined runway that led upward +within the tower. +</P> + +<P> +Somewhere in the long ascent Tara lost consciousness. When it returned +she found herself in a large, circular chamber, the stone walls of +which were pierced by windows at regular intervals about the entire +circumference of the room. She was lying upon a pile of sleeping silks +and furs while there knelt above her a young woman who was forcing +drops of some cooling beverage between her parched lips. Tara of Helium +half rose upon an elbow and looked about. In the first moments of +returning consciousness there were swept from the screen of +recollection the happenings of many weeks. She thought that she awoke +in the palace of The Warlord at Helium. Her brows knit as she +scrutinized the strange face bending over her. +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you?" she asked, and, "Where is Uthia?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am Lan-O the slave girl," replied the other. "I know none by the +name of Uthia." +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium sat erect and looked about her. This rough stone was not +the marble of her father's halls. "Where am I?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"In The Thurian Tower," replied the girl, and then seeing that the +other still did not understand she guessed the truth. "You are a +prisoner in The Towers of Jetan in the city of Manator," she explained. +"You were brought to this chamber, weak and fainting, by A-Kor, Dwar of +The Towers of Jetan, who sent me to you with food and drink, for kind +is the heart of A-Kor." +</P> + +<P> +"I remember, now," said Tara, slowly. "I remember; but where is Turan, +my warrior? Did they speak of him?" +</P> + +<P> +"I heard naught of another," replied Lan-O; "you alone were brought to +the towers. In that you are fortunate, for there be no nobler man in +Manator than A-Kor. It is his mother's blood that makes him so. She was +a slave girl from Gathol." +</P> + +<P> +"Gathol!" exclaimed Tara of Helium. "Lies Gathol close by Manator?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not close, yet still the nearest country," replied Lan-O. "About +twenty-two degrees* east, it lies." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +* Approximately 814 Earth Miles. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Gathol!" murmured Tara, "Far Gathol!" +</P> + +<P> +"But you are not from Gathol," said the slave girl; "your harness is +not of Gathol." +</P> + +<P> +"I am from Helium," said Tara. +</P> + +<P> +"It is far from Helium to Gathol," said the slave girl, "but in our +studies we learned much of the greatness of Helium, we of Gathol, so it +seems not so far away." +</P> + +<P> +"You, too, are from Gathol?" asked Tara. +</P> + +<P> +"Many of us are from Gathol who are slaves in Manator," replied the +girl. "It is to Gathol, nearest country, that the Manatorians look for +slaves most often. They go in great numbers at intervals of three or +seven years and haunt the roads that lead to Gathol, and thus they +capture whole caravans leaving none to bear warning to Gathol of their +fate. Nor do any ever escape from Manator to carry word of us back to +Gahan our jed." +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium ate slowly and in silence. The girl's words aroused +memories of the last hours she had spent in her father's palace and the +great midday function at which she had met Gahan of Gathol. Even now +she flushed as she recalled his daring words. +</P> + +<P> +Upon her reveries the door opened and a burly warrior appeared in the +opening—a hulking fellow, with thick lips and an evil, leering face. +The slave girl sprang to her feet, facing him. +</P> + +<P> +"What does this mean, E-Med?" she cried, "was it not the will of A-Kor +that this woman be not disturbed?" +</P> + +<P> +"The will of A-Kor, indeed!" and the man sneered. "The will of A-Kor is +without power in The Towers of Jetan, or elsewhere, for A-Kor lies now +in the pits of O-Tar, and E-Med is dwar of the Towers." +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium saw the face of the slave girl pale and the terror in +her eyes. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +GHEK PLAYS PRANKS +</H3> + +<P> +While Tara of Helium was being led to The Towers of Jetan, Ghek was +escorted to the pits beneath the palace where he was imprisoned in a +dimly-lighted chamber. Here he found a bench and a table standing upon +the dirt floor near the wall, and set in the wall several rings from +which depended short lengths of chain. At the base of the walls were +several holes in the dirt floor. These, alone, of the several things he +saw, interested him. Ghek sat down upon the bench and waited in +silence, listening. Presently the lights were extinguished. If Ghek +could have smiled he would have then, for Ghek could see as well in the +dark as in the light—better, perhaps. He watched the dark openings of +the holes in the floor and waited. Presently he detected a change in +the air about him—it grew heavy with a strange odor, and once again +might Ghek have smiled, could he have smiled. +</P> + +<P> +Let them replace all the air in the chamber with their most deadly +fumes; it would be all the same to Ghek, the kaldane, who, having no +lungs, required no air. With the rykor it might be different. Deprived +of air it would die; but if only a sufficient amount of the gas was +introduced to stupefy an ordinary creature it would have no effect upon +the rykor, who had no objective mind to overcome. So long as the excess +of carbon dioxide in the blood was not sufficient to prevent heart +action, the rykor would suffer only a diminution of vitality; but would +still respond to the exciting agency of the kaldane's brain. +</P> + +<P> +Ghek caused the rykor to assume a sitting position with its back +against the wall where it might remain without direction from his +brain. Then he released his contact with its spinal cord; but remained +in position upon its shoulders, waiting and watching, for the kaldane's +curiosity was aroused. He had not long to wait before the lights were +flashed on and one of the locked doors opened to admit a half-dozen +warriors. They approached him rapidly and worked quickly. First they +removed all his weapons and then, snapping a fetter about one of the +rykor's ankles, secured him to the end of one of the chains hanging +from the walls. Next they dragged the long table to a new position and +there bolted it to the floor so that an end, instead of the middle, was +directly before the prisoner. On the table before him they set food and +water and upon the opposite end of the table they laid the key to the +fetter. Then they unlocked and opened all the doors and departed. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +When Turan the panthan regained consciousness it was to the realization +of a sharp pain in one of his forearms. The effects of the gas departed +as rapidly as they had overcome him so that as he opened his eyes he +was in full possession of all his faculties. The lights were on again +and in their glow there was revealed to the man the figure of a giant +Martian rat crouching upon the table and gnawing upon his arm. +Snatching his arm away he reached for his short-sword, while the rat, +growling, sought to seize his arm again. It was then that Turan +discovered that his weapons had been removed—short-sword, long-sword, +dagger, and pistol. The rat charged him then and striking the creature +away with his hand the man rose and backed off, searching for something +with which to strike a harder blow. Again the rat charged and as Turan +stepped quickly back to avoid the menacing jaws, something seemed to +jerk suddenly upon his right ankle, and as he drew his left foot back +to regain his equilibrium his heel caught upon a taut chain and he fell +heavily backward to the floor just as the rat leaped upon his breast +and sought his throat. +</P> + +<P> +The Martian rat is a fierce and unlovely thing. It is many-legged and +hairless, its hide resembling that of a newborn mouse in repulsiveness. +In size and weight it is comparable to a large Airedale terrier. Its +eyes are small and close-set, and almost hidden in deep, fleshy +apertures. But its most ferocious and repulsive feature is its jaws, +the entire bony structure of which protrudes several inches beyond the +flesh, revealing five sharp, spadelike teeth in the upper jaw and the +same number of similar teeth in the lower, the whole suggesting the +appearance of a rotting face from which much of the flesh has sloughed +away. +</P> + +<P> +It was such a thing that leaped upon the breast of the panthan to tear +at his jugular. Twice Turan struck it away as he sought to regain his +feet, but both times it returned with increased ferocity to renew the +attack. Its only weapons are its jaws since its broad, splay feet are +armed with blunt talons. With its protruding jaws it excavates its +winding burrows and with its broad feet it pushes the dirt behind it. +To keep the jaws from his flesh then was Turan's only concern and this +he succeeded in doing until chance gave him a hold upon the creature's +throat. After that the end was but a matter of moments. Rising at last +he flung the lifeless thing from him with a shudder of disgust. +</P> + +<P> +Now he turned his attention to a hurried inventory of the new +conditions which surrounded him since the moment of his incarceration. +He realized vaguely what had happened. He had been anaesthetized and +stripped of his weapons, and as he rose to his feet he saw that one +ankle was fettered to a chain in the wall. He looked about the room. +All the doors swung wide open! His captors would render his +imprisonment the more cruel by leaving ever before him tempting +glimpses of open aisles to the freedom he could not attain. Upon the +end of the table and within easy reach was food and drink. This at +least was attainable and at sight of it his starved stomach seemed +almost to cry aloud for sustenance. It was with difficulty that he ate +and drank in moderation. +</P> + +<P> +As he devoured the food his eyes wandered about the confines of his +prison until suddenly they seized upon a thing that lay on the table at +the end farthest from him. It was a key. He raised his fettered ankle +and examined the lock. There could be no doubt of it! The key that lay +there on the table before him was the key to that very lock. A careless +warrior had laid it there and departed, forgetting. +</P> + +<P> +Hope surged high in the breast of Gahan of Gathol, of Turan the +panthan. Furtively his eyes sought the open doorways. There was no one +in sight. Ah, if he could but gain his freedom! He would find some way +from this odious city back to her side and never again would he leave +her until he had won safety for her or death for himself. +</P> + +<P> +He rose and moved cautiously toward the opposite end of the table where +lay the coveted key. The fettered ankle halted his first step, but he +stretched at full length along the table, extending eager fingers +toward the prize. They almost laid hold upon it—a little more and they +would touch it. He strained and stretched, but still the thing lay just +beyond his reach. He hurled himself forward until the iron fetter bit +deep into his flesh, but all futilely. He sat back upon the bench then +and glared at the open doors and the key, realizing now that they were +part of a well-laid scheme of refined torture, none the less +demoralizing because it inflicted no physical suffering. +</P> + +<P> +For just a moment the man gave way to useless regret and foreboding, +then he gathered himself together, his brows cleared, and he returned +to his unfinished meal. At least they should not have the satisfaction +of knowing how sorely they had hit him. As he ate it occurred to him +that by dragging the table along the floor he could bring the key +within his reach, but when he essayed to do so, he found that the table +had been securely bolted to the floor during the period of his +unconsciousness. Again Gahan smiled and shrugged and resumed his eating. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +When the warriors had departed from the prison in which Ghek was +confined, the kaldane crawled from the shoulders of the rykor to the +table. Here he drank a little water and then directed the hands of the +rykor to the balance of it and to the food, upon which the brainless +thing fell with avidity. While it was thus engaged Ghek took his +spider-like way along the table to the opposite end where lay the key +to the fetter. Seizing it in a chela he leaped to the floor and +scurried rapidly toward the mouth of one of the burrows against the +wall, into which he disappeared. For long had the brain been +contemplating these burrow entrances. They appealed to his kaldanean +tastes, and further, they pointed a hiding place for the key and a lair +for the only kind of food that the kaldane relished—flesh and blood. +</P> + +<P> +Ghek had never seen an ulsio, since these great Martian rats had long +ago disappeared from Bantoom, their flesh and blood having been greatly +relished by the kaldanes; but Ghek had inherited, almost unimpaired, +every memory of every ancestor, and so he knew that ulsio inhabited +these lairs and that ulsio was good to eat, and he knew what ulsio +looked like and what his habits were, though he had never seen him nor +any picture of him. As we breed animals for the transmission of +physical attributes, so the Kaldanes breed themselves for the +transmission of attributes of the mind, including memory and the power +of recollection, and thus have they raised what we term instinct, above +the level of the threshold of the objective mind where it may be +commanded and utilized by recollection. Doubtless in our own subjective +minds lie many of the impressions and experiences of our forebears. +These may impinge upon our consciousness in dreams only, or in vague, +haunting suggestions that we have before experienced some transient +phase of our present existence. Ah, if we had but the power to recall +them! Before us would unfold the forgotten story of the lost eons that +have preceded us. We might even walk with God in the garden of His +stars while man was still but a budding idea within His mind. +</P> + +<P> +Ghek descended into the burrow at a steep incline for some ten feet, +when he found himself in an elaborate and delightful network of +burrows! The kaldane was elated. This indeed was life! He moved rapidly +and fearlessly and he went as straight to his goal as you could to the +kitchen of your own home. This goal lay at a low level in a spheroidal +cavity about the size of a large barrel. Here, in a nest of torn bits +of silk and fur lay six baby ulsios. +</P> + +<P> +When the mother returned there were but five babies and a great +spider-like creature, which she immediately sprang to attack only to be +met by powerful chelae which seized and held her so that she could not +move. Slowly they dragged her throat toward a hideous mouth and in a +little moment she was dead. +</P> + +<P> +Ghek might have remained in the nest for a long time, since there was +ample food for many days; but he did not do so. Instead he explored the +burrows. He followed them into many subterranean chambers of the city +of Manator, and upward through walls to rooms above the ground. He +found many ingeniously devised traps, and he found poisoned food and +other signs of the constant battle that the inhabitants of Manator +waged against these repulsive creatures that dwelt beneath their homes +and public buildings. +</P> + +<P> +His exploration revealed not only the vast proportions of the network +of runways that apparently traversed every portion of the city, but the +great antiquity of the majority of them. Tons upon tons of dirt must +have been removed, and for a long time he wondered where it had been +deposited, until in following downward a tunnel of great size and +length he sensed before him the thunderous rush of subterranean waters, +and presently came to the bank of a great, underground river, tumbling +onward, no doubt, the length of a world to the buried sea of Omean. +Into this torrential sewer had unthinkable generations of ulsios pushed +their few handsful of dirt in the excavating of their vast labyrinth. +</P> + +<P> +For only a moment did Ghek tarry by the river, for his seemingly +aimless wanderings were in reality prompted by a definite purpose, and +this he pursued with vigor and singleness of design. He followed such +runways as appeared to terminate in the pits or other chambers of the +inhabitants of the city, and these he explored, usually from the safety +of a burrow's mouth, until satisfied that what he sought was not there. +He moved swiftly upon his spider legs and covered remarkable distances +in short periods of time. +</P> + +<P> +His search not being rewarded with immediate success, he decided to +return to the pit where his rykor lay chained and look to its wants. As +he approached the end of the burrow that terminated in the pit he +slackened his pace, stopping just within the entrance of the runway +that he might scan the interior of the chamber before entering it. As +he did so he saw the figure of a warrior appear suddenly in an opposite +doorway. The rykor sprawled upon the table, his hands groping blindly +for more food. Ghek saw the warrior pause and gaze in sudden +astonishment at the rykor; he saw the fellow's eyes go wide and an +ashen hue replace the copper bronze of his cheek. He stepped back as +though someone had struck him in the face. For an instant only he stood +thus as in a paralysis of fear, then he uttered a smothered shriek and +turned and fled. Again was it a catastrophe that Ghek, the kaldane, +could not smile. +</P> + +<P> +Quickly entering the room he crawled to the table top and affixed +himself to the shoulders of his rykor, and there he waited; and who may +say that Ghek, though he could not smile, possessed not a sense of +humor? For a half-hour he sat there, and then there came to him the +sound of men approaching along corridors of stone. He could hear their +arms clank against the rocky walls and he knew that they came at a +rapid pace; but just before they reached the entrance to his prison +they paused and advanced more slowly. In the lead was an officer, and +just behind him, wide-eyed and perhaps still a little ashen, the +warrior who had so recently departed in haste. At the doorway they +halted and the officer turned sternly upon the warrior. With upraised +finger he pointed at Ghek. +</P> + +<P> +"There sits the creature! Didst thou dare lie, then, to thy dwar?" +</P> + +<P> +"I swear," cried the warrior, "that I spoke the truth. But a moment +since the thing groveled, headless, upon this very table! And may my +first ancestor strike me dead upon the spot if I speak other than a +true word!" +</P> + +<P> +The officer looked puzzled. The men of Mars seldom if ever lie. He +scratched his head. Then he addressed Ghek. "How long have you been +here?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Who knows better than those who placed me here and chained me to a +wall?" he returned in reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Saw you this warrior enter here a few minutes since?" +</P> + +<P> +"I saw him," replied Ghek. +</P> + +<P> +"And you sat there where you sit now?" continued the officer. +</P> + +<P> +"Look thou to my chain and tell me then where else might I sit!" cried +Ghek. "Art the people of thy city all fools?" +</P> + +<P> +Three other warriors pressed behind the two in front, craning their +necks to view the prisoner while they grinned at the discomfiture of +their fellow. The officer scowled at Ghek. +</P> + +<P> +"Thy tongue is as venomous as that of the she-banth O-Tar sent to The +Towers of Jetan," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"You speak of the young woman who was captured with me?" asked Ghek, +his expressionless monotone and face revealing naught of the interest +he felt. +</P> + +<P> +"I speak of her," replied the dwar, and then turning to the warrior who +had summoned him: "return to thy quarters and remain there until the +next games. Perhaps by that time thy eyes may have learned not to +deceive thee." +</P> + +<P> +The fellow cast a venomous glance at Ghek and turned away. The officer +shook his head. "I do not understand it," he muttered. "Always has +U-Van been a true and dependable warrior. Could it be—?" he glanced +piercingly at Ghek. "Thou hast a strange head that misfits thy body, +fellow," he cried. "Our legends tell us of those ancient creatures that +placed hallucinations upon the mind of their fellows. If thou be such +then maybe U-Van suffered from thy forbidden powers. If thou be such +O-Tar will know well how to deal with thee." He wheeled about and +motioned his warriors to follow him. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait!" cried Ghek. "Unless I am to be starved, send me food." +</P> + +<P> +"You have had food," replied the warrior. +</P> + +<P> +"Am I to be fed but once a day?" asked Ghek. "I require food oftener +than that. Send me food." +</P> + +<P> +"You shall have food," replied the officer. "None may say that the +prisoners of Manator are ill-fed. Just are the laws of Manator," and he +departed. +</P> + +<P> +No sooner had the sounds of their passing died away in the distance +than Ghek clambered from the shoulders of his rykor, and scurried to +the burrow where he had hidden the key. Fetching it he unlocked the +fetter from about the creature's ankle, locked it empty and carried the +key farther down into the burrow. Then he returned to his place upon +his brainless servitor. After a while he heard footsteps approaching, +whereupon he rose and passed into another corridor from that down which +he knew the warrior was coming. Here he waited out of sight, listening. +He heard the man enter the chamber and halt. He heard a muttered +exclamation, followed by the jangle of metal dishes as a salver was +slammed upon a table; then rapidly retreating footsteps, which quickly +died away in the distance. +</P> + +<P> +Ghek lost no time in returning to the chamber, recovering the key, +relocking the rykor to his chain. Then he replaced the key in the +burrow and squatting on the table beside his headless body, directed +its hands toward the food. While the rykor ate Ghek sat listening for +the scraping sandals and clattering arms that he knew soon would come. +Nor had he long to wait. Ghek scrambled to the shoulders of his rykor +as he heard them coming. Again it was the officer who had been summoned +by U-Van and with him were three warriors. The one directly behind him +was evidently the same who had brought the food, for his eyes went wide +when he saw Ghek sitting at the table and he looked very foolish as the +dwar turned his stern glance upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"It is even as I said," he cried. "He was not here when I brought his +food." +</P> + +<P> +"But he is here now," said the officer grimly, "and his fetter is +locked about his ankle. Look! it has not been opened—but where is the +key? It should be upon the table at the end opposite him. Where is the +key, creature?" he shouted at Ghek. +</P> + +<P> +"How should I, a prisoner, know better than my jailer the whereabouts +of the key to my fetters?" he retorted. +</P> + +<P> +"But it lay here," cried the officer, pointing to the other end of the +table. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see it?" asked Ghek. +</P> + +<P> +The officer hesitated. "No but it must have been there," he parried. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see the key lying there?" asked Ghek, pointing to another +warrior. +</P> + +<P> +The fellow shook his head negatively. "And you? and you?" continued the +kaldane addressing the others. +</P> + +<P> +They both admitted that they never had seen the key. "And if it had +been there how could I have reached it?" he continued. +</P> + +<P> +"No, he could not have reached it," admitted the officer; "but there +shall be no more of this! I-Zav, you will remain here on guard with +this prisoner until you are relieved." +</P> + +<P> +I-Zav looked anything but happy as this intelligence was transmitted to +him, and he eyed Ghek suspiciously as the dwar and the other warriors +turned and left him to his unhappy lot. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A DESPERATE DEED +</H3> + +<P> +E-Med crossed the tower chamber toward Tara of Helium and the slave +girl, Lan-O. He seized the former roughly by a shoulder. "Stand!" he +commanded. Tara struck his hand from her and rising, backed away. +</P> + +<P> +"Lay not your hand upon the person of a princess of Helium, beast!" she +warned. +</P> + +<P> +E-Med laughed. "Think you that I play at jetan for you without first +knowing something of the stake for which I play?" he demanded. "Come +here!" +</P> + +<P> +The girl drew herself to her full height, folding her arms across her +breast, nor did E-Med note that the slim fingers of her right hand were +inserted beneath the broad leather strap of her harness where it passed +over her left shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"And O-Tar learns of this you shall rue it, E-Med," cried the slave +girl; "there be no law in Manator that gives you this girl before you +shall have won her fairly." +</P> + +<P> +"What cares O-Tar for her fate?" replied E-Med. "Have I not heard? Did +she not flout the great jeddak, heaping abuse upon him? By my first +ancestor, I think O-Tar might make a jed of the man who subdued her," +and again he advanced toward Tara. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait!" said the girl in low, even tone. "Perhaps you know not what you +do. Sacred to the people of Helium are the persons of the women of +Helium. For the honor of the humblest of them would the great jeddak +himself unsheathe his sword. The greatest nations of Barsoom have +trembled to the thunders of war in defense of the person of Dejah +Thoris, my mother. We are but mortal and so may die; but we may not be +defiled. You may play at jetan for a princess of Helium, but though you +may win the match, never may you claim the reward. If thou wouldst +possess a dead body press me too far, but know, man of Manator, that +the blood of The Warlord flows not in the veins of Tara of Helium for +naught. I have spoken." +</P> + +<P> +"I know naught of Helium and O-Tar is our warlord," replied E-Med; "but +I do know that I would examine more closely the prize that I shall play +for and win. I would test the lips of her who is to be my slave after +the next games; nor is it well, woman, to drive me too far to anger." +His eyes narrowed as he spoke, his visage taking on the semblance of +that of a snarling beast. "If you doubt the truth of my words ask +Lan-O, the slave girl." +</P> + +<P> +"He speaks truly, O woman of Helium," interjected Lan-O. "Try not the +temper of E-Med, if you value your life." +</P> + +<P> +But Tara of Helium made no reply. Already had she spoken. She stood in +silence now facing the burly warrior who approached her. He came close +and then quite suddenly he seized her and, bending, tried to draw her +lips to his. +</P> + +<P> +Lan-O saw the woman from Helium half turn, and with a quick movement +jerk her right hand from where it had lain upon her breast. She saw the +hand shoot from beneath the arm of E-Med and rise behind his shoulder +and she saw in the hand a long, slim blade. The lips of the warrior +were drawing closer to those of the woman, but they never touched them, +for suddenly the man straightened, stiffly, a shriek upon his lips, and +then he crumpled like an empty fur and lay, a shrunken heap, upon the +floor. Tara of Helium stooped and wiped her blade upon his harness. +</P> + +<P> +Lan-O, wide-eyed, looked with horror upon the corpse. "For this we +shall both die," she cried. +</P> + +<P> +"And who would live a slave in Manator?" asked Tara of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not so brave as thou," said the slave girl, "and life is sweet +and there is always hope." +</P> + +<P> +"Life is sweet," agreed Tara of Helium, "but honor is sacred. But do +not fear. When they come I shall tell them the truth—that you had no +hand in this and no opportunity to prevent it." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment the slave girl seemed to be thinking deeply. Suddenly her +eyes lighted. "There is a way, perhaps," she said, "to turn suspicion +from us. He has the key to this chamber upon him. Let us open the door +and drag him out—maybe we shall find a place to hide him." +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" exclaimed Tara of Helium, and the two immediately set about the +matter Lan-O had suggested. Quickly they found the key and unlatched +the door and then, between them, they half carried, half dragged, the +corpse of E-Med from the room and down the stairway to the next level +where Lan-O said there were vacant chambers. The first door they tried +was unlatched, and through this the two bore their grisly burden into a +small room lighted by a single window. The apartment bore evidence of +having been utilized as a living-room rather than as a cell, being +furnished with a degree of comfort and even luxury. The walls were +paneled to a height of about seven feet from the floor, while the +plaster above and the ceiling were decorated with faded paintings of +another day. +</P> + +<P> +As Tara's eyes ran quickly over the interior her attention was drawn to +a section of paneling that seemed to be separated at one edge from the +piece next adjoining it. Quickly she crossed to it, discovering that +one vertical edge of an entire panel projected a half-inch beyond the +others. There was a possible explanation which piqued her curiosity, +and acting upon its suggestion she seized upon the projecting edge and +pulled outward. Slowly the panel swung toward her, revealing a dark +aperture in the wall behind. +</P> + +<P> +"Look, Lan-O!" she cried. "See what I have found—a hole in which we +may hide the thing upon the floor." +</P> + +<P> +Lan-O joined her and together the two investigated the dark aperture, +finding a small platform from which a narrow runway led downward into +Stygian darkness. Thick dust covered the floor within the doorway, +indicating that a great period of time had elapsed since human foot had +trod it—a secret way, doubtless, unknown to living Manatorians. Here +they dragged the corpse of E-Med, leaving it upon the platform, and as +they left the dark and forbidden closet Lan-O would have slammed to the +panel had not Tara prevented. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait!" she said, and fell to examining the door frame and the stile. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurry!" whispered the slave girl. "If they come we are lost." +</P> + +<P> +"It may serve us well to know how to open this place again," replied +Tara of Helium, and then suddenly she pressed a foot against a section +of the carved base at the right of the open panel. "Ah!" she breathed, +a note of satisfaction in her tone, and closed the panel until it +fitted snugly in its place. "Come!" she said and turned toward the +outer doorway of the chamber. +</P> + +<P> +They reached their own cell without detection, and closing the door +Tara locked it from the inside and placed the key in a secret pocket in +her harness. +</P> + +<P> +"Let them come," she said. "Let them question us! What could two poor +prisoners know of the whereabouts of their noble jailer? I ask you, +Lan-O, what could they?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing," admitted Lan-O, smiling with her companion. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me of these men of Manator," said Tara presently. "Are they all +like E-Med, or are some of them like A-Kor, who seemed a brave and +chivalrous character?" +</P> + +<P> +"They are not unlike the peoples of other countries," replied Lan-O. +"There be among them both good and bad. They are brave warriors and +mighty. Among themselves they are not without chivalry and honor, but +in their dealings with strangers they know but one law—the law of +might. The weak and unfortunate of other lands fill them with contempt +and arouse all that is worst in their natures, which doubtless accounts +for their treatment of us, their slaves." +</P> + +<P> +"But why should they feel contempt for those who have suffered the +misfortune of falling into their hands?" queried Tara. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know," said Lan-O; "A-Kor says that he believes that it is +because their country has never been invaded by a victorious foe. In +their stealthy raids never have they been defeated, because they have +never waited to face a powerful force; and so they have come to believe +themselves invincible, and the other peoples are held in contempt as +inferior in valor and the practice of arms." +</P> + +<P> +"Yet A-Kor is one of them," said Tara. +</P> + +<P> +"He is a son of O-Tar, the jeddak," replied Lan-O; "but his mother was +a high born Gatholian, captured and made slave by O-Tar, and A-Kor +boasts that in his veins runs only the blood of his mother, and indeed +is he different from the others. His chivalry is of a gentler form, +though not even his worst enemy has dared question his courage, while +his skill with the sword, and the spear, and the thoat is famous +throughout the length and breadth of Manator." +</P> + +<P> +"What think you they will do with him?" asked Tara of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +"Sentence him to the games," replied Lan-O. "If O-Tar be not greatly +angered he may be sentenced to but a single game, in which case he may +come out alive; but if O-Tar wishes really to dispose of him he will be +sentenced to the entire series, and no warrior has ever survived the +full ten, or rather none who was under a sentence from O-Tar." +</P> + +<P> +"What are the games? I do not understand," said Tara "I have heard them +speak of playing at jetan, but surely no one can be killed at jetan. We +play it often at home." +</P> + +<P> +"But not as they play it in the arena at Manator," replied Lan-O. "Come +to the window," and together the two approached an aperture facing +toward the east. +</P> + +<P> +Below her Tara of Helium saw a great field entirely surrounded by the +low building, and the lofty towers of which that in which she was +imprisoned was but a unit. About the arena were tiers of seats; but the +thing that caught her attention was a gigantic jetan board laid out +upon the floor of the arena in great squares of alternate orange and +black. +</P> + +<P> +"Here they play at jetan with living pieces. They play for great stakes +and usually for a woman—some slave of exceptional beauty. O-Tar +himself might have played for you had you not angered him, but now you +will be played for in an open game by slaves and criminals, and you +will belong to the side that wins—not to a single warrior, but to all +who survive the game." +</P> + +<P> +The eyes of Tara of Helium flashed, but she made no comment. +</P> + +<P> +"Those who direct the play do not necessarily take part in it," +continued the slave girl, "but sit in those two great thrones which you +see at either end of the board and direct their pieces from square to +square." +</P> + +<P> +"But where lies the danger?" asked Tara of Helium. "If a piece be taken +it is merely removed from the board—this is a rule of jetan as old +almost as the civilization of Barsoom." +</P> + +<P> +"But here in Manator, when they play in the great arena with living +men, that rule is altered," explained Lan-O. "When a warrior is moved +to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the two battle to the death +for possession of the square and the one that is successful advantages +by the move. Each is caparisoned to simulate the piece he represents +and in addition he wears that which indicates whether he be slave, a +warrior serving a sentence, or a volunteer. If serving a sentence the +number of games he must play is also indicated, and thus the one +directing the moves knows which pieces to risk and which to conserve, +and further than this, a man's chances are affected by the position +that is assigned him for the game. Those whom they wish to die are +always Panthans in the game, for the Panthan has the least chance of +surviving." +</P> + +<P> +"Do those who direct the play ever actually take part in it?" asked +Tara. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes," said Lan-O. "Often when two warriors, even of the highest +class, hold a grievance against one another O-Tar compels them to +settle it upon the arena. Then it is that they take active part and +with drawn swords direct their own players from the position of Chief. +They pick their own players, usually the best of their own warriors and +slaves, if they be powerful men who possess such, or their friends may +volunteer, or they may obtain prisoners from the pits. These are games +indeed—the very best that are seen. Often the great chiefs themselves +are slain." +</P> + +<P> +"It is within this amphitheater that the justice of Manator is meted, +then?" asked Tara. +</P> + +<P> +"Very largely," replied Lan-O. +</P> + +<P> +"How, then, through such justice, could a prisoner win his liberty?" +continued the girl from Helium. +</P> + +<P> +"If a man, and he survived ten games his liberty would be his," replied +Lan-O. +</P> + +<P> +"But none ever survives?" queried Tara. "And if a woman?" +</P> + +<P> +"No stranger within the gates of Manator ever has survived ten games," +replied the slave girl. "They are permitted to offer themselves into +perpetual slavery if they prefer that to fighting at jetan. Of course +they may be called upon, as any warrior, to take part in a game, but +their chances then of surviving are increased, since they may never +again have the chance of winning to liberty." +</P> + +<P> +"But a woman," insisted Tara; "how may a woman win her freedom?" +</P> + +<P> +Lan-O laughed. "Very simply," she cried, derisively. "She has but to +find a warrior who will fight through ten consecutive games for her and +survive." +</P> + +<P> +"'Just are the laws of Manator,'" quoted Tara, scornfully. +</P> + +<P> +Then it was that they heard footsteps outside their cell and a moment +later a key turned in the lock and the door opened. A warrior faced +them. +</P> + +<P> +"Hast seen E-Med the dwar?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Tara, "he was here some time ago." +</P> + +<P> +The man glanced quickly about the bare chamber and then searchingly +first at Tara of Helium and then at the slave girl, Lan-O. The puzzled +expression upon his face increased. He scratched his head. "It is +strange," he said. "A score of men saw him ascend into this tower; and +though there is but a single exit, and that well guarded, no man has +seen him pass out." +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium hid a yawn with the back of a shapely hand. "The +Princess of Helium is hungry, fellow," she drawled; "tell your master +that she would eat." +</P> + +<P> +It was an hour later that food was brought, an officer and several +warriors accompanying the bearer. The former examined the room +carefully, but there was no sign that aught amiss had occurred there. +The wound that had sent E-Med the dwar to his ancestors had not bled, +fortunately for Tara of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +"Woman," cried the officer, turning upon Tara, "you were the last to +see E-Med the dwar. Answer me now and answer me truthfully. Did you see +him leave this room?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did," answered Tara of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +"Where did he go from here?" +</P> + +<P> +"How should I know? Think you that I can pass through a locked door of +skeel?" the girl's tone was scornful. +</P> + +<P> +"Of that we do not know," said the officer. "Strange things have +happened in the cell of your companion in the pits of Manator. Perhaps +you could pass through a locked door of skeel as easily as he performs +seemingly more impossible feats." +</P> + +<P> +"Whom do you mean," she cried; "Turan the panthan? He lives, then? Tell +me, is he here in Manator unharmed?" +</P> + +<P> +"I speak of that thing which calls itself Ghek the kaldane," replied +the officer. +</P> + +<P> +"But Turan! Tell me, padwar, have you heard aught of him?" Tara's tone +was insistent and she leaned a little forward toward the officer, her +lips slightly parted in expectancy. +</P> + +<P> +Into the eyes of the slave girl, Lan-O, who was watching her, there +crept a soft light of understanding; but the officer ignored Tara's +question—what was the fate of another slave to him? "Men do not +disappear into thin air," he growled, "and if E-Med be not found soon +O-Tar himself may take a hand in this. I warn you, woman, if you be one +of those horrid Corphals that by commanding the spirits of the wicked +dead gains evil mastery over the living, as many now believe the thing +called Ghek to be, that lest you return E-Med, O-Tar will have no mercy +on you." +</P> + +<P> +"What foolishness is this?" cried the girl. "I am a princess of Helium, +as I have told you all a score of times. Even if the fabled Corphals +existed, as none but the most ignorant now believes, the lore of the +ancients tells us that they entered only into the bodies of wicked +criminals of the lowest class. Man of Manator, thou art a fool, and thy +jeddak and all his people," and she turned her royal back upon the +padwar, and gazed through the window across the Field of Jetan and the +roofs of Manator through the low hills and the rolling country and +freedom. +</P> + +<P> +"And you know so much of Corphals, then," he cried, "you know that +while no common man dare harm them they may be slain by the hand of a +jeddak with impunity!" +</P> + +<P> +The girl did not reply, nor would she speak again, for all his threats +and rage, for she knew now that none in all Manator dared harm her save +O-Tar, the jeddak, and after a while the padwar left, taking his men +with him. And after they had gone Tara stood for long looking out upon +the city of Manator, and wondering what more of cruel wrongs Fate held +in store for her. She was standing thus in silent meditation when there +rose to her the strains of martial music from the city below—the deep, +mellow tones of the long war trumpets of mounted troops, the clear, +ringing notes of foot-soldiers' music. The girl raised her head and +looked about, listening, and Lan-O, standing at an opposite window, +looking toward the west, motioned Tara to join her. Now they could see +across roofs and avenues to The Gate of Enemies, through which troops +were marching into the city. +</P> + +<P> +"The Great Jed is coming," said Lan-O, "none other dares enter thus, +with blaring trumpets, the city of Manator. It is U-Thor, Jed of +Manatos, second city of Manator. They call him The Great Jed the length +and breadth of Manator, and because the people love him, O-Tar hates +him. They say, who know, that it would need but slight provocation to +inflame the two to war. How such a war would end no one could guess; +for the people of Manator worship the great O-Tar, though they do not +love him. U-Thor they love, but he is not the jeddak," and Tara +understood, as only a Martian may, how much that simple statement +encompassed. +</P> + +<P> +The loyalty of a Martian to his jeddak is almost an instinct, and +second not even to the instinct of self-preservation at that. Nor is +this strange in a race whose religion includes ancestor worship, and +where families trace their origin back into remote ages and a jeddak +sits upon the same throne that his direct progenitors have occupied +for, perhaps, hundreds of thousands of years, and rules the descendants +of the same people that his forebears ruled. Wicked jeddaks have been +dethroned, but seldom are they replaced by other than members of the +imperial house, even though the law gives to the jeds the right to +select whom they please. +</P> + +<P> +"U-Thor is a just man and good, then?" asked Tara of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +"There be none nobler," replied Lan-O. "In Manatos none but wicked +criminals who deserve death are forced to play at jetan, and even then +the play is fair and they have their chance for freedom. Volunteers may +play, but the moves are not necessarily to the death—a wound, and even +sometimes points in swordplay, deciding the issue. There they look upon +jetan as a martial sport—here it is but butchery. And U-Thor is +opposed to the ancient slave raids and to the policy that keeps Manator +forever isolated from the other nations of Barsoom; but U-Thor is not +jeddak and so there is no change." +</P> + +<P> +The two girls watched the column moving up the broad avenue from The +Gate of Enemies toward the palace of O-Tar. A gorgeous, barbaric +procession of painted warriors in jewel-studded harness and waving +feathers; vicious, squealing thoats caparisoned in rich trappings; far +above their heads the long lances of their riders bore fluttering +pennons; foot-soldiers swinging easily along the stone pavement, their +sandals of zitidar hide giving forth no sound; and at the rear of each +utan a train of painted chariots, drawn by mammoth zitidars, carrying +the equipment of the company to which they were attached. Utan after +utan entered through the great gate, and even when the head of the +column reached the palace of O-Tar they were not all within the city. +</P> + +<P> +"I have been here many years," said the girl, Lan-O; "but never have I +seen even The Great Jed bring so many fighting men into the city of +Manator." +</P> + +<P> +Through half-closed eyes Tara of Helium watched the warriors marching +up the broad avenue, trying to imagine them the fighting men of her +beloved Helium coming to the rescue of their princess. That splendid +figure upon the great thoat might be John Carter, himself, Warlord of +Barsoom, and behind him utan after utan of the veterans of the empire, +and then the girl opened her eyes again and saw the host of painted, +befeathered barbarians, and sighed. But yet she watched, fascinated by +the martial scene, and now she noted again the groups of silent figures +upon the balconies. No waving silks; no cries of welcome; no showers of +flowers and jewels such as would have marked the entry of such a +splendid, friendly pageant into the twin cities of her birth. +</P> + +<P> +"The people do not seem friendly to the warriors of Manatos," she +remarked to Lan-O; "I have not seen a single welcoming sign from the +people on the balconies." +</P> + +<P> +The slave girl looked at her in surprise. "It cannot be that you do not +know!" she exclaimed. "Why, they are—" but she got no further. The +door swung open and an officer stood before them. +</P> + +<P> +"The slave girl, Tara, is summoned to the presence of O-Tar, the +jeddak!" he announced. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AT GHEK'S COMMAND +</H3> + +<P> +Turan the panthan chafed in his chains. Time dragged; silence and +monotony prolonged minutes into hours. Uncertainty of the fate of the +woman he loved turned each hour into an eternity of hell. He listened +impatiently for the sound of approaching footsteps that he might see +and speak to some living creature and learn, perchance, some word of +Tara of Helium. After torturing hours his ears were rewarded by the +rattle of harness and arms. Men were coming! He waited breathlessly. +Perhaps they were his executioners; but he would welcome them +notwithstanding. He would question them. But if they knew naught of +Tara he would not divulge the location of the hiding place in which he +had left her. +</P> + +<P> +Now they came—a half-dozen warriors and an officer, escorting an +unarmed man; a prisoner, doubtless. Of this Turan was not left long in +doubt, since they brought the newcomer and chained him to an adjoining +ring. Immediately the panthan commenced to question the officer in +charge of the guard. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me," he demanded, "why I have been made prisoner, and if other +strangers were captured since I entered your city." +</P> + +<P> +"What other prisoners?" asked the officer. +</P> + +<P> +"A woman, and a man with a strange head," replied Turan. +</P> + +<P> +"It is possible," said the officer; "but what were their names?" +</P> + +<P> +"The woman was Tara, Princess of Helium, and the man was Ghek, a +kaldane, of Bantoom." +</P> + +<P> +"These were your friends?" asked the officer. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Turan. +</P> + +<P> +"It is what I would know," said the officer, and with a curt command to +his men to follow him he turned and left the cell. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me of them!" cried Turan after him. "Tell me of Tara of Helium! +Is she safe?" but the man did not answer and soon the sound of their +departure died in the distance. +</P> + +<P> +"Tara of Helium was safe, but a short time since," said the prisoner +chained at Turan's side. +</P> + +<P> +The panthan turned toward the speaker, seeing a large man, handsome of +face and with a manner both stately and dignified. "You have seen her?" +he asked. "They captured her then? She is in danger?" +</P> + +<P> +"She is being held in The Towers of Jetan as a prize for the next +games," replied the stranger. +</P> + +<P> +"And who are you?" asked Turan. "And why are you here, a prisoner?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am A-Kor the dwar, keeper of The Towers of Jetan," replied the +other. "I am here because I dared speak the truth of O-Tar the jeddak, +to one of his officers." +</P> + +<P> +"And your punishment?" asked Turan. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know. O-Tar has not yet spoken. Doubtless the games—perhaps +the full ten, for O-Tar does not love A-Kor, his son." +</P> + +<P> +"You are the jeddak's son?" asked Turan. +</P> + +<P> +"I am the son of O-Tar and of a slave, Haja of Gathol, who was a +princess in her own land." +</P> + +<P> +Turan looked searchingly at the speaker. A son of Haja of Gathol! A son +of his mother's sister, this man, then, was his own cousin. Well did +Gahan remember the mysterious disappearance of the Princess Haja and an +entire utan of her personal troops. She had been upon a visit far from +the city of Gathol and returning home had vanished with her whole +escort from the sight of man. So this was the secret of the seeming +mystery? Doubtless it explained many other similar disappearances that +extended nearly as far back as the history of Gathol. Turan scrutinized +his companion, discovering many evidences of resemblance to his +mother's people. A-Kor might have been ten years younger than he, but +such differences in age are scarce accounted among a people who seldom +or never age outwardly after maturity and whose span of life may be a +thousand years. +</P> + +<P> +"And where lies Gathol?" asked Turan. +</P> + +<P> +"Almost due east of Manator," replied A-Kor. +</P> + +<P> +"And how far?" +</P> + +<P> +"Some twenty-one degrees it is from the city of Manator to the city of +Gathol," replied A-Kor; "but little more than ten degrees between the +boundaries of the two countries. Between them, though, there lies a +country of torn rocks and yawning chasms." +</P> + +<P> +Well did Gahan know this country that bordered his upon the west—even +the ships of the air avoided it because of the treacherous currents +that rose from the deep chasms, and the almost total absence of safe +landings. He knew now where Manator lay and for the first time in long +weeks the way to his own Gathol, and here was a man, a fellow prisoner, +in whose veins flowed the blood of his own ancestors—a man who knew +Manator; its people, its customs and the country surrounding it—one +who could aid him, with advice at least, to find a plan for the rescue +of Tara of Helium and for escape. But would A-Kor—could he dare broach +the subject? He could do no less than try. +</P> + +<P> +"And O-Tar you think will sentence you to death?" he asked; "and why?" +</P> + +<P> +"He would like to," replied A-Kor, "for the people chafe beneath his +iron hand and their loyalty is but the loyalty of a people to the long +line of illustrious jeddaks from which he has sprung. He is a jealous +man and has found the means of disposing of most of those whose blood +might entitle them to a claim upon the throne, and whose place in the +affections of the people endowed them with any political significance. +The fact that I was the son of a slave relegated me to a position of +minor importance in the consideration of O-Tar, yet I am still the son +of a jeddak and might sit upon the throne of Manator with as perfect +congruity as O-Tar himself. Combined with this is the fact that of +recent years the people, and especially many of the younger warriors, +have evinced a growing affection for me, which I attribute to certain +virtues of character and training derived from my mother, but which +O-Tar assumes to be the result of an ambition upon my part to occupy +the throne of Manator. +</P> + +<P> +"And now, I am firmly convinced, he has seized upon my criticism of his +treatment of the slave girl Tara as a pretext for ridding himself of +me." +</P> + +<P> +"But if you could escape and reach Gathol," suggested Turan. +</P> + +<P> +"I have thought of that," mused A-Kor; "but how much better off would I +be? In the eyes of the Gatholians I would be, not a Gatholian; but a +stranger and doubtless they would accord me the same treatment that we +of Manator accord strangers." +</P> + +<P> +"Could you convince them that you are the son of the Princess Haja your +welcome would be assured," said Turan; "while on the other hand you +could purchase your freedom and citizenship with a brief period of +labor in the diamond mines." +</P> + +<P> +"How know you all these things?" asked A-Kor. "I thought you were from +Helium." +</P> + +<P> +"I am a panthan," replied Turan, "and I have served many countries, +among them Gathol." +</P> + +<P> +"It is what the slaves from Gathol have told me," said A-Kor, +thoughtfully, "and my mother, before O-Tar sent her to live at Manatos. +I think he must have feared her power and influence among the slaves +from Gathol and their descendants, who number perhaps a million people +throughout the land of Manator." +</P> + +<P> +"Are these slaves organized?" asked Turan. +</P> + +<P> +A-Kor looked straight into the eyes of the panthan for a long moment +before he replied. "You are a man of honor," he said; "I read it in +your face, and I am seldom mistaken in my estimate of a man; but—" and +he leaned closer to the other—"even the walls have ears," he +whispered, and Turan's question was answered. +</P> + +<P> +It was later in the evening that warriors came and unlocked the fetter +from Turan's ankle and led him away to appear before O-Tar, the jeddak. +They conducted him toward the palace along narrow, winding streets and +broad avenues; but always from the balconies there looked down upon +them in endless ranks the silent people of the city. The palace itself +was filled with life and activity. Mounted warriors galloped through +the corridors and up and down the runways connecting adjacent floors. +It seemed that no one walked within the palace other than a few slaves. +Squealing, fighting thoats were stabled in magnificent halls while +their riders, if not upon some duty of the palace, played at jetan with +small figures carved from wood. +</P> + +<P> +Turan noted the magnificence of the interior architecture of the +palace, the lavish expenditure of precious jewels and metals, the +gorgeous mural decorations which depicted almost exclusively martial +scenes, and principally duels which seemed to be fought upon jetan +boards of heroic size. The capitals of many of the columns supporting +the ceilings of the corridors and chambers through which they passed +were wrought into formal likenesses of jetan pieces—everywhere there +seemed a suggestion of the game. Along the same path that Tara of +Helium had been led Turan was conducted toward the throne room of O-Tar +the jeddak, and when he entered the Hall of Chiefs his interest turned +to wonder and admiration as he viewed the ranks of statuesque thoatmen +decked in their gorgeous, martial panoply. Never, he thought, had he +seen upon Barsoom more soldierly figures or thoats so perfectly trained +to perfection of immobility as these. Not a muscle quivered, not a tail +lashed, and the riders were as motionless as their mounts—each warlike +eye straight to the front, the great spears inclined at the same angle. +It was a picture to fill the breast of a fighting man with awe and +reverence. Nor did it fail in its effect upon Turan as they conducted +him the length of the chamber, where he waited before great doors until +he should be summoned into the presence of the ruler of Manator. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +When Tara of Helium was ushered into the throne room of O-Tar she found +the great hall filled with the chiefs and officers of O-Tar and U-Thor, +the latter occupying the place of honor at the foot of the throne, as +was his due. The girl was conducted to the foot of the aisle and halted +before the jeddak, who looked down upon her from his high throne with +scowling brows and fierce, cruel eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"The laws of Manator are just," said O-Tar, addressing her; "thus is it +that you have been summoned here again to be judged by the highest +authority of Manator. Word has reached me that you are suspected of +being a Corphal. What word have you to say in refutation of the charge?" +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium could scarce restrain a sneer as she answered the +ridiculous accusation of witchcraft. "So ancient is the culture of my +people," she said, "that authentic history reveals no defense for that +which we know existed only in the ignorant and superstitious minds of +the most primitive peoples of the past. To those who are yet so +untutored as to believe in the existence of Corphals, there can be no +argument that will convince them of their error—only long ages of +refinement and culture can accomplish their release from the bondage of +ignorance. I have spoken." +</P> + +<P> +"Yet you do not deny the accusation," said O-Tar. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not worthy the dignity of a denial," she responded haughtily. +</P> + +<P> +"And I were you, woman," said a deep voice at her side, "I should, +nevertheless, deny it." +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium turned to see the eyes of U-Thor, the great jed of +Manatos, upon her. Brave eyes they were, but neither cold nor cruel. +O-Tar rapped impatiently upon the arm of his throne. "U-Thor forgets," +he cried, "that O-Tar is the jeddak." +</P> + +<P> +"U-Thor remembers," replied the jed of Manatos, "that the laws of +Manator permit any who may be accused to have advice and counsel before +their judge." +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium saw that for some reason this man would have assisted +her, and so she acted upon his advice. +</P> + +<P> +"I deny the charge," she said, "I am no Corphal." +</P> + +<P> +"Of that we shall learn," snapped O-Tar. "U-Dor, where are those who +have knowledge of the powers of this woman?" +</P> + +<P> +And U-Dor brought several who recounted the little that was known of +the disappearance of E-Med, and others who told of the capture of Ghek +and Tara, suggesting by deduction that having been found together they +had sufficient in common to make it reasonably certain that one was as +bad as the other, and that, therefore, it remained but to convict one +of them of Corphalism to make certain the guilt of both. And then O-Tar +called for Ghek, and immediately the hideous kaldane was dragged before +him by warriors who could not conceal the fear in which they held this +creature. +</P> + +<P> +"And you!" said O-Tar in cold accusing tones. "Already have I been told +enough of you to warrant me in passing through your heart the jeddak's +steel—of how you stole the brains from the warrior U-Van so that he +thought he saw your headless body still endowed with life; of how you +caused another to believe that you had escaped, making him to see +naught but an empty bench and a blank wall where you had been." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, O-Tar, but that is as nothing!" cried a young padwar who had come +in command of the escort that brought Ghek. "The thing which he did to +I-Zav, here, would prove his guilt alone." +</P> + +<P> +"What did he to the warrior I-Zav?" demanded O-Tar. "Let I-Zav speak!" +</P> + +<P> +The warrior I-Zav, a great fellow of bulging muscles and thick neck, +advanced to the foot of the throne. He was pale and still trembling +visibly as from a nervous shock. +</P> + +<P> +"Let my first ancestor be my witness, O-Tar, that I speak the truth," +he began. "I was left to guard this creature, who sat upon a bench, +shackled to the wall. I stood by the open doorway at the opposite side +of the chamber. He could not reach me, yet, O-Tar, may Iss engulf me if +he did not drag me to him helpless as an unhatched egg. He dragged me +to him, greatest of jeddaks, with his eyes! With his eyes he seized +upon my eyes and dragged me to him and he made me lay my swords and +dagger upon the table and back off into a corner, and still keeping his +eyes upon my eyes his head quitted his body and crawling upon six short +legs it descended to the floor and backed part way into the hole of an +ulsio, but not so far that the eyes were not still upon me and then it +returned with the key to its fetter and after resuming its place upon +its own shoulders it unlocked the fetter and again dragged me across +the room and made me to sit upon the bench where it had been and there +it fastened the fetter about my ankle, and I could do naught for the +power of its eyes and the fact that it wore my two swords and my +dagger. And then the head disappeared down the hole of the ulsio with +the key, and when it returned, it resumed its body and stood guard over +me at the doorway until the padwar came to fetch it hither." +</P> + +<P> +"It is enough!" said O-Tar, sternly. "Both shall receive the jeddak's +steel," and rising from his throne he drew his long sword and descended +the marble steps toward them, while two brawny warriors seized Tara by +either arm and two seized Ghek, holding them facing the naked blade of +the jeddak. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold, just O-Tar!" cried U-Dor. "There be yet another to be judged. +Let us confront him who calls himself Turan with these his fellows +before they die." +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" exclaimed O-Tar, pausing half way down the steps. "Fetch Turan, +the slave!" +</P> + +<P> +When Turan had been brought into the chamber he was placed a little to +Tara's left and a step nearer the throne. O-Tar eyed him menacingly. +</P> + +<P> +"You are Turan," he asked, "friend and companion of these?" +</P> + +<P> +The panthan was about to reply when Tara of Helium spoke. "I know not +this fellow," she said. "Who dares say that he be a friend and +companion of the Princess Tara of Helium?" +</P> + +<P> +Turan and Ghek looked at her in surprise, but at Turan she did not +look, and to Ghek she passed a quick glance of warning, as to say: +"Hold thy peace." +</P> + +<P> +The panthan tried not to fathom her purpose for the head is useless +when the heart usurps its functions, and Turan knew only that the woman +he loved had denied him, and though he tried not even to think it his +foolish heart urged but a single explanation—that she refused to +recognize him lest she be involved in his difficulties. +</P> + +<P> +O-Tar looked first at one and then at another of them; but none of them +spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Were they not captured together?" he asked of U-Dor. +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied the dwar. "He who is called Turan was found seeking +entrance to the city and was enticed to the pits. The following morning +I discovered the other two upon the hill beyond The Gate of Enemies." +</P> + +<P> +"But they are friends and companions," said a young padwar, "for this +Turan inquired of me concerning these two, calling them by name and +saying that they were his friends." +</P> + +<P> +"It is enough," stated O-Tar, "all three shall die," and he took +another step downward from the throne. +</P> + +<P> +"For what shall we die?" asked Ghek. "Your people prate of the just +laws of Manator, and yet you would slay three strangers without telling +them of what crime they are accused." +</P> + +<P> +"He is right," said a deep voice. It was the voice of U-Thor, the great +jed of Manatos. O-Tar looked at him and scowled; but there came voices +from other portions of the chamber seconding the demand for justice. +</P> + +<P> +"Then know, though you shall die anyway," cried O-Tar, "that all three +are convicted of Corphalism and that as only a jeddak may slay such as +you in safety you are about to be honored with the steel of O-Tar." +</P> + +<P> +"Fool!" cried Turan. "Know you not that in the veins of this woman +flows the blood of ten thousand jeddaks—that greater than yours is her +power in her own land? She is Tara, Princess of Helium, +great-granddaughter of Tardos Mors, daughter of John Carter, Warlord of +Barsoom. She cannot be a Corphal. Nor is this creature Ghek, nor am I. +And you would know more, I can prove my right to be heard and to be +believed if I may have word with the Princess Haja of Gathol, whose son +is my fellow prisoner in the pits of O-Tar, his father." +</P> + +<P> +At this U-Thor rose to his feet and faced O-Tar. "What means this?" he +asked. "Speaks the man the truth? Is the son of Haja a prisoner in thy +pits, O-Tar?" +</P> + +<P> +"And what is it to the jed of Manatos who be the prisoners in the pits +of his jeddak?" demanded O-Tar, angrily. +</P> + +<P> +"It is this to the jed of Manatos," replied U-Thor in a voice so low as +to be scarce more than a whisper and yet that was heard the whole +length and breadth of the great throne room of O-Tar, Jeddak of +Manator. "You gave me a slave woman, Haja, who had been a princess in +Gathol, because you feared her influence among the slaves from Gathol. +I have made of her a free woman, and I have married her and made her +thus a princess of Manatos. Her son is my son, O-Tar, and though thou +be my jeddak, I say to you that for any harm that befalls A-Kor you +shall answer to U-Thor of Manatos." +</P> + +<P> +O-Tar looked long at U-Thor, but he made no reply. Then he turned again +to Turan. "If one be a Corphal," he said, "then all of you be Corphals, +and we know well from the things that this creature has done," he +pointed at Ghek, "that he is a Corphal, for no mortal has such powers +as he. And as you are all Corphals you must all die." He took another +step downward, when Ghek spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"These two have no such powers as I," he said. "They are but ordinary, +brainless things such as yourself. I have done all the things that your +poor, ignorant warriors have told you; but this only demonstrates that +I am of a higher order than yourselves, as is indeed the fact. I am a +kaldane, not a Corphal. There is nothing supernatural or mysterious +about me, other than that to the ignorant all things which they cannot +understand are mysterious. Easily might I have eluded your warriors and +escaped your pits; but I remained in the hope that I might help these +two foolish creatures who have not the brains to escape without help. +They befriended me and saved my life. I owe them this debt. Do not slay +them—they are harmless. Slay me if you will. I offer my life if it +will appease your ignorant wrath. I cannot return to Bantoom and so I +might as well die, for there is no pleasure in intercourse with the +feeble intellects that cumber the face of the world outside the valley +of Bantoom." +</P> + +<P> +"Hideous egotist," said O-Tar, "prepare to die and assume not to +dictate to O-Tar the jeddak. He has passed sentence and all three of +you shall feel the jeddak's naked steel. I have spoken!" +</P> + +<P> +He took another step downward and then a strange thing happened. He +paused, his eyes fixed upon the eyes of Ghek. His sword slipped from +nerveless fingers, and still he stood there swaying forward and back. A +jed rose to rush to his side; but Ghek stopped him with a word. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait!" he cried. "The life of your jeddak is in my hands. You believe +me a Corphal and so you believe, too, that only the sword of a jeddak +may slay me, therefore your blades are useless against me. Offer harm +to any one of us, or seek to approach your jeddak until I have spoken, +and he shall sink lifeless to the marble. Release the two prisoners and +let them come to my side—I would speak to them, privately. Quick! do +as I say; I would as lief as not slay O-Tar. I but let him live that I +may gain freedom for my friends—obstruct me and he dies." +</P> + +<P> +The guards fell back, releasing Tara and Turan, who came close to +Ghek's side. +</P> + +<P> +"Do as I tell you and do it quickly," whispered the kaldane. "I cannot +hold this fellow long, nor could I kill him thus. There are many minds +working against mine and presently mine will tire and O-Tar will be +himself again. You must make the best of your opportunity while you +may. Behind the arras that you see hanging in the rear of the throne +above you is a secret opening. From it a corridor leads to the pits of +the palace, where there are storerooms containing food and drink. Few +people go there. From these pits lead others to all parts of the city. +Follow one that runs due west and it will bring you to The Gate of +Enemies. The rest will then lie with you. I can do no more; hurry +before my waning powers fail me—I am not as Luud, who was a king. He +could have held this creature forever. Make haste! Go!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE OLD MAN OF THE PITS +</H3> + +<P> +"I shall not desert you, Ghek," said Tara of Helium, simply. +</P> + +<P> +"Go! Go!" whispered the kaldane. "You can do me no good. Go, or all I +have done is for naught." +</P> + +<P> +Tara shook her head. "I cannot," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"They will slay her," said Ghek to Turan, and the panthan, torn between +loyalty to this strange creature who had offered its life for him, and +love of the woman, hesitated but a moment, then he swept Tara from her +feet and lifting her in his arms leaped up the steps that led to the +throne of Manator. Behind the throne he parted the arras and found the +secret opening. Into this he bore the girl and down a long, narrow +corridor and winding runways that led to lower levels until they came +to the pits of the palace of O-Tar. Here was a labyrinth of passages +and chambers presenting a thousand hiding-places. +</P> + +<P> +As Turan bore Tara up the steps toward the throne a score of warriors +rose as though to rush forward to intercept them. "Stay!" cried Ghek, +"or your jeddak dies," and they halted in their tracks, waiting the +will of this strange, uncanny creature. +</P> + +<P> +Presently Ghek took his eyes from the eyes of O-Tar and the jeddak +shook himself as one who would be rid of a bad dream and straightened +up, half dazed still. +</P> + +<P> +"Look," said Ghek, then, "I have given your jeddak his life, nor have I +harmed one of those whom I might easily have slain when they were in my +power. No harm have I or my friends done in the city of Manator. Why +then should you persecute us? Give us our lives. Give us our liberty." +</P> + +<P> +O-Tar, now in command of his faculties, stooped and regained his sword. +In the room was silence as all waited to hear the jeddak's answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Just are the laws of Manator," he said at last. "Perhaps, after all, +there is truth in the words of the stranger. Return him then to the +pits and pursue the others and capture them. Through the mercy of O-Tar +they shall be permitted to win their freedom upon the Field of Jetan, +in the coming games." +</P> + +<P> +Still ashen was the face of the jeddak as Ghek was led away and his +appearance was that of a man who had been snatched from the brink of +eternity into which he has gazed, not with the composure of great +courage, but with fear. There were those in the throne room who knew +that the execution of the three prisoners had but been delayed and the +responsibility placed upon the shoulders of others, and one of those +who knew was U-Thor, the great jed of Manatos. His curling lip +betokened his scorn of the jeddak who had chosen humiliation rather +than death. He knew that O-Tar had lost more of prestige in those few +moments than he could regain in a lifetime, for the Martians are +jealous of the courage of their chiefs—there can be no evasions of +stern duty, no temporizing with honor. That there were others in the +room who shared U-Thor's belief was evidenced by the silence and the +grim scowls. +</P> + +<P> +O-Tar glanced quickly around. He must have sensed the hostility and +guessed its cause, for he went suddenly angry, and as one who seeks by +the vehemence of his words to establish the courage of his heart he +roared forth what could be considered as naught other than a challenge. +</P> + +<P> +"The will of O-Tar, the jeddak, is the law of Manator," he cried, "and +the laws of Manator are just—they cannot err. U-Dor, dispatch those +who will search the palace, the pits, and the city, and return the +fugitives to their cells. +</P> + +<P> +"And now for you, U-Thor of Manatos! Think you with impunity to +threaten your jeddak—to question his right to punish traitors and +instigators of treason? What am I to think of your own loyalty, who +takes to wife a woman I have banished from my court because of her +intrigues against the authority of her jeddak and her master? But O-Tar +is just. Make your explanations and your peace, then, before it is too +late." +</P> + +<P> +"U-Thor has nothing to explain," replied the jed of Manatos; "nor is he +at war with his jeddak; but he has the right that every jed and every +warrior enjoys, of demanding justice at the hands of the jeddak for +whomsoever he believes to be persecuted. With increasing rigor has the +jeddak of Manator persecuted the slaves from Gathol since he took to +himself the unwilling Princess Haja. If the slaves from Gathol have +harbored thoughts of vengeance and escape 'tis no more than might be +expected from a proud and courageous people. Ever have I counselled +greater fairness in our treatment of our slaves, many of whom, in their +own lands, are people of great distinction and power; but always has +O-Tar, the jeddak, flouted with arrogance my every suggestion. Though +it has been through none of my seeking that the question has arisen now +I am glad that it has, for the time was bound to come when the jeds of +Manator would demand from O-Tar the respect and consideration that is +their due from the man who holds his high office at their pleasure. +Know, then, O-Tar, that you must free A-Kor, the dwar, forthwith or +bring him to fair trial before the assembled jeds of Manator. I have +spoken." +</P> + +<P> +"You have spoken well and to the point, U-Thor," cried O-Tar, "for you +have revealed to your jeddak and your fellow jeds the depth of the +disloyalty that I have long suspected. A-Kor already has been tried and +sentenced by the supreme tribunal of Manator—O-Tar, the jeddak; and +you too shall receive justice from the same unfailing source. In the +meantime you are under arrest. To the pits with him! To the pits with +U-Thor the false jed!" He clapped his hands to summon the surrounding +warriors to do his bidding. A score leaped forward to seize U-Thor. +They were warriors of the palace, mostly; but two score leaped to +defend U-Thor, and with ringing steel they fought at the foot of the +steps to the throne of Manator where stood O-Tar, the jeddak, with +drawn sword ready to take his part in the melee. +</P> + +<P> +At the clash of steel, palace guards rushed to the scene from other +parts of the great building until those who would have defended U-Thor +were outnumbered two to one, and then the jed of Manatos slowly +withdrew with his forces, and fighting his way through the corridors +and chambers of the palace came at last to the avenue. Here he was +reinforced by the little army that had marched with him into Manator. +Slowly they retreated toward The Gate of Enemies between the rows of +silent people looking down upon them from the balconies and there, +within the city walls, they made their stand. +</P> + +<P> +In a dimly-lighted chamber beneath the palace of O-Tar the jeddak, +Turan the panthan lowered Tara of Helium from his arms and faced her. +"I am sorry, Princess," he said, "that I was forced to disobey your +commands, or to abandon Ghek; but there was no other way. Could he have +saved you I would have stayed in his place. Tell me that you forgive +me." +</P> + +<P> +"How could I do less?" she replied graciously. "But it seemed cowardly +to abandon a friend." +</P> + +<P> +"Had we been three fighting men it had been different," he said. "We +could only have remained and died together, fighting; but you know, +Tara of Helium, that we may not jeopardize a woman's safety even though +we risk the loss of honor." +</P> + +<P> +"I know that, Turan," she said; "but no one may say that you have +risked honor, who knows the honor and bravery that are yours." +</P> + +<P> +He heard her with surprise for these were the first words that she had +spoken to him that did not savor of the attitude of a princess to a +panthan—though it was more in her tone than the actual words that he +apprehended the difference. How at variance were they to her recent +repudiation of him! He could not fathom her, and so he blurted out the +question that had been in his mind since she had told O-Tar that she +did not know him. +</P> + +<P> +"Tara of Helium," he said, "your words are balm to the wound you gave +me in the throne room of O-Tar. Tell me, Princess, why you denied me." +</P> + +<P> +She turned her great, deep eyes up to his and in them was a little of +reproach. +</P> + +<P> +"You did not guess," she asked, "that it was my lips alone and not my +heart that denied you? O-Tar had ordered that I die, more because I was +a companion of Ghek than because of any evidence against me, and so I +knew that if I acknowledged you as one of us, you would be slain, too." +</P> + +<P> +"It was to save me, then?" he cried, his face suddenly lighting. +</P> + +<P> +"It was to save my brave panthan," she said in a low voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Tara of Helium," said the warrior, dropping to one knee, "your words +are as food to my hungry heart," and he took her fingers in his and +pressed them to his lips. +</P> + +<P> +Gently she raised him to his feet. "You need not tell me, kneeling," +she said, softly. +</P> + +<P> +Her hand was still in his as he rose and they were very close, and the +man was still flushed with the contact of her body since he had carried +her from the throne room of O-Tar. He felt his heart pounding in his +breast and the hot blood surging through his veins as he looked at her +beautiful face, with its downcast eyes and the half-parted lips that he +would have given a kingdom to possess, and then he swept her to him and +as he crushed her against his breast his lips smothered hers with +kisses. +</P> + +<P> +But only for an instant. Like a tigress the girl turned upon him, +striking him, and thrusting him away. She stepped back, her head high +and her eyes flashing fire. "You would dare?" she cried. "You would +dare thus defile a princess of Helium?" +</P> + +<P> +His eyes met hers squarely and there was no shame and no remorse in +them. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I would dare," he said. "I would dare love Tara of Helium; but I +would not dare defile her or any woman with kisses that were not +prompted by love of her alone." He stepped closer to her and laid his +hands upon her shoulders. "Look into my eyes, daughter of The Warlord," +he said, "and tell me that you do not wish the love of Turan, the +panthan." +</P> + +<P> +"I do not wish your love," she cried, pulling away. "I hate you!" and +then turning away she bent her head into the hollow of her arm, and +wept. +</P> + +<P> +The man took a step toward her as though to comfort her when he was +arrested by the sound of a crackling laugh behind him. Wheeling about, +he discovered a strange figure of a man standing in a doorway. It was +one of those rarities occasionally to be seen upon Barsoom—an old man +with the signs of age upon him. Bent and wrinkled, he had more the +appearance of a mummy than a man. +</P> + +<P> +"Love in the pits of O-Tar!" he cried, and again his thin laughter +jarred upon the silence of the subterranean vaults. "A strange place to +woo! A strange place to woo, indeed! When I was a young man we roamed +in the gardens beneath giant pimalias and stole our kisses in the brief +shadows of hurtling Thuria. We came not to the gloomy pits to speak of +love; but times have changed and ways have changed, though I had never +thought to live to see the time when the way of a man with a maid, or a +maid with a man would change. Ah, but we kissed them then! And what if +they objected, eh? What if they objected? Why, we kissed them more. Ey, +ey, those were the days!" and he cackled again. "Ey, well do I recall +the first of them I ever kissed, and I've kissed an army of them since; +she was a fine girl, but she tried to slip a dagger into me while I was +kissing her. Ey, ey, those were the days! But I kissed her. She's been +dead over a thousand years now, but she was never kissed again like +that while she lived, I'll swear, not since she's been dead, either. +And then there was that other—" but Turan, seeing a thousand or more +years of osculatory memoirs portending, interrupted. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me, ancient one," he said, "not of thy loves but of thyself. Who +are you? What do you here in the pits of O-Tar?" +</P> + +<P> +"I might ask you the same, young man," replied the other. "Few there +are who visit the pits other than the dead, except my pupils—ey! That +is it—you are new pupils! Good! But never before have they sent a +woman to learn the great art from the greatest artist. But times have +changed. Now, in my day the women did no work—they were just for +kissing and loving. Ey, those were the women. I mind the one we +captured in the south—ey! she was a devil, but how she could love. She +had breasts of marble and a heart of fire. Why, she—" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes," interrupted Turan; "we are pupils, and we are anxious to +get to work. Lead on and we will follow." +</P> + +<P> +"Ey, yes! Ey, yes! Come! All is rush and hurry as though there were not +another countless myriad of ages ahead. Ey, yes! as many as lie behind. +Two thousand years have passed since I broke my shell and always rush, +rush, rush, yet I cannot see that aught has been accomplished. Manator +is the same today as it was then—except the girls. We had the girls +then. There was one that I gained upon The Fields of Jetan. Ey, but you +should have seen—" +</P> + +<P> +"Lead on!" cried Turan. "After we are at work you shall tell us of her." +</P> + +<P> +"Ey, yes," said the old fellow and shuffled off down a dimly lighted +passage. "Follow me!" +</P> + +<P> +"You are going with him?" asked Tara. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" replied Turan. "We know not where we are, or the way from +these pits; for I know not east from west; but he doubtless knows and +if we are shrewd we may learn from him that which we would know. At +least we cannot afford to arouse his suspicions"; and so they followed +him—followed along winding corridors and through many chambers, until +they came at last to a room in which there were several marble slabs +raised upon pedestals some three feet above the floor and upon each +slab lay a human corpse. +</P> + +<P> +"Here we are," exclaimed the old man. "These are fresh and we shall +have to get to work upon them soon. I am working now on one for The +Gate of Enemies. He slew many of our warriors. Truly is he entitled to +a place in The Gate. Come, you shall see him." +</P> + +<P> +He led them to an adjoining apartment. Upon the floor were many fresh, +human bones and upon a marble slab a mass of shapeless flesh. +</P> + +<P> +"You will learn this later," announced the old man; "but it will not +harm you to watch me now, for there are not many thus prepared, and it +may be long before you will have the opportunity to see another +prepared for The Gate of Enemies. First, you see, I remove all the +bones, carefully that the skin may be damaged as little as possible. +The skull is the most difficult, but it can be removed by a skilful +artist. You see, I have made but a single opening. This I now sew up, +and that done, the body is hung so," and he fastened a piece of rope to +the hair of the corpse and swung the horrid thing to a ring in the +ceiling. Directly below it was a circular manhole in the floor from +which he removed the cover revealing a well partially filled with a +reddish liquid. "Now we lower it into this, the formula for which you +shall learn in due time. We fasten it thus to the bottom of the cover, +which we now replace. In a year it will be ready; but it must be +examined often in the meantime and the liquid kept above the level of +its crown. It will be a very beautiful piece, this one, when it is +ready. +</P> + +<P> +"And you are fortunate again, for there is one to come out today." He +crossed to the opposite side of the room and raised another cover, +reached in and dragged a grotesque looking figure from the hole. It was +a human body, shrunk by the action of the chemical in which it had been +immersed, to a little figure scarce a foot high. +</P> + +<P> +"Ey! is it not fine?" cried the little old man. "Tomorrow it will take +its place in The Gate of Enemies." He dried it off with cloths and +packed it away carefully in a basket. "Perhaps you would like to see +some of my life work," he suggested, and without waiting for their +assent led them to another apartment, a large chamber in which were +forty or fifty people. All were sitting or standing quietly about the +walls, with the exception of one huge warrior who bestrode a great +thoat in the very center of the room, and all were motionless. +Instantly there sprang to the minds of Tara and Turan the rows of +silent people upon the balconies that lined the avenues of the city, +and the noble array of mounted warriors in The Hall of Chiefs, and the +same explanation came to both but neither dared voice the question that +was in his mind, for fear of revealing by his ignorance the fact that +they were strangers in Manator and therefore impostors in the guise of +pupils. +</P> + +<P> +"It is very wonderful," said Turan. "It must require great skill and +patience and time." +</P> + +<P> +"That it does," replied the old man, "though having done it so long I +am quicker than most; but mine are the most natural. Why, I would defy +the wife of that warrior to say that insofar as appearances are +concerned he does not live," and he pointed at the man upon the thoat. +"Many of them, of course, are brought here wasted or badly wounded and +these I have to repair. That is where great skill is required, for +everyone wants his dead to look as they did at their best in life; but +you shall learn—to mount them and paint them and repair them and +sometimes to make an ugly one look beautiful. And it will be a great +comfort to be able to mount your own. Why, for fifteen hundred years no +one has mounted my own dead but myself. +</P> + +<P> +"I have many, my balconies are crowded with them; but I keep a great +room for my wives. I have them all, as far back as the first one, and +many is the evening I spend with them—quiet evenings and very +pleasant. And then the pleasure of preparing them and making them even +more beautiful than in life partially recompenses one for their loss. I +take my time with them, looking for a new one while I am working on the +old. When I am not sure about a new one I bring her to the chamber +where my wives are, and compare her charms with theirs, and there is +always a great satisfaction at such times in knowing that they will not +object. I love harmony." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you prepare all the warriors in The Hall of Chiefs?" asked Turan. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I prepare them and repair them," replied the old man. "O-Tar will +trust no other. Even now I have two in another room who were damaged in +some way and brought down to me. O-Tar does not like to have them gone +long, since it leaves two riderless thoats in the Hall; but I shall +have them ready presently. He wants them all there in the event any +momentous question arises upon which the living jeds cannot agree, or +do not agree with O-Tar. Such questions he carries to the jeds in The +Hall of Chiefs. There he shuts himself up alone with the great chiefs +who have attained wisdom through death. It is an excellent plan and +there is never any friction or misunderstandings. O-Tar has said that +it is the finest deliberative body upon Barsoom—much more intelligent +than that composed of the living jeds. But come, we must get to work; +come into the next chamber and I will begin your instruction." +</P> + +<P> +He led the way into the chamber in which lay the several corpses upon +their marble slabs, and going to a cabinet he donned a pair of huge +spectacles and commenced to select various tools from little +compartments. This done he turned again toward his two pupils. +</P> + +<P> +"Now let me have a look at you," he said. "My eyes are not what they +once were, and I need these powerful lenses for my work, or to see +distinctly the features of those around me." +</P> + +<P> +He turned his eyes upon the two before him. Turan held his breath for +he knew that now the man must discover that they wore not the harness +or insignia of Manator. He had wondered before why the old fellow had +not noticed it, for he had not known that he was half blind. The other +examined their faces, his eyes lingering long upon the beauty of Tara +of Helium, and then they drifted to the harness of the two. Turan +thought that he noted an appreciable start of surprise on the part of +the taxidermist, but if the old man noticed anything his next words did +not reveal it. +</P> + +<P> +"Come with I-Gos," he said to Turan. "I have materials in the next room +that I would have you fetch hither. Remain here, woman, we shall be +gone but a moment." +</P> + +<P> +He led the way to one of the numerous doors opening into the chamber +and entered ahead of Turan. Just inside the door he stopped, and +pointing to a bundle of silks and furs upon the opposite side of the +room directed Turan to fetch them. The latter had crossed the room and +was stooping to raise the bundle when he heard the click of a lock +behind him. Wheeling instantly he saw that he was alone in the room and +that the single door was closed. Running rapidly to it he strove to +open it, only to find that he was a prisoner. +</P> + +<P> +I-Gos, stepping out and locking the door behind him, turned toward Tara. +</P> + +<P> +"Your leather betrayed you," he said, laughing his cackling laugh. "You +sought to deceive old I-Gos, but you found that though his eyes are +weak his brain is not. But it shall not go ill with you. You are +beautiful and I-Gos loves beautiful women. I might not have you +elsewhere in Manator, but here there is none to deny old I-Gos. Few +come to the pits of the dead—only those who bring the dead and they +hasten away as fast as they can. No one will know that I-Gos has a +beautiful woman locked with his dead. I shall ask you no questions and +then I will not have to give you up, for I will not know to whom you +belong, eh? And when you die I shall mount you beautifully and place +you in the chamber with my other women. Will not that be fine, eh?" He +had approached until he stood close beside the horrified girl. "Come!" +he cried, seizing her by the wrist. "Come to I-Gos!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ANOTHER CHANGE OF NAME +</H3> + +<P> +Turan dashed himself against the door of his prison in a vain effort to +break through the solid skeel to the side of Tara whom he knew to be in +grave danger, but the heavy panels held and he succeeded only in +bruising his shoulders and his arms. At last he desisted and set about +searching his prison for some other means of escape. He found no other +opening in the stone walls, but his search revealed a heterogeneous +collection of odds and ends of arms and apparel, of harness and +ornaments and insignia, and sleeping silks and furs in great +quantities. There were swords and spears and several large, two-bladed +battle-axes, the heads of which bore a striking resemblance to the +propellor of a small flier. Seizing one of these he attacked the door +once more with great fury. He expected to hear something from I-Gos at +this ruthless destruction, but no sound came to him from beyond the +door, which was, he thought, too thick for the human voice to +penetrate; but he would have wagered much that I-Gos heard him. Bits of +the hard wood splintered at each impact of the heavy axe, but it was +slow work and heavy. Presently he was compelled to rest, and so it went +for what seemed hours—working almost to the verge of exhaustion and +then resting for a few minutes; but ever the hole grew larger though he +could see nothing of the interior of the room beyond because of the +hanging that I-Gos had drawn across it after he had locked Turan within. +</P> + +<P> +At last, however, the panthan had hewn an opening through which his +body could pass, and seizing a long-sword that he had brought close to +the door for the purpose he crawled through into the next room. +Flinging aside the arras he stood ready, sword in hand, to fight his +way to the side of Tara of Helium—but she was not there. In the center +of the room lay I-Gos, dead upon the floor; but Tara of Helium was +nowhere to be seen. +</P> + +<P> +Turan was nonplussed. It must have been her hand that had struck down +the old man, yet she had made no effort to release Turan from his +prison. And then he thought of those last words of hers: "I do not want +your love! I hate you," and the truth dawned upon him—she had seized +upon this first opportunity to escape him. With downcast heart Turan +turned away. What should he do? There could be but one answer. While he +lived and she lived he must still leave no stone unturned to effect her +escape and safe return to the land of her people. But how? How was he +even to find his way from this labyrinth? How was he to find her again? +He walked to the nearest doorway. It chanced to be that which led into +the room containing the mounted dead, awaiting transportation to +balcony or grim room or whatever place was to receive them. His eyes +travelled to the great, painted warrior on the thoat and as they ran +over the splendid trappings and the serviceable arms a new light came +into the pain-dulled eyes of the panthan. With a quick step he crossed +to the side of the dead warrior and dragged him from his mount. With +equal celerity he stripped him of his harness and his arms, and tearing +off his own, donned the regalia of the dead man. Then he hastened back +to the room in which he had been trapped, for there he had seen that +which he needed to make his disguise complete. In a cabinet he found +them—pots of paint that the old taxidermist had used to place the +war-paint in its wide bands across the cold faces of dead warriors. +</P> + +<P> +A few moments later Gahan of Gathol emerged from the room a warrior of +Manator in every detail of harness, equipment, and ornamentation. He +had removed from the leather of the dead man the insignia of his house +and rank so that he might pass, with the least danger of arousing +suspicion, as a common warrior. +</P> + +<P> +To search for Tara of Helium in the vast, dim labyrinth of the pits of +O-Tar seemed to the Gatholian a hopeless quest, foredoomed to failure. +It would be wiser to seek the streets of Manator where he might hope to +learn first if she had been recaptured and, if not, then he could +return to the pits and pursue the hunt for her. To find egress from the +maze he must perforce travel a considerable distance through the +winding corridors and chambers, since he had no idea as to the location +or direction of any exit. In fact, he could not have retraced his steps +a hundred yards toward the point at which he and Tara had entered the +gloomy caverns, and so he set out in the hope that he might find by +accident either Tara of Helium or a way to the street level above. +</P> + +<P> +For a time he passed room after room filled with the cunningly +preserved dead of Manator, many of which were piled in tiers after the +manner that firewood is corded, and as he moved through corridor and +chamber he noticed hieroglyphics painted upon the walls above every +opening and at each fork or crossing of corridors, until by observation +he reached the conclusion that these indicated the designations of +passageways, so that one who understood them might travel quickly and +surely through the pits; but Turan did not understand them. Even could +he have read the language of Manator they might not materially have +aided one unfamiliar with the city; but he could not read them at all +since, though there is but one spoken language upon Barsoom, there are +as many different written languages as there are nations. One thing, +however, soon became apparent to him—the hieroglyphic of a corridor +remained the same until the corridor ended. +</P> + +<P> +It was not long before Turan realized from the distance that he had +traveled that the pits were part of a vast system undermining, +possibly, the entire city. At least he was convinced that he had passed +beyond the precincts of the palace. The corridors and chambers varied +in appearance and architecture from time to time. All were lighted, +though usually quite dimly, with radium bulbs. For a long time he saw +no signs of life other than an occasional ulsio, then quite suddenly he +came face to face with a warrior at one of the numerous crossings. The +fellow looked at him, nodded, and passed on. Turan breathed a sigh of +relief as he realized that his disguise was effective, but he was +caught in the middle of it by a hail from the warrior who had stopped +and turned toward him. The panthan was glad that a sword hung at his +side, and glad too that they were buried in the dim recesses of the +pits and that there would be but a single antagonist, for time was +precious. +</P> + +<P> +"Heard you any word of the other?" called the warrior to him. +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied Turan, who had not the faintest idea to whom or what the +fellow referred. +</P> + +<P> +"He cannot escape," continued the warrior. "The woman ran directly into +our arms, but she swore that she knew not where her companion might be +found." +</P> + +<P> +"They took her back to O-Tar?" asked Turan, for now he knew whom the +other meant, and he would know more. +</P> + +<P> +"They took her back to The Towers of Jetan," replied the warrior. +"Tomorrow the games commence and doubtless she will be played for, +though I doubt if any wants her, beautiful as she is. She fears not +even O-Tar. By Cluros! but she would make a hard slave to subdue—a +regular she-banth she is. Not for me," and he continued on his way +shaking his head. +</P> + +<P> +Turan hurried on searching for an avenue that led to the level of the +streets above when suddenly he came to the open doorway of a small +chamber in which sat a man who was chained to the wall. Turan voiced a +low exclamation of surprise and pleasure as he recognized that the man +was A-Kor, and that he had stumbled by accident upon the very cell in +which he had been imprisoned. A-Kor looked at him questioningly. It was +evident that he did not recognize his fellow prisoner. Turan crossed to +the table and leaning close to the other whispered to him. +</P> + +<P> +"I am Turan the panthan," he said, "who was chained beside you." +</P> + +<P> +A-Kor looked at him closely. "Your own mother would never know you!" he +said; "but tell me, what has transpired since they took you away?" +</P> + +<P> +Turan recounted his experiences in the throne room of O-Tar and in the +pits beneath, "and now," he continued, "I must find these Towers of +Jetan and see what may be done toward liberating the Princess of +Helium." +</P> + +<P> +A-Kor shook his head. "Long was I dwar of the Towers," he said, "and I +can say to you, stranger, that you might as well attempt to reduce +Manator, single handed, as to rescue a prisoner from The Towers of +Jetan." +</P> + +<P> +"But I must," replied Turan. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you better than a good swordsman?" asked A-Kor presently. +</P> + +<P> +"I am accounted so," replied Turan. +</P> + +<P> +"Then there is a way—sst!" he was suddenly silent and pointing toward +the base of the wall at the end of the room. +</P> + +<P> +Turan looked in the direction the other's forefinger indicated, to see +projecting from the mouth of an ulsio's burrow two large chelae and a +pair of protruding eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Ghek!" he cried and immediately the hideous kaldane crawled out upon +the floor and approached the table. A-Kor drew back with a half-stifled +ejaculation of repulsion. "Do not fear," Turan reassured him. "It is my +friend—he whom I told you held O-Tar while Tara and I escaped." +</P> + +<P> +Ghek climbed to the table top and squatted between the two warriors. +"You are safe in assuming," he said addressing A-Kor, "that Turan the +panthan has no master in all Manator where the art of sword-play is +concerned. I overheard your conversation—go on." +</P> + +<P> +"You are his friend," continued A-Kor, "and so I may explain safely in +your presence the only plan I know whereby he may hope to rescue the +Princess of Helium. She is to be the stake of one of the games and it +is O-Tar's desire that she be won by slaves and common warriors, since +she repulsed him. Thus would he punish her. Not a single man, but all +who survive upon the winning side are to possess her. With money, +however, one may buy off the others before the game. That you could do, +and if your side won and you survived she would become your slave." +</P> + +<P> +"But how may a stranger and a hunted fugitive accomplish this?" asked +Turan. +</P> + +<P> +"No one will recognize you. You will go tomorrow to the keeper of the +Towers and enlist in that game for which the girl is to be the stake, +telling the keeper that you are from Manataj, the farthest city of +Manator. If he questions you, you may say that you saw her when she was +brought into the city after her capture. If you win her, you will find +thoats stabled at my palace and you will carry from me a token that +will place all that is mine at your disposal." +</P> + +<P> +"But how can I buy off the others in the game without money?" asked +Turan. "I have none—not even of my own country." +</P> + +<P> +A-Kor opened his pocket-pouch and drew forth a packet of Manatorian +money. +</P> + +<P> +"Here is sufficient to buy them off twice over," he said, handing a +portion of it to Turan. +</P> + +<P> +"But why do you do this for a stranger?" asked the panthan. +</P> + +<P> +"My mother was a captive princess here," replied A-Kor. "I but do for +the Princess of Helium what my mother would have me do." +</P> + +<P> +"Under the circumstances, then, Manatorian," replied Turan, "I cannot +but accept your generosity on behalf of Tara of Helium and live in hope +that some day I may do for you something in return." +</P> + +<P> +"Now you must be gone," advised A-Kor. "At any minute a guard may come +and discover you here. Go directly to the Avenue of Gates, which +circles the city just within the outer wall. There you will find many +places devoted to the lodging of strangers. You will know them by the +thoat's head carved above the doors. Say that you are here from Manataj +to witness the games. Take the name of U-Kal—it will arouse no +suspicion, nor will you if you can avoid conversation. Early in the +morning seek the keeper of The Towers of Jetan. May the strength and +fortune of all your ancestors be with you!" +</P> + +<P> +Bidding good-bye to Ghek and A-Kor, the panthan, following directions +given him by A-Kor, set out to find his way to the Avenue of Gates, nor +had he any great difficulty. On the way he met several warriors, but +beyond a nod they gave him no heed. With ease he found a lodging place +where there were many strangers from other cities of Manator. As he had +had no sleep since the previous night he threw himself among the silks +and furs of his couch to gain the rest which he must have, was he to +give the best possible account of himself in the service of Tara of +Helium the following day. +</P> + +<P> +It was already morning when he awoke, and rising he paid for his +lodgings, sought a place to eat, and a short time later was on his way +toward The Towers of Jetan, which he had no difficulty in finding owing +to the great crowds that were winding along the avenues toward the +games. The new keeper of The Towers who had succeeded E-Med was too +busy to scrutinize entries closely, for in addition to the many +volunteer players there were scores of slaves and prisoners being +forced into the games by their owners or the government. The name of +each must be recorded as well as the position he was to play and the +game or games in which he was to be entered, and then there were the +substitutes for each that was entered in more than a single game—one +for each additional game that an individual was entered for, that no +succeeding game might be delayed by the death or disablement of a +player. +</P> + +<P> +"Your name?" asked a clerk as Turan presented himself. +</P> + +<P> +"U-Kal," replied the panthan. +</P> + +<P> +"Your city?" +</P> + +<P> +"Manataj." +</P> + +<P> +The keeper, who was standing beside the clerk, looked at Turan. "You +have come a great way to play at jetan," he said. "It is seldom that +the men of Manataj attend other than the decennial games. Tell me of +O-Zar! Will he attend next year? Ah, but he was a noble fighter. If you +be half the swordsman, U-Kal, the fame of Manataj will increase this +day. But tell me, what of O-Zar?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is well," replied Turan, glibly, "and he sent greetings to his +friends in Manator." +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" exclaimed the keeper, "and now in what game would you enter?" +</P> + +<P> +"I would play for the Heliumetic princess, Tara," replied Turan. +</P> + +<P> +"But man, she is to be the stake of a game for slaves and criminals," +cried the keeper. "You would not volunteer for such a game!" +</P> + +<P> +"But I would," replied Turan. "I saw her when she was brought into the +city and even then I vowed to possess her." +</P> + +<P> +"But you will have to share her with the survivors even if your color +wins," objected the other. +</P> + +<P> +"They may be brought to reason," insisted Turan. +</P> + +<P> +"And you will chance incurring the wrath of O-Tar, who has no love for +this savage barbarian," explained the keeper. +</P> + +<P> +"And I win her O-Tar will be rid of her," said Turan. +</P> + +<P> +The keeper of The Towers of Jetan shook his head. "You are rash," he +said. "I would that I might dissuade the friend of my friend O-Zar from +such madness." +</P> + +<P> +"Would you favor the friend of O-Zar?" asked Turan. +</P> + +<P> +"Gladly!" exclaimed the other. "What may I do for him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Make me chief of the Black and give me for my pieces all slaves from +Gathol, for I understand that those be excellent warriors," replied the +panthan. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a strange request," said the keeper, "but for my friend O-Zar I +would do even more, though of course—" he hesitated—"it is customary +for one who would be chief to make some slight payment." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly," Turan hastened to assure him; "I had not forgotten that. I +was about to ask you what the customary amount is." +</P> + +<P> +"For the friend of my friend it shall be nominal," replied the keeper, +naming a figure that Gahan, accustomed to the high price of wealthy +Gathol, thought ridiculously low. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me," he said, handing the money to the keeper, "when the game for +the Heliumite is to be played." +</P> + +<P> +"It is the second in order of the day's games; and now if you will come +with me you may select your pieces." +</P> + +<P> +Turan followed the keeper to a large court which lay between the towers +and the jetan field, where hundreds of warriors were assembled. Already +chiefs for the games of the day were selecting their pieces and +assigning them to positions, though for the principal games these +matters had been arranged for weeks before. The keeper led Turan to a +part of the courtyard where the majority of the slaves were assembled. +</P> + +<P> +"Take your choice of those not assigned," said the keeper, "and when +you have your quota conduct them to the field. Your place will be +assigned you by an officer there, and there you will remain with your +pieces until the second game is called. I wish you luck, U-Kal, though +from what I have heard you will be more lucky to lose than to win the +slave from Helium." +</P> + +<P> +After the fellow had departed Turan approached the slaves. "I seek the +best swordsmen for the second game," he announced. "Men from Gathol I +wish, for I have heard that these be noble fighters." +</P> + +<P> +A slave rose and approached him. "It is all the same in which game we +die," he said. "I would fight for you as a panthan in the second game." +</P> + +<P> +Another came. "I am not from Gathol," he said. "I am from Helium, and I +would fight for the honor of a princess of Helium." +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" exclaimed Turan. "Art a swordsman of repute in Helium?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was a dwar under the great Warlord, and I have fought at his side in +a score of battles from The Golden Cliffs to The Carrion Caves. My name +is Val Dor. Who knows Helium, knows my prowess." +</P> + +<P> +The name was well known to Gahan, who had heard the man spoken of on +his last visit to Helium, and his mysterious disappearance discussed as +well as his renown as a fighter. +</P> + +<P> +"How could I know aught of Helium?" asked Turan; "but if you be such a +fighter as you say no position could suit you better than that of +Flier. What say you?" +</P> + +<P> +The man's eyes denoted sudden surprise. He looked keenly at Turan, his +eyes running quickly over the other's harness. Then he stepped quite +close so that his words might not be overheard. +</P> + +<P> +"Methinks you may know more of Helium than of Manator," he whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"What mean you, fellow?" demanded Turan, seeking to cudgel his brains +for the source of this man's knowledge, guess, or inspiration. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean," replied Val Dor, "that you are not of Manator and that if you +wish to hide the fact it is well that you speak not to a Manatorian as +you did just speak to me of—Fliers! There be no Fliers in Manator and +no piece in their game of Jetan bearing that name. Instead they call +him who stands next to the Chief or Princess, Odwar. The piece has the +same moves and power that the Flier has in the game as played outside +Manator. Remember this then and remember, too, that if you have a +secret it be safe in the keeping of Val Dor of Helium." +</P> + +<P> +Turan made no reply but turned to the task of selecting the remainder +of his pieces. Val Dor, the Heliumite, and Floran, the volunteer from +Gathol, were of great assistance to him, since one or the other of them +knew most of the slaves from whom his selection was to be made. The +pieces all chosen, Turan led them to the place beside the playing field +where they were to wait their turn, and here he passed the word around +that they were to fight for more than the stake he offered for the +princess should they win. This stake they accepted, so that Turan was +sure of possessing Tara if his side was victorious, but he knew that +these men would fight even more valorously for chivalry than for money, +nor was it difficult to enlist the interest even of the Gatholians in +the service of the princess. And now he held out the possibility of a +still further reward. +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot promise you," he explained, "but I may say I have heard that +this day which makes it possible that should we win this game we may +even win your freedom!" +</P> + +<P> +They leaped to their feet and crowded around him with many questions. +</P> + +<P> +"It may not be spoken of aloud," he said; "but Floran and Val Dor know +and they assure me that you may all be trusted. Listen! What I would +tell you places my life in your hands, but you must know that every man +will realize that he is fighting today the greatest battle of his +life—for the honor and the freedom of Barsoom's most wondrous princess +and for his own freedom as well—for the chance to return each to his +own country and to the woman who awaits him there. +</P> + +<P> +"First, then, is my secret. I am not of Manator. Like yourselves I am a +slave, though for the moment disguised as a Manatorian from Manataj. My +country and my identity must remain undisclosed for reasons that have +no bearing upon our game today. I, then, am one of you. I fight for the +same things that you will fight for. +</P> + +<P> +"And now for that which I have but just learned. U-Thor, the great jed +of Manatos, quarreled with O-Tar in the palace the day before yesterday +and their warriors set upon one another. U-Thor was driven as far as +The Gate of Enemies, where he now lies encamped. At any moment the +fight may be renewed; but it is thought that U-Thor has sent to Manatos +for reinforcements. Now, men of Gathol, here is the thing that +interests you. U-Thor has recently taken to wife the Princess Haja of +Gathol, who was slave to O-Tar and whose son, A-Kor, was dwar of The +Towers of Jetan. Haja's heart is filled with loyalty for Gathol and +compassion for her sons who are here enslaved, and this latter +sentiment she has to some extent transmitted to U-Thor. Aid me, +therefore, in freeing the Princess Tara of Helium and I believe that I +can aid you and her and myself to escape the city. Bend close your +ears, slaves of O-Tar, that no cruel enemy may hear my words," and +Gahan of Gathol whispered in low tones the daring plan he had +conceived. "And now," he demanded, when he had finished, "let him who +does not dare speak now." None replied. "Is there none?" +</P> + +<P> +"And it would not betray you should I cast my sword at thy feet, it had +been done ere this," said one in low tones pregnant with suppressed +feeling. +</P> + +<P> +"And I!" "And I!" "And I!" chorused the others in vibrant whispers. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A PLAY TO THE DEATH +</H3> + +<P> +Clear and sweet a trumpet spoke across The Fields of Jetan. From The +High Tower its cool voice floated across the city of Manator and above +the babel of human discords rising from the crowded mass that filled +the seats of the stadium below. It called the players for the first +game, and simultaneously there fluttered to the peaks of a thousand +staffs on tower and battlement and the great wall of the stadium the +rich, gay pennons of the fighting chiefs of Manator. Thus was marked +the opening of The Jeddak's Games, the most important of the year and +second only to the Grand Decennial Games. +</P> + +<P> +Gahan of Gathol watched every play with eagle eye. The match was an +unimportant one, being but to settle some petty dispute between two +chiefs, and was played with professional jetan players for points only. +No one was killed and there was but little blood spilled. It lasted +about an hour and was terminated by the chief of the losing side +deliberately permitting himself to be out-pointed, that the game might +be called a draw. +</P> + +<P> +Again the trumpet sounded, this time announcing the second and last +game of the afternoon. While this was not considered an important +match, those being reserved for the fourth and fifth days of the games, +it promised to afford sufficient excitement since it was a game to the +death. The vital difference between the game played with living men and +that in which inanimate pieces are used, lies in the fact that while in +the latter the mere placing of a piece upon a square occupied by an +opponent piece terminates the move, in the former the two pieces thus +brought together engage in a duel for possession of the square. +Therefore there enters into the former game not only the strategy of +jetan but the personal prowess and bravery of each individual piece, so +that a knowledge not only of one's own men but of each player upon the +opposing side is of vast value to a chief. +</P> + +<P> +In this respect was Gahan handicapped, though the loyalty of his +players did much to offset his ignorance of them, since they aided him +in arranging the board to the best advantage and told him honestly the +faults and virtues of each. One fought best in a losing game; another +was too slow; another too impetuous; this one had fire and a heart of +steel, but lacked endurance. Of the opponents, though, they knew little +or nothing, and now as the two sides took their places upon the black +and orange squares of the great jetan board Gahan obtained, for the +first time, a close view of those who opposed him. The Orange Chief had +not yet entered the field, but his men were all in place. Val Dor +turned to Gahan. "They are all criminals from the pits of Manator," he +said. "There is no slave among them. We shall not have to fight against +a single fellow-countryman and every life we take will be the life of +an enemy." +</P> + +<P> +"It is well," replied Gahan; "but where is their Chief, and where the +two Princesses?" +</P> + +<P> +"They are coming now, see?" and he pointed across the field to where +two women could be seen approaching under guard. +</P> + +<P> +As they came nearer Gahan saw that one was indeed Tara of Helium, but +the other he did not recognize, and then they were brought to the +center of the field midway between the two sides and there waited until +the Orange Chief arrived. +</P> + +<P> +Floran voiced an exclamation of surprise when he recognized him. "By my +first ancestor if it is not one of their great chiefs," he said, "and +we were told that slaves and criminals were to play for the stake of +this game." +</P> + +<P> +His words were interrupted by the keeper of The Towers whose duty it +was not only to announce the games and the stakes, but to act as +referee as well. +</P> + +<P> +"Of this, the second game of the first day of the Jeddak's Games in the +four hundred and thirty-third year of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, the +Princesses of each side shall be the sole stakes and to the survivors +of the winning side shall belong both the Princesses, to do with as +they shall see fit. The Orange Princess is the slave woman Lan-O of +Gathol; the Black Princess is the slave woman Tara, a princess of +Helium. The Black Chief is U-Kal of Manataj, a volunteer player; the +Orange Chief is the dwar U-Dor of the 8th Utan of the jeddak of +Manator, also a volunteer player. The squares shall be contested to the +death. Just are the laws of Manator! I have spoken." +</P> + +<P> +The initial move was won by U-Dor, following which the two Chiefs +escorted their respective Princesses to the square each was to occupy. +It was the first time Gahan had been alone with Tara since she had been +brought upon the field. He saw her scrutinizing him closely as he +approached to lead her to her place and wondered if she recognized him: +but if she did she gave no sign of it. He could not but remember her +last words—"I hate you!" and her desertion of him when he had been +locked in the room beneath the palace by I-Gos, the taxidermist, and so +he did not seek to enlighten her as to his identity. He meant to fight +for her—to die for her, if necessary—and if he did not die to go on +fighting to the end for her love. Gahan of Gathol was not easily to be +discouraged, but he was compelled to admit that his chances of winning +the love of Tara of Helium were remote. Already had she repulsed him +twice. Once as jed of Gathol and again as Turan the panthan. Before his +love, however, came her safety and the former must be relegated to the +background until the latter had been achieved. +</P> + +<P> +Passing among the players already at their stations the two took their +places upon their respective squares. At Tara's left was the Black +Chief, Gahan of Gathol; directly in front of her the Princess' Panthan, +Floran of Gathol; and at her right the Princess' Odwar, Val Dor of +Helium. And each of these knew the part that he was to play, win or +lose, as did each of the other Black players. As Tara took her place +Val Dor bowed low. "My sword is at your feet, Tara of Helium," he said. +</P> + +<P> +She turned and looked at him, an expression of surprise and incredulity +upon her face. "Val Dor, the dwar!" she exclaimed. "Val Dor of +Helium—one of my father's trusted captains! Can it be possible that my +eyes speak the truth?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is Val Dor, Princess," the warrior replied, "and here to die for +you if need be, as is every wearer of the Black upon this field of +jetan today. Know Princess," he whispered, "that upon this side is no +man of Manator, but each and every is an enemy of Manator." +</P> + +<P> +She cast a quick, meaning glance toward Gahan. "But what of him?" she +whispered, and then she caught her breath quickly in surprise. "Shade +of the first jeddak!" she exclaimed. "I did but just recognize him +through his disguise." +</P> + +<P> +"And you trust him?" asked Val Dor. "I know him not; but he spoke +fairly, as an honorable warrior, and we have taken him at his word." +</P> + +<P> +"You have made no mistake," replied Tara of Helium. "I would trust him +with my life—with my soul; and you, too, may trust him." +</P> + +<P> +Happy indeed would have been Gahan of Gathol could he have heard those +words; but Fate, who is usually unkind to the lover in such matters, +ordained it otherwise, and then the game was on. +</P> + +<P> +U-Dor moved his Princess' Odwar three squares diagonally to the right, +which placed the piece upon the Black Chief's Odwar's seventh. The move +was indicative of the game that U-Dor intended playing—a game of +blood, rather than of science—and evidenced his contempt for his +opponents. +</P> + +<P> +Gahan followed with his Odwar's Panthan one square straight forward, a +more scientific move, which opened up an avenue for himself through his +line of Panthans, as well as announcing to the players and spectators +that he intended having a hand in the fighting himself even before the +exigencies of the game forced it upon him. The move elicited a ripple +of applause from those sections of seats reserved for the common +warriors and their women, showing perhaps that U-Dor was none too +popular with these, and, too, it had its effect upon the morale of +Gahan's pieces. A Chief may, and often does, play almost an entire game +without leaving his own square, where, mounted upon a thoat, he may +overlook the entire field and direct each move, nor may he be +reproached for lack of courage should he elect thus to play the game +since, by the rules, were he to be slain or so badly wounded as to be +compelled to withdraw, a game that might otherwise have been won by the +science of his play and the prowess of his men would be drawn. To +invite personal combat, therefore, denotes confidence in his own +swordsmanship, and great courage, two attributes that were calculated +to fill the Black players with hope and valor when evinced by their +Chief thus early in the game. +</P> + +<P> +U-Dor's next move placed Lan-O's Odwar upon Tara's Odwar's +fourth—within striking distance of the Black Princess. +</P> + +<P> +Another move and the game would be lost to Gahan unless the Orange +Odwar was overthrown, or Tara moved to a position of safety; but to +move his Princess now would be to admit his belief in the superiority +of the Orange. In the three squares allowed him he could not place +himself squarely upon the square occupied by the Odwar of U-Dor's +Princess. There was only one player upon the Black side that might +dispute the square with the enemy and that was the Chief's Odwar, who +stood upon Gahan's left. Gahan turned upon his thoat and looked at the +man. He was a splendid looking fellow, resplendent in the gorgeous +trappings of an Odwar, the five brilliant feathers which denoted his +position rising defiantly erect from his thick, black hair. In common +with every player upon the field and every spectator in the crowded +stands he knew what was passing in his Chief's mind. He dared not +speak, the ethics of the game forbade it, but what his lips might not +voice his eyes expressed in martial fire, and eloquently: "The honor of +the Black and the safety of our Princess are secure with me!" +</P> + +<P> +Gahan hesitated no longer. "Chief's Odwar to Princess' Odwar's fourth!" +he commanded. It was the courageous move of a leader who had taken up +the gauntlet thrown down by his opponent. +</P> + +<P> +The warrior sprang forward and leaped into the square occupied by +U-Dor's piece. It was the first disputed square of the game. The eyes +of the players were fastened upon the contestants, the spectators +leaned forward in their seats after the first applause that had greeted +the move, and silence fell upon the vast assemblage. If the Black went +down to defeat, U-Dor could move his victorious piece on to the square +occupied by Tara of Helium and the game would be over—over in four +moves and lost to Gahan of Gathol. If the Orange lost U-Dor would have +sacrificed one of his most important pieces and more than lost what +advantage the first move might have given him. +</P> + +<P> +Physically the two men appeared perfectly matched and each was fighting +for his life, but from the first it was apparent that the Black Odwar +was the better swordsman, and Gahan knew that he had another and +perhaps a greater advantage over his antagonist. The latter was +fighting for his life only, without the spur of chivalry or loyalty. +The Black Odwar had these to strengthen his arm, and besides these the +knowledge of the thing that Gahan had whispered into the ears of his +players before the game, and so he fought for what is more than life to +the man of honor. +</P> + +<P> +It was a duel that held those who witnessed it in spellbound silence. +The weaving blades gleamed in the brilliant sunlight, ringing to the +parries of cut and thrust. The barbaric harness of the duelists lent +splendid color to the savage, martial scene. The Orange Odwar, forced +upon the defensive, was fighting madly for his life. The Black, with +cool and terrible efficiency, was forcing him steadily, step by step, +into a corner of the square—a position from which there could be no +escape. To abandon the square was to lose it to his opponent and win +for himself ignoble and immediate death before the jeering populace. +Spurred on by the seeming hopelessness of his plight, the Orange Odwar +burst into a sudden fury of offense that forced the Black back a half +dozen steps, and then the sword of U-Dor's piece leaped in and drew +first blood, from the shoulder of his merciless opponent. An +ill-smothered cry of encouragement went up from U-Dor's men; the Orange +Odwar, encouraged by his single success, sought to bear down the Black +by the rapidity of his attack. There was a moment in which the swords +moved with a rapidity that no man's eye might follow, and then the +Black Odwar made a lightning parry of a vicious thrust, leaned quickly +forward into the opening he had effected, and drove his sword through +the heart of the Orange Odwar—to the hilt he drove it through the body +of the Orange Odwar. +</P> + +<P> +A shout arose from the stands, for wherever may have been the favor of +the spectators, none there was who could say that it had not been a +pretty fight, or that the better man had not won. And from the Black +players came a sigh of relief as they relaxed from the tension of the +past moments. +</P> + +<P> +I shall not weary you with the details of the game—only the high +features of it are necessary to your understanding of the outcome. The +fourth move after the victory of the Black Odwar found Gahan upon +U-Dor's fourth; an Orange Panthan was on the adjoining square +diagonally to his right and the only opposing piece that could engage +him other than U-Dor himself. +</P> + +<P> +It had been apparent to both players and spectators for the past two +moves, that Gahan was moving straight across the field into the enemy's +country to seek personal combat with the Orange Chief—that he was +staking all upon his belief in the superiority of his own +swordsmanship, since if the two Chiefs engage, the outcome decides the +game. U-Dor could move out and engage Gahan, or he could move his +Princess' Panthan upon the square occupied by Gahan in the hope that the +former would defeat the Black Chief and thus draw the game, which is +the outcome if any other than a Chief slays the opposing Chief, or he +could move away and escape, temporarily, the necessity for personal +combat, or at least that is evidently what he had in mind as was +obvious to all who saw him scanning the board about him; and his +disappointment was apparent when he finally discovered that Gahan had +so placed himself that there was no square to which U-Dor could move +that it was not within Gahan's power to reach at his own next move. +</P> + +<P> +U-Dor had placed his own Princess four squares east of Gahan when her +position had been threatened, and he had hoped to lure the Black Chief +after her and away from U-Dor; but in that he had failed. He now +discovered that he might play his own Odwar into personal combat with +Gahan; but he had already lost one Odwar and could ill spare the other. +His position was a delicate one, since he did not wish to engage Gahan +personally, while it appeared that there was little likelihood of his +being able to escape. There was just one hope and that lay in his +Princess' Panthan, so, without more deliberation he ordered the piece +onto the square occupied by the Black Chief. +</P> + +<P> +The sympathies of the spectators were all with Gahan now. If he lost, +the game would be declared a draw, nor do they think better of drawn +games upon Barsoom than do Earth men. If he won, it would doubtless +mean a duel between the two Chiefs, a development for which they all +were hoping. The game already bade fair to be a short one and it would +be an angry crowd should it be decided a draw with only two men slain. +There were great, historic games on record where of the forty pieces on +the field when the game opened only three survived—the two Princesses +and the victorious Chief. +</P> + +<P> +They blamed U-Dor, though in fact he was well within his rights in +directing his play as he saw fit, nor was a refusal on his part to +engage the Black Chief necessarily an imputation of cowardice. He was a +great chief who had conceived a notion to possess the slave Tara. There +was no honor that could accrue to him from engaging in combat with +slaves and criminals, or an unknown warrior from Manataj, nor was the +stake of sufficient import to warrant the risk. +</P> + +<P> +But now the duel between Gahan and the Orange Panthan was on and the +decision of the next move was no longer in other hands than theirs. It +was the first time that these Manatorians had seen Gahan of Gathol +fight, but Tara of Helium knew that he was master of his sword. Could +he have seen the proud light in her eyes as he crossed blades with the +wearer of the Orange, he might easily have wondered if they were the +same eyes that had flashed fire and hatred at him that time he had +covered her lips with mad kisses, in the pits of the palace of O-Tar. +As she watched him she could not but compare his swordplay with that of +the greatest swordsman of two worlds—her father, John Carter, of +Virginia, a Prince of Helium, Warlord of Barsoom—and she knew that the +skill of the Black Chief suffered little by the comparison. +</P> + +<P> +Short and to the point was the duel that decided possession of the +Orange Chief's fourth. The spectators had settled themselves for an +interesting engagement of at least average duration when they were +brought almost standing by a brilliant flash of rapid swordplay that +was over ere one could catch his breath. They saw the Black Chief step +quickly back, his point upon the ground, while his opponent, his sword +slipping from his fingers, clutched his breast, sank to his knees and +then lunged forward upon his face. +</P> + +<P> +And then Gahan of Gathol turned his eyes directly upon U-Dor of +Manator, three squares away. Three squares is a Chief's move—three +squares in any direction or combination of directions, only provided +that he does not cross the same square twice in a given move. The +people saw and guessed Gahan's intention. They rose and roared forth +their approval as he moved deliberately across the intervening squares +toward the Orange Chief. +</P> + +<P> +O-Tar, in the royal enclosure, sat frowning upon the scene. O-Tar was +angry. He was angry with U-Dor for having entered this game for +possession of a slave, for whom it had been his wish only slaves and +criminals should strive. He was angry with the warrior from Manataj for +having so far out-generaled and out-fought the men from Manator. He was +angry with the populace because of their open hostility toward one who +had basked in the sunshine of his favor for long years. O-Tar the +jeddak had not enjoyed the afternoon. Those who surrounded him were +equally glum—they, too, scowled upon the field, the players, and the +people. Among them was a bent and wrinkled old man who gazed through +weak and watery eyes upon the field and the players. +</P> + +<P> +As Gahan entered his square, U-Dor leaped toward him with drawn sword +with such fury as might have overborne a less skilled and powerful +swordsman. For a minute the fighting was fast and furious and by +comparison reducing to insignificance all that had gone before. Here +indeed were two magnificent swordsmen, and here was to be a battle that +bade fair to make up for whatever the people felt they had been +defrauded of by the shortness of the game. Nor had it continued long +before many there were who would have prophesied that they were +witnessing a duel that was to become historic in the annals of jetan at +Manator. Every trick, every subterfuge, known to the art of fence these +men employed. Time and again each scored a point and brought blood to +his opponent's copper hide until both were red with gore; but neither +seemed able to administer the coup de grace. +</P> + +<P> +From her position upon the opposite side of the field Tara of Helium +watched the long-drawn battle. Always it seemed to her that the Black +Chief fought upon the defensive, or when he assumed to push his +opponent, he neglected a thousand openings that her practiced eye +beheld. Never did he seem in real danger, nor never did he appear to +exert himself to quite the pitch needful for victory. The duel already +had been long contested and the day was drawing to a close. Presently +the sudden transition from daylight to darkness which, owing to the +tenuity of the air upon Barsoom, occurs almost without the warning +twilight of Earth, would occur. Would the fight never end? Would the +game be called a draw after all? What ailed the Black Chief? +</P> + +<P> +Tara wished that she might answer at least the last of these questions +for she was sure that Turan the panthan, as she knew him, while +fighting brilliantly, was not giving of himself all that he might. She +could not believe that fear was restraining his hand, but that there +was something beside inability to push U-Dor more fiercely she was +confident. What it was, however, she could not guess. +</P> + +<P> +Once she saw Gahan glance quickly up toward the sinking sun. In thirty +minutes it would be dark. And then she saw and all those others saw a +strange transition steal over the swordplay of the Black Chief. It was +as though he had been playing with the great dwar, U-Dor, all these +hours, and now he still played with him but there was a difference. He +played with him terribly as a carnivore plays with its victim in the +instant before the kill. The Orange Chief was helpless now in the hands +of a swordsman so superior that there could be no comparison, and the +people sat in open-mouthed wonder and awe as Gahan of Gathol cut his +foe to ribbons and then struck him down with a blow that cleft him to +the chin. +</P> + +<P> +In twenty minutes the sun would set. But what of that? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A TASK FOR LOYALTY +</H3> + +<P> +Long and loud was the applause that rose above the Field of Jetan at +Manator, as The Keeper of the Towers summoned the two Princesses and +the victorious Chief to the center of the field and presented to the +latter the fruits of his prowess, and then, as custom demanded, the +victorious players, headed by Gahan and the two Princesses, formed in +procession behind The Keeper of the Towers and were conducted to the +place of victory before the royal enclosure that they might receive the +commendation of the jeddak. Those who were mounted gave up their thoats +to slaves as all must be on foot for this ceremony. Directly beneath +the royal enclosure are the gates to one of the tunnels that, passing +beneath the seats, give ingress or egress to or from the Field. Before +this gate the party halted while O-Tar looked down upon them from +above. Val Dor and Floran, passing quietly ahead of the others, went +directly to the gates, where they were hidden from those who occupied +the enclosure with O-Tar. The Keeper of the Towers may have noticed +them, but so occupied was he with the formality of presenting the +victorious Chief to the jeddak that he paid no attention to them. +</P> + +<P> +"I bring you, O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, U-Kal of Manataj," he cried in +a loud voice that might be heard by as many as possible, "victor over +the Orange in the second of the Jeddak's Games of the four hundred and +thirty-third year of O-Tar, and the slave woman Tara and the slave +woman Lan-O that you may bestow these, the stakes, upon U-Kal." +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke, a little, wrinkled, old man peered over the rail of the +enclosure down upon the three who stood directly behind The Keeper, and +strained his weak and watery eyes in an effort to satisfy the curiosity +of old age in a matter of no particular import, for what were two +slaves and a common warrior from Manataj to any who sat with O-Tar the +jeddak? +</P> + +<P> +"U-Kal of Manataj," said O-Tar, "you have deserved the stakes. Seldom +have we looked upon more noble swordplay. And you tire of Manataj there +be always here in the city of Manator a place for you in The Jeddak's +Guard." +</P> + +<P> +While the jeddak was speaking the little, old man, failing clearly to +discern the features of the Black Chief, reached into his pocket-pouch +and drew forth a pair of thick-lensed spectacles, which he placed upon +his nose. For a moment he scrutinized Gahan closely, then he leaped to +his feet and addressing O-Tar pointed a shaking finger at Gahan. As he +rose Tara of Helium clutched the Black Chief's arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Turan!" she whispered. "It is I-Gos, whom I thought to have slain in +the pits of O-Tar. It is I-Gos and he recognizes you and will—" +</P> + +<P> +But what I-Gos would do was already transpiring. In his falsetto voice +he fairly screamed: "It is the slave Turan who stole the woman Tara +from your throne room, O-Tar. He desecrated the dead chief I-Mal and +wears his harness now!" +</P> + +<P> +Instantly all was pandemonium. Warriors drew their swords and leaped to +their feet. Gahan's victorious players rushed forward in a body, +sweeping The Keeper of the Towers from his feet. Val Dor and Floran +threw open the gates beneath the royal enclosure, opening the tunnel +that led to the avenue in the city beyond the Towers. Gahan, surrounded +by his men, drew Tara and Lan-O into the passageway, and at a rapid +pace the party sought to reach the opposite end of the tunnel before +their escape could be cut off. They were successful and when they +emerged into the city the sun had set and darkness had come, relieved +only by an antiquated and ineffective lighting system, which cast but a +pale glow over the shadowy streets. +</P> + +<P> +Now it was that Tara of Helium guessed why the Black Chief had drawn +out his duel with U-Dor and realized that he might have slain his man +at almost any moment he had elected. The whole plan that Gahan had +whispered to his players before the game was thoroughly understood. +They were to make their way to The Gate of Enemies and there offer +their services to U-Thor, the great Jed of Manatos. The fact that most +of them were Gatholians and that Gahan could lead rescuers to the pit +where A-Kor, the son of U-Thor's wife, was confined, convinced the Jed +of Gathol that they would meet with no rebuff at the hands of U-Thor. +But even should he refuse them, still were they bound together to go on +toward freedom, if necessary cutting their way through the forces of +U-Thor at The Gate of Enemies—twenty men against a small army; but of +such stuff are the warriors of Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +They had covered a considerable distance along the almost deserted +avenue before signs of pursuit developed and then there came upon them +suddenly from behind a dozen warriors mounted on thoats—a detachment, +evidently, from The Jeddak's Guard. Instantly the avenue was a +pandemonium of clashing blades, cursing warriors, and squealing thoats. +In the first onslaught life blood was spilled upon both sides. Two of +Gahan's men went down, and upon the enemies' side three riderless +thoats attested at least a portion of their casualties. +</P> + +<P> +Gahan was engaged with a fellow who appeared to have been selected to +account for him only, since he rode straight for him and sought to cut +him down without giving the slightest heed to several who slashed at +him as he passed them. The Gatholian, practiced in the art of combating +a mounted warrior from the ground, sought to reach the left side of the +fellow's thoat a little to the rider's rear, the only position in which +he would have any advantage over his antagonist, or rather the position +that would most greatly reduce the advantage of the mounted man, and, +similarly, the Manatorian strove to thwart his design. And so the +guardsman wheeled and turned his vicious, angry mount while Gahan +leaped in and out in an effort to reach the coveted vantage point, but +always seeking some other opening in his foe's defense. +</P> + +<P> +And while they jockeyed for position a rider swept swiftly past them. +As he passed behind Gahan the latter heard a cry of alarm. +</P> + +<P> +"Turan, they have me!" came to his ears in the voice of Tara of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +A quick glance across his shoulder showed him the galloping thoatman in +the act of dragging Tara to the withers of the beast, and then, with +the fury of a demon, Gahan of Gathol leaped for his own man, dragged +him from his mount and as he fell smote his head from his shoulders +with a single cut of his keen sword. Scarce had the body touched the +pavement when the Gatholian was upon the back of the dead warrior's +mount, and galloping swiftly down the avenue after the diminishing +figures of Tara and her abductor, the sounds of the fight waning in the +distance as he pursued his quarry along the avenue that passes the +palace of O-Tar and leads to The Gate of Enemies. +</P> + +<P> +Gahan's mount, carrying but a single rider, gained upon that of the +Manatorian, so that as they neared the palace Gahan was scarce a +hundred yards behind, and now, to his consternation, he saw the fellow +turn into the great entrance-way. For a moment only was he halted by +the guards and then he disappeared within. Gahan was almost upon him +then, but evidently he had warned the guards, for they leaped out to +intercept the Gatholian. But no! the fellow could not have known that +he was pursued, since he had not seen Gahan seize a mount, nor would he +have thought that pursuit would come so soon. If he had passed then, so +could Gahan pass, for did he not wear the trappings of a Manatorian? +The Gatholian thought quickly, and stopping his thoat called to the +guardsmen to let him pass, "In the name of O-Tar!" They hesitated a +moment. +</P> + +<P> +"Aside!" cried Gahan. "Must the jeddak's messenger parley for the right +to deliver his message?" +</P> + +<P> +"To whom would you deliver it?" asked the padwar of the guard. +</P> + +<P> +"Saw you not him who just entered?" cried Gahan, and without waiting +for a reply urged his thoat straight past them into the palace, and +while they were deliberating what was best to be done, it was too late +to do anything—which is not unusual. +</P> + +<P> +Along the marble corridors Gahan guided his thoat, and because he had +gone that way before, rather than because he knew which way Tara had +been taken, he followed the runways and passed through the chambers +that led to the throne room of O-Tar. On the second level he met a +slave. +</P> + +<P> +"Which way went he who carried the woman before him?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +The slave pointed toward a nearby runway that led to the third level +and Gahan dashed rapidly on in pursuit. At the same moment a thoatman, +riding at a furious pace, approached the palace and halted his mount at +the gate. +</P> + +<P> +"Saw you aught of a warrior pursuing one who carried a woman before him +on his thoat?" he shouted to the guard. +</P> + +<P> +"He but just passed in," replied the padwar, "saying that he was +O-Tar's messenger." +</P> + +<P> +"He lied," cried the newcomer. "He was Turan, the slave, who stole the +woman from the throne room two days since. Arouse the palace! He must +be seized, and alive if possible. It is O-Tar's command." +</P> + +<P> +Instantly warriors were dispatched to search for the Gatholian and warn +the inmates of the palace to do likewise. Owing to the games there were +comparatively few retainers in the great building, but those whom they +found were immediately enlisted in the search, so that presently at +least fifty warriors were seeking through the countless chambers and +corridors of the palace of O-Tar. +</P> + +<P> +As Gahan's thoat bore him to the third Level the man glimpsed the hind +quarters of another thoat disappearing at the turn of a corridor far +ahead. Urging his own animal forward he raced swiftly in pursuit and +making the turn discovered only an empty corridor ahead. Along this he +hurried to discover near its farther end a runway to the fourth level, +which he followed upward. Here he saw that he had gained upon his +quarry who was just turning through a doorway fifty yards ahead. As +Gahan reached the opening he saw that the warrior had dismounted and +was dragging Tara toward a small door on the opposite side of the +chamber. At the same instant the clank of harness to his rear caused +him to cast a glance behind where, along the corridor he had just +traversed, he saw three warriors approaching on foot at a run. Leaping +from his thoat Gahan sprang into the chamber where Tara was struggling +to free herself from the grasp of her captor, slammed the door behind +him, shot the great bolt into its seat, and drawing his sword crossed +the room at a run to engage the Manatorian. The fellow, thus menaced, +called aloud to Gahan to halt, at the same time thrusting Tara at arm's +length and threatening her heart with the point of his short-sword. +</P> + +<P> +"Stay!" he cried, "or the woman dies, for such is the command of O-Tar, +rather than that she again fall into your hands." +</P> + +<P> +Gahan stopped. But a few feet separated him from Tara and her captor, +yet he was helpless to aid her. Slowly the warrior backed toward the +open doorway behind him, dragging Tara with him. The girl struggled and +fought, but the warrior was a powerful man and having seized her by the +harness from behind was able to hold her in a position of helplessness. +</P> + +<P> +"Save me, Turan!" she cried. "Let them not drag me to a fate worse than +death. Better that I die now while my eyes behold a brave friend than +later, fighting alone among enemies in defense of my honor." +</P> + +<P> +He took a step nearer. The warrior made a threatening gesture with his +sword close to the soft, smooth skin of the princess, and Gahan halted. +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot, Tara of Helium," he cried. "Think not ill of me that I am +weak—that I cannot see you die. Too great is my love for you, daughter +of Helium." +</P> + +<P> +The Manatorian warrior, a derisive grin upon his lips, backed steadily +away. He had almost reached the doorway when Gahan saw another warrior +in the chamber toward which Tara was being borne—a fellow who moved +silently, almost stealthily, across the marble floor as he approached +Tara's captor from behind. In his right hand he grasped a long-sword. +</P> + +<P> +"Two to one," thought Gahan, and a grim smile touched his lips, for he +had no doubt that once they had Tara safely in the adjoining chamber +the two would set upon him. If he could not save her, he could at least +die for her. +</P> + +<P> +And then, suddenly, Gahan's eyes fastened with amazement upon the +figure of the warrior behind the grinning fellow who held Tara and was +forcing her to the doorway. He saw the newcomer step almost within +arm's reach of the other. He saw him stop, an expression of malevolent +hatred upon his features. He saw the great sword swing through the arc +of a great circle, gathering swift and terrific momentum from its own +weight backed by the brawn of the steel thews that guided it; he saw it +pass through the feathered skull of the Manatorian, splitting his +sardonic grin in twain, and open him to the middle of his breast bone. +</P> + +<P> +As the dead hand relaxed its grasp upon Tara's wrist the girl leaped +forward, without a backward glance, to Gahan's side. His left arm +encircled her, nor did she draw away, as with ready sword the Gatholian +awaited Fate's next decree. Before them Tara's deliverer was wiping the +blood from his sword upon the hair of his victim. He was evidently a +Manatorian, his trappings those of the Jeddak's Guard, and so his act +was inexplicable to Gahan and to Tara. Presently he sheathed his sword +and approached them. +</P> + +<P> +"When a man chooses to hide his identity behind an assumed name," he +said, looking straight into Gahan's eyes, "whatever friend pierces the +deception were no friend if he divulged the other's secret." +</P> + +<P> +He paused as though awaiting a reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Your integrity has perceived and your lips voiced an unalterable +truth," replied Gahan, whose mind was filled with wonder if the +implication could by any possibility be true—that this Manatorian had +guessed his identity. +</P> + +<P> +"We are thus agreed," continued the other, "and I may tell you that +though I am here known as A-Sor, my real name is Tasor." He paused and +watched Gahan's face intently for any sign of the effect of this +knowledge and was rewarded with a quick, though guarded expression of +recognition. +</P> + +<P> +Tasor! Friend of his youth. The son of that great Gatholian noble who +had given his life so gloriously, however futilely, in an attempt to +defend Gahan's sire from the daggers of the assassins. Tasor an +under-padwar in the guard of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator! It was +inconceivable—and yet it was he; there could be no doubt of it. +"Tasor," Gahan repeated aloud. "But it is no Manatorian name." The +statement was half interrogatory, for Gahan's curiosity was aroused. He +would know how his friend and loyal subject had become a Manatorian. +Long years had passed since Tasor had disappeared as mysteriously as +the Princess Haja and many other of Gahan's subjects. The Jed of Gathol +had long supposed him dead. +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied Tasor, "nor is it a Manatorian name. Come, while I search +for a hiding place for you in some forgotten chamber in one of the +untenanted portions of the palace, and as we go I will tell you briefly +how Tasor the Gatholian became A-Sor the Manatorian. +</P> + +<P> +"It befell that as I rode with a dozen of my warriors along the western +border of Gathol searching for zitidars that had strayed from my herds, +we were set upon and surrounded by a great company of Manatorians. They +overpowered us, though not before half our number was slain and the +balance helpless from wounds. And so I was brought a prisoner to +Manataj, a distant city of Manator, and there sold into slavery. A +woman bought me—a princess of Manataj whose wealth and position were +unequaled in the city of her birth. She loved me and when her husband +discovered her infatuation she beseeched me to slay him, and when I +refused she hired another to do it. Then she married me; but none would +have aught to do with her in Manataj, for they suspected her guilty +knowledge of her husband's murder. And so we set out from Manataj for +Manatos accompanied by a great caravan bearing all her worldly goods +and jewels and precious metals, and on the way she caused the rumor to +be spread that she and I had died. Then we came to Manator instead, she +taking a new name and I the name A-Sor, that we might not be traced +through our names. With her great wealth she bought me a post in The +Jeddak's Guard and none knows that I am not a Manatorian, for she is +dead. She was beautiful, but she was a devil." +</P> + +<P> +"And you never sought to return to your native city?" asked Gahan. +</P> + +<P> +"Never has the hope been absent from my heart, or my mind empty of a +plan," replied Tasor. "I dream of it by day and by night, but always +must I return to the same conclusion—that there can be but a single +means for escape. I must wait until Fortune favors me with a place in a +raiding party to Gathol. Then, once within the boundaries of my own +country, they shall see me no more." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps your opportunity lies already within your grasp," said Gahan, +"has not your fealty to your own Jed been undermined by years of +association with the men of Manator." The statement was half challenge. +</P> + +<P> +"And my Jed stood before me now," cried Tasor, "and my avowal could be +made without violating his confidence, I should cast my sword at his +feet and beg the high privilege of dying for him as my sire died for +his sire." +</P> + +<P> +There could be no doubt of his sincerity nor any that he was cognizant +of Gahan's identity. The Jed of Gathol smiled. "And if your Jed were +here there is little doubt but that he would command you to devote your +talents and your prowess to the rescue of the Princess Tara of Helium," +he said, meaningly. "And he possessed the knowledge I have gained +during my captivity he would say to you, 'Go, Tasor, to the pit where +A-kor, son of Haja of Gathol, is confined and set him free and with him +arouse the slaves from Gathol and march to The Gate of Enemies and +offer your services to U-Thor of Manataj, who is wed to Haja of Gathol, +and ask of him in return that he attack the palace of O-Tar and rescue +Tara of Helium and when that thing is accomplished that he free the +slaves of Gathol and furnish them with the arms and the means to return +to their own country.' That, Tasor of Gathol, is what Gahan your Jed +would demand of you." +</P> + +<P> +"And that, Turan the slave, is what I shall bend my every effort to +accomplish after I have found a safe refuge for Tara of Helium and her +panthan," replied Tasor. +</P> + +<P> +Gahan's glance carried to Tasor an intimation of his Jed's +gratification and filled him with a chivalrous determination to do the +thing required of him, or die, for he considered that he had received +from the lips of his beloved ruler a commission that placed upon his +shoulders a responsibility that encompassed not alone the life of Gahan +and Tara but the welfare, perhaps the whole future, of Gathol. And so +he hastened them onward through the musty corridors of the old palace +where the dust of ages lay undisturbed upon the marble tiles. Now and +again he tried a door until he found one that was unlocked. Opening it +he ushered them into a chamber, heavy with dust. Crumbling silks and +furs adorned the walls, with ancient weapons, and great paintings whose +colors were toned by age to wondrous softness. +</P> + +<P> +"This be as good as any place," he said. "No one comes here. Never have +I been here before, so I know no more of the other chambers than you; +but this one, at least, I can find again when I bring you food and +drink. O-Mai the Cruel occupied this portion of the palace during his +reign, five thousand years before O-Tar. In one of these apartments he +was found dead, his face contorted in an expression of fear so horrible +that it drove to madness those who looked upon it; yet there was no +mark of violence upon him. Since then the quarters of O-Mai have been +shunned for the legends have it that the ghosts of Corphals pursue the +spirit of the wicked Jeddak nightly through these chambers, shrieking +and moaning as they go. But," he added, as though to reassure himself +as well as his companions, "such things may not be countenanced by the +culture of Gathol or Helium." +</P> + +<P> +Gahan laughed. "And if all who looked upon him were driven mad, who +then was there to perform the last rites or prepare the body of the +Jeddak for them?" +</P> + +<P> +"There was none," replied Tasor. "Where they found him they left him +and there to this very day his mouldering bones lie hid in some +forgotten chamber of this forbidden suite." +</P> + +<P> +Tasor left them then assuring them that he would seek the first +opportunity to speak with A-Kor, and upon the following day he would +bring them food and drink.* +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +* Those who have read John Carter's description of the Green Martians +in A Princess of Mars will recall that these strange people could exist +for considerable periods of time without food or water, and to a lesser +degree is the same true of all Martians. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +After Tasor had gone Tara turned to Gahan and approaching laid a hand +upon his arm. "So swiftly have events transpired since I recognized you +beneath your disguise," she said, "that I have had no opportunity to +assure you of my gratitude and the high esteem that your valor has won +for you in my consideration. Let me now acknowledge my indebtedness; +and if promises be not vain from one whose life and liberty are in +grave jeopardy, accept my assurance of the great reward that awaits you +at the hand of my father in Helium." +</P> + +<P> +"I desire no reward," he replied, "other than the happiness of knowing +that the woman I love is happy." +</P> + +<P> +For an instant the eyes of Tara of Helium blazed as she drew herself +haughtily to her full height, and then they softened and her attitude +relaxed as she shook her head sadly. +</P> + +<P> +"I have it not in my heart to reprimand you, Turan," she said, "however +great your fault, for you have been an honorable and a loyal friend to +Tara of Helium; but you must not say what my ears must not hear." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean," he asked, "that the ears of a Princess must not listen to +words of love from a panthan?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is not that, Turan," she replied; "but rather that I may not in +honor listen to words of love from another than him to whom I am +betrothed—a fellow countryman, Djor Kantos." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean, Tara of Helium," he cried, "that were it not for that you +would—" +</P> + +<P> +"Stop!" she commanded. "You have no right to assume aught else than my +lips testify." +</P> + +<P> +"The eyes are ofttimes more eloquent than the lips, Tara," he replied; +"and in yours I have read that which is neither hatred nor contempt for +Turan the panthan, and my heart tells me that your lips bore false +witness when they cried in anger: 'I hate you!'" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not hate you, Turan, nor yet may I love you," said the girl, +simply. +</P> + +<P> +"When I broke my way out from the chamber of I-Gos I was indeed upon +the verge of believing that you did hate me," he said, "for only +hatred, it seemed to me, could account for the fact that you had gone +without making an effort to liberate me; but presently both my heart +and my judgment told me that Tara of Helium could not have deserted a +companion in distress, and though I still am in ignorance of the facts +I know that it was beyond your power to aid me." +</P> + +<P> +"It was indeed," said the girl. "Scarce had I-Gos fallen at the bite of +my dagger than I heard the approach of warriors. I ran then to hide +until they had passed, thinking to return and liberate you; but in +seeking to elude the party I had heard I ran full into the arms of +another. They questioned me as to your whereabouts, and I told them +that you had gone ahead and that I was following you and thus I led +them from you." +</P> + +<P> +"I knew," was Gahan's only comment, but his heart was glad with +elation, as a lover's must be who has heard from the lips of his +divinity an avowal of interest and loyalty, however little tinged by a +suggestion of warmer regard it may be. To be abused, even, by the +mistress of one's heart is better than to be ignored. +</P> + +<P> +As the two conversed in the ill-lit chamber, the dim bulbs of which +were encrusted with the accumulated dust of centuries, a bent and +withered figure traversed slowly the gloomy corridors without, his weak +and watery eyes peering through thick lenses at the signs of passage +written upon the dusty floor. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MENACE OF THE DEAD +</H3> + +<P> +The night was still young when there came one to the entrance of the +banquet hall where O-Tar of Manator dined with his chiefs, and brushing +past the guards entered the great room with the insolence of a +privileged character, as in truth he was. As he approached the head of +the long board O-Tar took notice of him. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, hoary one!" he cried. "What brings you out of your beloved and +stinking burrow again this day. We thought that the sight of the +multitude of living men at the games would drive you back to your +corpses as quickly as you could go." +</P> + +<P> +The cackling laugh of I-Gos acknowledged the royal sally. "Ey, ey, +O-Tar," squeaked the ancient one, "I-Gos goes out not upon pleasure +bound; but when one does ruthlessly desecrate the dead of I-Gos, +vengeance must be had!" +</P> + +<P> +"You refer to the act of the slave Turan?" demanded O-Tar. +</P> + +<P> +"Turan, yes, and the slave Tara, who slipped beneath my hide a +murderous blade. Another fraction of an inch, O-Tar, and I-Gos' ancient +and wrinkled covering were even now in some apprentice tanner's hands, +ey, ey!" +</P> + +<P> +"But they have again eluded us," cried O-Tar. "Even in the palace of +the great jeddak twice have they escaped the stupid knaves I call The +Jeddak's Guard." O-Tar had risen and was angrily emphasizing his words +with heavy blows upon the table, dealt with a golden goblet. +</P> + +<P> +"Ey, O-Tar, they elude thy guard but not the wise old calot, I-Gos." +</P> + +<P> +"What mean you? Speak!" commanded O-Tar. +</P> + +<P> +"I know where they are hid," said the ancient taxidermist. "In the dust +of unused corridors their feet have betrayed them." +</P> + +<P> +"You followed them? You have seen them?" demanded the jeddak. +</P> + +<P> +"I followed them and I heard them speaking beyond a closed door," +replied I-Gos; "but I did not see them." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is that door?" cried O-Tar. "We will send at once and fetch +them," he looked about the table as though to decide to whom he would +entrust this duty. A dozen warrior chiefs arose and laid their hands +upon their swords. +</P> + +<P> +"To the chambers of O-Mai the Cruel I traced them," squeaked I-Gos. +"There you will find them where the moaning Corphals pursue the +shrieking ghost of O-Mai; ey!" and he turned his eyes from O-Tar toward +the warriors who had arisen, only to discover that, to a man, they were +hurriedly resuming their seats. +</P> + +<P> +The cackling laughter of I-Gos broke derisively the hush that had +fallen on the room. The warriors looked sheepishly at the food upon +their plates of gold. O-Tar snapped his fingers impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"Be there only cravens among the chiefs of Manator?" he cried. +"Repeatedly have these presumptuous slaves flouted the majesty of your +jeddak. Must I command one to go and fetch them?" +</P> + +<P> +Slowly a chief arose and two others followed his example, though with +ill-concealed reluctance. "All, then, are not cowards," commented +O-Tar. "The duty is distasteful. Therefore all three of you shall go, +taking as many warriors as you wish." +</P> + +<P> +"But do not ask for volunteers," interrupted I-Gos, "or you will go +alone." +</P> + +<P> +The three chiefs turned and left the banquet hall, walking slowly like +doomed men to their fate. +</P> + +<P> +Gahan and Tara remained in the chamber to which Tasor had led them, the +man brushing away the dust from a deep and comfortable bench where they +might rest in comparative comfort. He had found the ancient sleeping +silks and furs too far gone to be of any service, crumbling to powder +at a touch, thus removing any chance of making a comfortable bed for +the girl, and so the two sat together, talking in low tones, of the +adventures through which they already had passed and speculating upon +the future; planning means of escape and hoping Tasor would not be long +gone. They spoke of many things—of Hastor, and Helium, and Ptarth, and +finally the conversation reminded Tara of Gathol. +</P> + +<P> +"You have served there?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Turan. +</P> + +<P> +"I met Gahan the Jed of Gathol at my father's palace," she said, "the +very day before the storm snatched me from Helium—he was a +presumptuous fellow, magnificently trapped in platinum and diamonds. +Never in my life saw I so gorgeous a harness as his, and you must well +know, Turan, that the splendor of all Barsoom passes through the court +at Helium; but in my mind I could not see so resplendent a creature +drawing that jeweled sword in mortal combat. I fear me that the Jed of +Gathol, though a pretty picture of a man, is little else." +</P> + +<P> +In the dim light Tara did not perceive the wry expression upon the +half-averted face of her companion. +</P> + +<P> +"You thought little then of the Jed of Gathol?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Then or now," she replied, and with a little laugh; "how it would +pique his vanity to know, if he might, that a poor panthan had won a +higher place in the regard of Tara of Helium," and she laid her fingers +gently upon his knee. +</P> + +<P> +He seized the fingers in his and carried them to his lips. "O, Tara of +Helium," he cried. "Think you that I am a man of stone?" One arm +slipped about her shoulders and drew the yielding body toward him. +</P> + +<P> +"May my first ancestor forgive me my weakness," she cried, as her arms +stole about his neck and she raised her panting lips to his. For long +they clung there in love's first kiss and then she pushed him away, +gently. "I love you, Turan," she half sobbed; "I love you so! It is my +only poor excuse for having done this wrong to Djor Kantos, whom now I +know I never loved, who knew not the meaning of love. And if you love +me as you say, Turan, your love must protect me from greater dishonor, +for I am but as clay in your hands." +</P> + +<P> +Again he crushed her to him and then as suddenly released her, and +rising, strode rapidly to and fro across the chamber as though he +endeavored by violent exercise to master and subdue some evil spirit +that had laid hold upon him. Ringing through his brain and heart and +soul like some joyous paean were those words that had so altered the +world for Gahan of Gathol: "I love you, Turan; I love you so!" And it +had come so suddenly. He had thought that she felt for him only +gratitude for his loyalty and then, in an instant, her barriers were +all down, she was no longer a princess; but instead a—his reflections +were interrupted by a sound from beyond the closed door. His sandals of +zitidar hide had given forth no sound upon the marble floor he strode, +and as his rapid pacing carried him past the entrance to the chamber +there came faintly from the distance of the long corridor the sound of +metal on metal—the unmistakable herald of the approach of armed men. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Gahan listened intently, close to the door, until there +could be no doubt but that a party of warriors was approaching. From +what Tasor had told him he guessed correctly that they would be coming +to this portion of the palace but for a single purpose—to search for +Tara and himself—and it behooved him therefore to seek immediate means +for eluding them. The chamber in which they were had other doorways +beside that at which they had entered, and to one of these he must look +for some safer hiding place. Crossing to Tara he acquainted her with +his suspicion, leading her to one of the doors which they found +unsecured. Beyond it lay a dimly-lighted chamber at the threshold of +which they halted in consternation, drawing back quickly into the +chamber they had just quitted, for their first glance revealed four +warriors seated around a jetan board. +</P> + +<P> +That their entrance had not been noted was attributed by Gahan to the +absorption of the two players and their friends in the game. Quietly +closing the door the fugitives moved silently to the next, which they +found locked. There was now but another door which they had not tried, +and this they approached quickly as they knew that the searching party +must be close to the chamber. To their chagrin they found this avenue +of escape barred. +</P> + +<P> +Now indeed were they in a sorry plight, for should the searchers have +information leading them to this room they were lost. Again leading +Tara to the door behind which were the jetan players Gahan drew his +sword and waited, listening. The sound of the party in the corridor +came distinctly to their ears—they must be quite close, and doubtless +they were coming in force. Beyond the door were but four warriors who +might be readily surprised. There could, then, be but one choice and +acting upon it Gahan quietly opened the door again, stepped through +into the adjoining chamber, Tara's hand in his, and closed the door +behind them. The four at the jetan board evidently failed to hear them. +One player had either just made or was contemplating a move, for his +fingers grasped a piece that still rested upon the board. The other +three were watching his move. For an instant Gahan looked at them, +playing jetan there in the dim light of this forgotten and forbidden +chamber, and then a slow smile of understanding lighted his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Come!" he said to Tara. "We have nothing to fear from these. For more +than five thousand years they have sat thus, a monument to the +handiwork of some ancient taxidermist." +</P> + +<P> +As they approached more closely they saw that the lifelike figures were +coated with dust, but that otherwise the skin was in as fine a state of +preservation as the most recent of I-Gos' groups, and then they heard +the door of the chamber they had quitted open and knew that the +searchers were close upon them. Across the room they saw the opening of +what appeared to be a corridor and which investigation proved to be a +short passageway, terminating in a chamber in the center of which was +an ornate sleeping dais. This room, like the others, was but poorly +lighted, time having dimmed the radiance of its bulbs and coated them +with dust. A glance showed that it was hung with heavy goods and +contained considerable massive furniture in addition to the sleeping +platform, a second glance at which revealed what appeared to be the +form of a man lying partially on the floor and partially on the dais. +No doorways were visible other than that at which they had entered, +though both knew that others might be concealed by the hangings. +</P> + +<P> +Gahan, his curiosity aroused by the legends surrounding this portion of +the palace, crossed to the dais to examine the figure that apparently +had fallen from it, to find the dried and shrivelled corpse of a man +lying upon his back on the floor with arms outstretched and fingers +stiffly outspread. One of his feet was doubled partially beneath him, +while the other was still entangled in the sleeping silks and furs upon +the dais. After five thousand years the expression of the withered face +and the eyeless sockets retained the aspect of horrid fear to such an +extent, that Gahan knew that he was looking upon the body of O-Mai the +Cruel. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Tara, who stood close beside him, clutched his arm and pointed +toward a far corner of the room. Gahan looked and looking felt the +hairs upon his neck rising. He threw his left arm about the girl and +with bared sword stood between her and the hangings that they watched, +and then slowly Gahan of Gathol backed away, for in this grim and +somber chamber, which no human foot had trod for five thousand years +and to which no breath of wind might enter, the heavy hangings in the +far corner had moved. Not gently had they moved as a draught might have +moved them had there been a draught, but suddenly they had bulged out +as though pushed against from behind. To the opposite corner backed +Gahan until they stood with their backs against the hangings there, and +then hearing the approach of their pursuers across the chamber beyond +Gahan pushed Tara through the hangings and, following her, kept open +with his left hand, which he had disengaged from the girl's grasp, a +tiny opening through which he could view the apartment and the doorway +upon the opposite side through which the pursuers would enter, if they +came this far. +</P> + +<P> +Behind the hangings there was a space of about three feet in width +between them and the wall, making a passageway entirely around the +room, broken only by the single entrance opposite them; this being a +common arrangement especially in the sleeping apartments of the rich +and powerful upon Barsoom. The purposes of this arrangement were +several. The passageway afforded a station for guards in the same room +with their master without intruding entirely upon his privacy; it +concealed secret exits from the chamber; it permitted the occupant of +the room to hide eavesdroppers and assassins for use against enemies +that he might lure to his chamber. +</P> + +<P> +The three chiefs with a dozen warriors had had no difficulty in +following the tracks of the fugitives through the dust of the corridors +and chambers they had traversed. To enter this portion of the palace at +all had required all the courage they possessed, and now that they were +within the very chambers of O-Mai their nerves were pitched to the +highest key—another turn and they would snap; for the people of +Manator are filled with weird superstitions. As they entered the outer +chamber they moved slowly, with drawn swords, no one seeming anxious to +take the lead, and the twelve warriors hanging back in unconcealed and +shameless terror, while the three chiefs, spurred on by fear of O-Tar +and by pride, pressed together for mutual encouragement as they slowly +crossed the dimly-lighted room. +</P> + +<P> +Following the tracks of Gahan and Tara they found that though each +doorway had been approached only one threshold had been crossed and +this door they gingerly opened, revealing to their astonished gaze the +four warriors at the jetan table. For a moment they were on the verge +of flight, for though they knew what they were, coming as they did upon +them in this mysterious and haunted suite, they were as startled as +though they had beheld the very ghosts of the departed. But they +presently regained their courage sufficiently to cross this chamber too +and enter the short passageway that led to the ancient sleeping +apartment of O-Mai the Cruel. They did not know that this awful chamber +lay just before them, or it were doubtful that they would have +proceeded farther; but they saw that those they sought had come this +way and so they followed, but within the gloomy interior of the chamber +they halted, the three chiefs urging their followers, in low whispers, +to close in behind them, and there just within the entrance they stood +until, their eyes becoming accustomed to the dim light, one of them +pointed suddenly to the thing lying upon the floor with one foot +tangled in the coverings of the dais. +</P> + +<P> +"Look!" he gasped. "It is the corpse of O-Mai! Ancestor of ancestors! +we are in the forbidden chamber." Simultaneously there came from behind +the hangings beyond the grewsome dead a hollow moan followed by a +piercing scream, and the hangings shook and bellied before their eyes. +</P> + +<P> +With one accord, chieftains and warriors, they turned and bolted for +the doorway; a narrow doorway, where they jammed, fighting and +screaming in an effort to escape. They threw away their swords and +clawed at one another to make a passage for escape; those behind +climbed upon the shoulders of those in front; and some fell and were +trampled upon; but at last they all got through, and, the swiftest +first, they bolted across the two intervening chambers to the outer +corridor beyond, nor did they halt their mad retreat before they +stumbled, weak and trembling, into the banquet hall of O-Tar. At sight +of them the warriors who had remained with the jeddak leaped to their +feet with drawn swords, thinking that their fellows were pursued by +many enemies; but no one followed them into the room, and the three +chieftains came and stood before O-Tar with bowed heads and trembling +knees. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" demanded the jeddak. "What ails you? Speak!" +</P> + +<P> +"O-Tar," cried one of them when at last he could master his voice. +"When have we three failed you in battle or combat? Have our swords +been not always among the foremost in defense of your safety and your +honor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Have I denied this?" demanded O-Tar. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, then, O Jeddak, and judge us with leniency. We followed the +two slaves to the apartments of O-Mai the Cruel. We entered the +accursed chambers and still we did not falter. We came at last to that +horrid chamber no human eye had scanned before in fifty centuries and +we looked upon the dead face of O-Mai lying as he has lain for all this +time. To the very death chamber of O-Mai the Cruel we came and yet we +were ready to go farther; when suddenly there broke upon our horrified +ears the moans and the shrieking that mark these haunted chambers and +the hangings moved and rustled in the dead air. O-Tar, it was more than +human nerves could endure. We turned and fled. We threw away our swords +and fought with one another to escape. With sorrow, but without shame, +I tell it, for there be no man in all Manator that would not have done +the same. If these slaves be Corphals they are safe among their fellow +ghosts. If they be not Corphals, then already are they dead in the +chambers of O-Mai, and there may they rot for all of me, for I would +not return to that accursed spot for the harness of a jeddak and the +half of Barsoom for an empire. I have spoken." +</P> + +<P> +O-Tar knitted his scowling brows. "Are all my chieftains cowards and +cravens?" he demanded presently in sneering tones. +</P> + +<P> +From among those who had not been of the searching party a chieftain +arose and turned a scowling face upon O-Tar. +</P> + +<P> +"The jeddak knows," he said, "that in the annals of Manator her jeddaks +have ever been accounted the bravest of her warriors. Where my jeddak +leads I will follow, nor may any jeddak call me a coward or a craven +unless I refuse to go where he dares to go. I have spoken." +</P> + +<P> +After he had resumed his seat there was a painful silence, for all knew +that the speaker had challenged the courage of O-Tar the Jeddak of +Manator and all awaited the reply of their ruler. In every mind was the +same thought—O-Tar must lead them at once to the chamber of O-Mai the +Cruel, or accept forever the stigma of cowardice, and there could be no +coward upon the throne of Manator. That they all knew and that O-Tar +knew, as well. +</P> + +<P> +But O-Tar hesitated. He looked about upon the faces of those around him +at the banquet board; but he saw only the grim visages of relentless +warriors. There was no trace of leniency in the face of any. And then +his eyes wandered to a small entrance at one side of the great chamber. +An expression of relief expunged the scowl of anxiety from his features. +</P> + +<P> +"Look!" he exclaimed. "See who has come!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHARGE OF COWARDICE +</H3> + +<P> +Gahan, watching through the aperture between the hangings, saw the +frantic flight of their pursuers. A grim smile rested upon his lips as +he viewed the mad scramble for safety and saw them throw away their +swords and fight with one another to be first from the chamber of fear, +and when they were all gone he turned back toward Tara, the smile still +upon his lips; but the smile died the instant that he turned, for he +saw that Tara had disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Tara!" he called in a loud voice, for he knew that there was no danger +that their pursuers would return; but there was no response, unless it +was a faint sound as of cackling laughter from afar. Hurriedly he +searched the passageway behind the hangings finding several doors, one +of which was ajar. Through this he entered the adjoining chamber which +was lighted more brilliantly for the moment by the soft rays of +hurtling Thuria taking her mad way through the heavens. Here he found +the dust upon the floor disturbed, and the imprint of sandals. They had +come this way—Tara and whatever the creature was that had stolen her. +</P> + +<P> +But what could it have been? Gahan, a man of culture and high +intelligence, held few if any superstitions. In common with nearly all +races of Barsoom he clung, more or less inherently, to a certain +exalted form of ancestor worship, though it was rather the memory or +legends of the virtues and heroic deeds of his forebears that he +deified rather than themselves. He never expected any tangible evidence +of their existence after death; he did not believe that they had the +power either for good or for evil other than the effect that their +example while living might have had upon following generations; he did +not believe therefore in the materialization of dead spirits. If there +was a life hereafter he knew nothing of it, for he knew that science +had demonstrated the existence of some material cause for every +seemingly supernatural phenomenon of ancient religions and +superstitions. Yet he was at a loss to know what power might have +removed Tara so suddenly and mysteriously from his side in a chamber +that had not known the presence of man for five thousand years. +</P> + +<P> +In the darkness he could not see whether there were the imprints of +other sandals than Tara's—only that the dust was disturbed—and when +it led him into gloomy corridors he lost the trail altogether. A +perfect labyrinth of passages and apartments were now revealed to him +as he hurried on through the deserted quarters of O-Mai. Here was an +ancient bath—doubtless that of the jeddak himself, and again he passed +through a room in which a meal had been laid upon a table five thousand +years before—the untasted breakfast of O-Mai, perhaps. There passed +before his eyes in the brief moments that he traversed the chambers, a +wealth of ornaments and jewels and precious metals that surprised even +the Jed of Gathol whose harness was of diamonds and platinum and whose +riches were the envy of a world. But at last his search of O-Mai's +chambers ended in a small closet in the floor of which was the opening +to a spiral runway leading straight down into Stygian darkness. The +dust at the entrance of the closet had been freshly disturbed, and as +this was the only possible indication that Gahan had of the direction +taken by the abductor of Tara it seemed as well to follow on as to +search elsewhere. So, without hesitation, he descended into the utter +darkness below. Feeling with a foot before taking a forward step his +descent was necessarily slow, but Gahan was a Barsoomian and so knew +the pitfalls that might await the unwary in such dark, forbidden +portions of a jeddak's palace. +</P> + +<P> +He had descended for what he judged might be three full levels and was +pausing, as he occasionally did, to listen, when he distinctly heard a +peculiar shuffling, scraping sound approaching him from below. Whatever +the thing was it was ascending the runway at a steady pace and would +soon be near him. Gahan laid his hand upon the hilt of his sword and +drew it slowly from its scabbard that he might make no noise that would +apprise the creature of his presence. He wished that there might be +even the slightest lessening of the darkness. If he could see but the +outline of the thing that approached him he would feel that he had a +fairer chance in the meeting; but he could see nothing, and then +because he could see nothing the end of his scabbard struck the stone +side of the runway, giving off a sound that the stillness and the +narrow confines of the passage and the darkness seemed to magnify to a +terrific clatter. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly the shuffling sound of approach ceased. For a moment Gahan +stood in silent waiting, then casting aside discretion he moved on +again down the spiral. The thing, whatever it might be, gave forth no +sound now by which Gahan might locate it. At any moment it might be +upon him and so he kept his sword in readiness. Down, ever downward the +steep spiral led. The darkness and the silence of the tomb surrounded +him, yet somewhere ahead was something. He was not alone in that horrid +place—another presence that he could not hear or see hovered before +him—of that he was positive. Perhaps it was the thing that had stolen +Tara. Perhaps Tara herself, still in the clutches of some nameless +horror, was just ahead of him. He quickened his pace—it became almost +a run at the thought of the danger that threatened the woman he loved, +and then he collided with a wooden door that swung open to the impact. +Before him was a lighted corridor. On either side were chambers. He had +advanced but a short distance from the bottom of the spiral when he +recognized that he was in the pits below the palace. A moment later he +heard behind him the shuffling sound that had attracted his attention +in the spiral runway. Wheeling about he saw the author of the sound +emerging from a doorway he had just passed. It was Ghek the kaldane. +</P> + +<P> +"Ghek!" exclaimed Gahan. "It was you in the runway? Have you seen Tara +of Helium?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was I in the spiral," replied the kaldane; "but I have not seen +Tara of Helium. I have been searching for her. Where is she?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know," replied the Gatholian; "but we must find her and take +her from this place." +</P> + +<P> +"We may find her," said Ghek; "but I doubt our ability to take her +away. It is not so easy to leave Manator as it is to enter it. I may +come and go at will, through the ancient burrows of the ulsios; but you +are too large for that and your lungs need more air than may be found +in some of the deeper runways." +</P> + +<P> +"But U-Thor!" exclaimed Gahan. "Have you heard aught of him or his +intentions?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have heard much," replied Ghek. "He camps at The Gate of Enemies. +That spot he holds and his warriors lie just beyond The Gate; but he +has not sufficient force to enter the city and take the palace. An hour +since and you might have made your way to him; but now every avenue is +strongly guarded since O-Tar learned that A-Kor had escaped to U-Thor." +</P> + +<P> +"A-Kor has escaped and joined U-Thor!" exclaimed Gahan. +</P> + +<P> +"But little more than an hour since. I was with him when a warrior +came—a man whose name is Tasor—who brought a message from you. It was +decided that Tasor should accompany A-Kor in an attempt to reach the +camp of U-Thor, the great jed of Manatos, and exact from him the +assurances you required. Then U-Thor was to return and take food to you +and the Princess of Helium. I accompanied them. We won through easily +and found U-Thor more than willing to respect your every wish, but when +Tasor would have returned to you the way was blocked by the warriors of +O-Tar. Then it was that I volunteered to come to you and report and +find food and drink and then go forth among the Gatholian slaves of +Manator and prepare them for their part in the plan that U-Thor and +Tasor conceived." +</P> + +<P> +"And what was this plan?" +</P> + +<P> +"U-Thor has sent for reinforcements. To Manatos he has sent and to all +the outlying districts that are his. It will take a month to collect +and bring them hither and in the meantime the slaves within the city +are to organize secretly, stealing and hiding arms against the day that +the reinforcements arrive. When that day comes the forces of U-Thor +will enter the Gate of Enemies and as the warriors of O-Tar rush to +repulse them the slaves from Gathol will fall upon them from the rear +with the majority of their numbers, while the balance will assault the +palace. They hope thus to divert so many from The Gate that U-Thor will +have little difficulty in forcing an entrance to the city." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps they will succeed," commented Gahan; "but the warriors of +O-Tar are many, and those who fight in defense of their homes and their +jeddak have always an advantage. Ah, Ghek, would that we had the great +warships of Gathol or of Helium to pour their merciless fire into the +streets of Manator while U-Thor marched to the palace over the corpses +of the slain." He paused, deep in thought, and then turned his gaze +again upon the kaldane. "Heard you aught of the party that escaped with +me from The Field of Jetan—of Floran, Val Dor, and the others? What of +them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ten of these won through to U-Thor at The Gate of Enemies and were +well received by him. Eight fell in the fighting upon the way. Val Dor +and Floran live, I believe, for I am sure that I heard U-Thor address +two warriors by these names." +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" exclaimed Gahan. "Go then, through the burrows of the ulsios, +to The Gate of Enemies and carry to Floran the message that I shall +write in his own language. Come, while I write the message." +</P> + +<P> +In a nearby room they found a bench and table and there Gahan sat and +wrote in the strange, stenographic characters of Martian script a +message to Floran of Gathol. "Why," he asked, when he had finished it, +"did you search for Tara through the spiral runway where we nearly met?" +</P> + +<P> +"Tasor told me where you were to be found, and as I have explored the +greater part of the palace by means of the ulsio runways and the darker +and less frequented passages I knew precisely where you were and how to +reach you. This secret spiral ascends from the pits to the roof of the +loftiest of the palace towers. It has secret openings at every level; +but there is no living Manatorian, I believe, who knows of its +existence. At least never have I met one within it and I have used it +many times. Thrice have I been in the chamber where O-Mai lies, though +I knew nothing of his identity or the story of his death until Tasor +told it to us in the camp of U-Thor." +</P> + +<P> +"You know the palace thoroughly then?" Gahan interrupted. +</P> + +<P> +"Better than O-Tar himself or any of his servants." +</P> + +<P> +"Good! And you would serve the Princess Tara, Ghek, you may serve her +best by accompanying Floran and following his instructions. I will +write them here at the close of my message to him, for the walls have +ears, Ghek, while none but a Gatholian may read what I have written to +Floran. He will transmit it to you. Can I trust you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I may never return to Bantoom," replied Ghek. "Therefore I have but +two friends in all Barsoom. What better may I do than serve them +faithfully? You may trust me, Gatholian, who with a woman of your kind +has taught me that there be finer and nobler things than perfect +mentality uninfluenced by the unreasoning tuitions of the heart. I go." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +As O-Tar pointed to the little doorway all eyes turned in the direction +he indicated and surprise was writ large upon the faces of the warriors +when they recognized the two who had entered the banquet hall. There +was I-Gos, and he dragged behind him one who was gagged and whose hands +were fastened behind with a ribbon of tough silk. It was the slave +girl. I-Gos' cackling laughter rose above the silence of the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Ey, ey!" he shrilled. "What the young warriors of O-Tar cannot do, old +I-Gos does alone." +</P> + +<P> +"Only a Corphal may capture a Corphal," growled one of the chiefs who +had fled from the chambers of O-Mai. +</P> + +<P> +I-Gos laughed. "Terror turned your heart to water," he replied; "and +shame your tongue to libel. This be no Corphal, but only a woman of +Helium; her companion a warrior who can match blades with the best of +you and cut your putrid hearts. Not so in the days of I-Gos' youth. Ah, +then were there men in Manator. Well do I recall that day that I—" +</P> + +<P> +"Peace, doddering fool!" commanded O-Tar. "Where is the man?" +</P> + +<P> +"Where I found the woman—in the death chamber of O-Mai. Let your wise +and brave chieftains go thither and fetch him. I am an old man, and +could bring but one." +</P> + +<P> +"You have done well, I-Gos," O-Tar hastened to assure him, for when he +learned that Gahan might still be in the haunted chambers he wished to +appease the wrath of I-Gos, knowing well the vitriolic tongue and +temper of the ancient one. "You think she is no Corphal, then, I-Gos?" +he asked, wishing to carry the subject from the man who was still at +large. +</P> + +<P> +"No more than you," replied the ancient taxidermist. +</P> + +<P> +O-Tar looked long and searchingly at Tara of Helium. All the beauty +that was hers seemed suddenly to be carried to every fibre of his +consciousness. She was still garbed in the rich harness of a Black +Princess of Jetan, and as O-Tar the Jeddak gazed upon her he realized +that never before had his eyes rested upon a more perfect figure—a +more beautiful face. +</P> + +<P> +"She is no Corphal," he murmured to himself. "She is no Corphal and she +is a princess—a princess of Helium, and, by the golden hair of the +Holy Hekkador, she is beautiful. Take the gag from her mouth and +release her hands," he commanded aloud. "Make room for the Princess +Tara of Helium at the side of O-Tar of Manator. She shall dine as +becomes a princess." +</P> + +<P> +Slaves did as O-Tar bid and Tara of Helium stood with flashing eyes +behind the chair that was offered her. "Sit!" commanded O-Tar. +</P> + +<P> +The girl sank into the chair. "I sit as a prisoner," she said; "not as +a guest at the board of my enemy, O-Tar of Manator." +</P> + +<P> +O-Tar motioned his followers from the room. "I would speak alone with +the Princess of Helium," he said. The company and the slaves withdrew +and once more the Jeddak of Manator turned toward the girl. "O-Tar of +Manator would be your friend," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Tara of Helium sat with arms folded upon her small, firm breasts, her +eyes flashing from behind narrowed lids, nor did she deign to answer +his overture. O-Tar leaned closer to her. He noted the hostility of her +bearing and he recalled his first encounter with her. She was a +she-banth, but she was beautiful. She was by far the most desirable +woman that O-Tar had ever looked upon and he was determined to possess +her. He told her so. +</P> + +<P> +"I could take you as my slave," he said to her; "but it pleases me to +make you my wife. You shall be Jeddara of Manator. You shall have seven +days in which to prepare for the great honor that O-Tar is conferring +upon you, and at this hour of the seventh day you shall become an +empress and the wife of O-Tar in the throne room of the jeddaks of +Manator." He struck a gong that stood beside him upon the table and +when a slave appeared he bade him recall the company. Slowly the chiefs +filed in and took their places at the table. Their faces were grim and +scowling, for there was still unanswered the question of their jeddak's +courage. If O-Tar had hoped they would forget he had been mistaken in +his men. +</P> + +<P> +O-Tar arose. "In seven days," he announced, "there will be a great +feast in honor of the new Jeddara of Manator," and he waved his hand +toward Tara of Helium. "The ceremony will occur at the beginning of the +seventh zode* in the throne room. In the meantime the Princess of +Helium will be cared for in the tower of the women's quarters of the +palace. Conduct her thither, E-Thas, with a suitable guard of honor and +see to it that slaves and eunuchs be placed at her disposal, who shall +attend upon all her wants and guard her carefully from harm." +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +* About 8:30 P. M. Earth Time. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Now E-Thas knew that the real meaning concealed in these fine words was +that he should conduct the prisoner under a strong guard to the women's +quarters and confine her there in the tower for seven days, placing +about her trustworthy guards who would prevent her escape or frustrate +any attempted rescue. +</P> + +<P> +As Tara was departing from the chamber with E-Thas and the guard, O-Tar +leaned close to her ear and whispered: "Consider well during these +seven days the high honor I have offered you, and—its sole +alternative." As though she had not heard him the girl passed out of +the banquet hall, her head high and her eyes straight to the front. +</P> + +<P> +After Ghek had left him Gahan roamed the pits and the ancient corridors +of the deserted portions of the palace seeking some clue to the +whereabouts or the fate of Tara of Helium. He utilized the spiral +runway in passing from level to level until he knew every foot of it +from the pits to the summit of the high tower, and into what apartments +it opened at the various levels as well as the ingenious and hidden +mechanism that operated the locks of the cleverly concealed doors +leading to it. For food he drew upon the stores he found in the pits +and when he slept he lay upon the royal couch of O-Mai in the forbidden +chamber sharing the dais with the dead foot of the ancient jeddak. +</P> + +<P> +In the palace about him seethed, all unknown to Gahan, a vast unrest. +Warriors and chieftains pursued the duties of their vocations with dour +faces, and little knots of them were collecting here and there and with +frowns of anger discussing some subject that was uppermost in the minds +of all. It was upon the fourth day following Tara's incarceration in +the tower that E-Thas, the major-domo of the palace and one of O-Tar's +creatures, came to his master upon some trivial errand. O-Tar was alone +in one of the smaller chambers of his personal suite when the +major-domo was announced, and after the matter upon which E-Thas had +come was disposed of the jeddak signed him to remain. +</P> + +<P> +"From the position of an obscure warrior I have elevated you, E-Thas, +to the honors of a chief. Within the confines of the palace your word +is second only to mine. You are not loved for this, E-Thas, and should +another jeddak ascend the throne of Manator what would become of you, +whose enemies are among the most powerful of Manator?" +</P> + +<P> +"Speak not of it, O-Tar," begged E-Thas. "These last few days I have +thought upon it much and I would forget it; but I have sought to +appease the wrath of my worst enemies. I have been very kind and +indulgent with them." +</P> + +<P> +"You, too, read the voiceless message in the air?" demanded the jeddak. +</P> + +<P> +E-Thas was palpably uneasy and he did not reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Why did you not come to me with your apprehensions?" demanded O-Tar. +"Be this loyalty?" +</P> + +<P> +"I feared, O mighty jeddak!" replied E-Thas. "I feared that you would +not understand and that you would be angry." +</P> + +<P> +"What know you? Speak the whole truth!" commanded O-Tar. +</P> + +<P> +"There is much unrest among the chieftains and the warriors," replied +E-Thas. "Even those who were your friends fear the power of those who +speak against you." +</P> + +<P> +"What say they?" growled the jeddak. +</P> + +<P> +"They say that you are afraid to enter the apartments of O-Mai in +search of the slave Turan—oh, do not be angry with me, Jeddak; it is +but what they say that I repeat. I, your loyal E-Thas, believe no such +foul slander." +</P> + +<P> +"No, no; why should I fear?" demanded O-Tar. "We do not know that he is +there. Did not my chiefs go thither and see nothing of him?" +</P> + +<P> +"But they say that you did not go," pursued E-Thas, "and that they will +have none of a coward upon the throne of Manator." +</P> + +<P> +"They said that treason?" O-Tar almost shouted. +</P> + +<P> +"They said that and more, great jeddak," answered the major-domo. "They +said that not only did you fear to enter the chambers of O-Mai, but +that you feared the slave Turan, and they blame you for your treatment +of A-Kor, whom they all believe to have been murdered at your command. +They were fond of A-Kor and there are many now who say aloud that A-Kor +would have made a wondrous jeddak." +</P> + +<P> +"They dare?" screamed O-Tar. "They dare suggest the name of a slave's +bastard for the throne of O-Tar!" +</P> + +<P> +"He is your son, O-Tar," E-Thas reminded him, "nor is there a more +beloved man in Manator—I but speak to you of facts which may not be +ignored, and I dare do so because only when you realize the truth may +you seek a cure for the ills that draw about your throne." +</P> + +<P> +O-Tar had slumped down upon his bench—suddenly he looked shrunken and +tired and old. "Cursed be the day," he cried, "that saw those three +strangers enter the city of Manator. Would that U-Dor had been spared +to me. He was strong—my enemies feared him; but he is gone—dead at +the hands of that hateful slave, Turan; may the curse of Issus be upon +him!" +</P> + +<P> +"My jeddak, what shall we do?" begged E-Thas. "Cursing the slave will +not solve your problems." +</P> + +<P> +"But the great feast and the marriage is but three days off," pleaded +O-Tar. "It shall be a great gala occasion. The warriors and the chiefs +all know that—it is the custom. Upon that day gifts and honors shall +be bestowed. Tell me, who are most bitter against me? I will send you +among them and let it be known that I am planning rewards for their +past services to the throne. We will make jeds of chiefs and chiefs of +warriors, and grant them palaces and slaves. Eh, E-Thas?" +</P> + +<P> +The other shook his head. "It will not do, O-Tar. They will have +nothing of your gifts or honors. I have heard them say as much." +</P> + +<P> +"What do they want?" demanded O-Tar. +</P> + +<P> +"They want a jeddak as brave as the bravest," replied E-Thas, though +his knees shook as he said it. +</P> + +<P> +"They think I am a coward?" cried the jeddak. +</P> + +<P> +"They say you are afraid to go to the apartments of O-mai the Cruel." +</P> + +<P> +For a long time O-Tar sat, his head sunk upon his breast, staring +blankly at the floor. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell them," he said at last in a hollow voice that sounded not at all +like the voice of a great jeddak; "tell them that I will go to the +chambers of O-Mai and search for Turan the slave." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A RISK FOR LOVE +</H3> + +<P> +"Ey, ey, he is a craven and he called me 'doddering fool'!" The speaker +was I-Gos and he addressed a knot of chieftains in one of the chambers +of the palace of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator: "If A-Kor was alive there +were a jeddak for us!" +</P> + +<P> +"Who says that A-Kor is dead?" demanded one of the chiefs. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is he then?" asked I-Gos. "Have not others disappeared whom +O-Tar thought too well beloved for men so near the throne as they?" +</P> + +<P> +The chief shook his head. "And I thought that, or knew it, rather; I'd +join U-Thor at The Gate of Enemies." +</P> + +<P> +"S-s-st," cautioned one; "here comes the licker of feet," and all eyes +were turned upon the approaching E-Thas. +</P> + +<P> +"Kaor, friends!" he exclaimed as he stopped among them, but his +friendly greeting elicited naught but a few surly nods. "Have you heard +the news?" he continued, unabashed by treatment to which he was +becoming accustomed. +</P> + +<P> +"What—has O-Tar seen an ulsio and fainted?" demanded I-Gos with broad +sarcasm. +</P> + +<P> +"Men have died for less than that, ancient one," E-Thas reminded him. +</P> + +<P> +"I am safe," retorted I-Gos, "for I am not a brave and popular son of +the jeddak of Manator." +</P> + +<P> +This was indeed open treason, but E-Thas feigned not to hear it. He +ignored I-Gos and turned to the others. "O-Tar goes to the chamber of +O-Mai this night in search of Turan the slave," he said. "He sorrows +that his warriors have not the courage for so mean a duty and that +their jeddak is thus compelled to arrest a common slave," with which +taunt E-Thas passed on to spread the word in other parts of the palace. +As a matter of fact the latter part of his message was purely original +with himself, and he took great delight in delivering it to the +discomfiture of his enemies. As he was leaving the little group of men +I-Gos called after him. "At what hour does O-Tar intend visiting the +chambers of O-Mai?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Toward the end of the eighth zode*," replied the major-domo, and went +his way. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +* About 1:00 A. M. Earth Time. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"We shall see," stated I-Gos. +</P> + +<P> +"What shall we see?" asked a warrior. +</P> + +<P> +"We shall see whether O-Tar visits the chamber of O-Mai." +</P> + +<P> +"How?" +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be there myself and if I see him I will know that he has been +there. If I don't see him I will know that he has not," explained the +old taxidermist. +</P> + +<P> +"Is there anything there to fill an honest man with fear?" asked a +chieftain. "What have you seen?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was not so much what I saw, though that was bad enough, as what I +heard," said I-Gos. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell us! What heard and saw you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I saw the dead O-Mai," said I-Gos. The others shuddered. +</P> + +<P> +"And you went not mad?" they asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Am I mad?" retorted I-Gos. +</P> + +<P> +"And you will go again?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Then indeed you are mad," cried one. +</P> + +<P> +"You saw the dead O-Mai; but what heard you that was worse?" whispered +another. +</P> + +<P> +"I saw the dead O-Mai lying upon the floor of his sleeping chamber with +one foot tangled in the sleeping silks and furs upon his couch. I heard +horrid moans and frightful screams." +</P> + +<P> +"And you are not afraid to go there again?" demanded several. +</P> + +<P> +"The dead cannot harm me," said I-Gos. "He has lain thus for five +thousand years. Nor can a sound harm me. I heard it once and live—I +can hear it again. It came from almost at my side where I hid behind +the hangings and watched the slave Turan before I snatched the woman +away from him." +</P> + +<P> +"I-Gos, you are a very brave man," said a chieftain. +</P> + +<P> +"O-Tar called me 'doddering fool' and I would face worse dangers than +lie in the forbidden chambers of O-Mai to know it if he does not visit +the chamber of O-Mai. Then indeed shall O-Tar fall!" +</P> + +<P> +The night came and the zodes dragged and the time approached when +O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, was to visit the chamber of O-Mai in search +of the slave Turan. To us, who may doubt the existence of malignant +spirits, his fear may seem unbelievable, for he was a strong man, an +excellent swordsman, and a warrior of great repute; but the fact +remained that O-Tar of Manator was nervous with apprehension as he +strode the corridors of his palace toward the deserted halls of O-Mai +and when he stood at last with his hand upon the door that opened from +the dusty corridor to the very apartments themselves he was almost +paralyzed with terror. He had come alone for two very excellent +reasons, the first of which was that thus none might note his +terror-stricken state nor his defection should he fail at the last +moment, and the other was that should he accomplish the thing alone or +be able to make his chiefs believe that he had, the credit would be far +greater than were he to be accompanied by warriors. +</P> + +<P> +But though he had started alone he had become aware that he was being +followed, and he knew that it was because his people had no faith in +either his courage or his veracity. He did not believe that he would +find the slave Turan. He did not very much want to find him, for though +O-Tar was an excellent swordsman and a brave warrior in physical +combat, he had seen how Turan had played with U-Dor and he had no +stomach for a passage at arms with one whom he knew outclassed him. +</P> + +<P> +And so O-Tar stood with his hand upon the door—afraid to enter; afraid +not to. But at last his fear of his own warriors, watching behind him, +grew greater than the fear of the unknown behind the ancient door and +he pushed the heavy skeel aside and entered. +</P> + +<P> +Silence and gloom and the dust of centuries lay heavy upon the chamber. +From his warriors he knew the route that he must take to the horrid +chamber of O-Mai and so he forced his unwilling feet across the room +before him, across the room where the jetan players sat at their +eternal game, and came to the short corridor that led into the room of +O-Mai. His naked sword trembled in his grasp. He paused after each +forward step to listen and when he was almost at the door of the +ghost-haunted chamber, his heart stood still within his breast and the +cold sweat broke from the clammy skin of his forehead, for from within +there came to his affrighted ears the sound of muffled breathing. Then +it was that O-Tar of Manator came near to fleeing from the nameless +horror that he could not see, but that he knew lay waiting for him in +that chamber just ahead. But again came the fear of the wrath and +contempt of his warriors and his chiefs. They would degrade him and +they would slay him into the bargain. There was no doubt of what his +fate would be should he flee the apartments of O-Mai in terror. His +only hope, therefore, lay in daring the unknown in preference to the +known. +</P> + +<P> +He moved forward. A few steps took him to the doorway. The chamber +before him was darker than the corridor, so that he could just +indistinctly make out the objects in the room. He saw a sleeping dais +near the center, with a darker blotch of something lying on the marble +floor beside it. He moved a step farther into the doorway and the +scabbard of his sword scraped against the stone frame. To his horror he +saw the sleeping silks and furs upon the central dais move. He saw a +figure slowly arising to a sitting posture from the death bed of O-Mai +the Cruel. His knees shook, but he gathered all his moral forces, and +gripping his sword more tightly in his trembling fingers prepared to +leap across the chamber upon the horrid apparition. He hesitated just a +moment. He felt eyes upon him—ghoulish eyes that bored through the +darkness into his withering heart—eyes that he could not see. He +gathered himself for the rush—and then there broke from the thing upon +the couch an awful shriek, and O-Tar sank senseless to the floor. +</P> + +<P> +Gahan rose from the couch of O-Mai, smiling, only to swing quickly +about with drawn sword as the shadow of a noise impinged upon his keen +ears from the shadows behind him. Between the parted hangings he saw a +bent and wrinkled figure. It was I-Gos. +</P> + +<P> +"Sheathe your sword, Turan," said the old man. "You have naught to fear +from I-Gos." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you here?" demanded Gahan. +</P> + +<P> +"I came to make sure that the great coward did not cheat us. Ey, and he +called me 'doddering fool;' but look at him now! Stricken insensible by +terror, but, ey, one might forgive him that who had heard your uncanny +scream. It all but blasted my own courage. And it was you, then, who +moaned and screamed when the chiefs came the day that I stole Tara from +you?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was you, then, old scoundrel?" demanded Gahan, moving threateningly +toward I-Gos. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, come!" expostulated the old man; "it was I, but then I was your +enemy. I would not do it now. Conditions have changed." +</P> + +<P> +"How have they changed? What has changed them?" asked Gahan. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I did not fully realize the cowardice of my jeddak, or the +bravery of you and the girl. I am an old man from another age and I +love courage. At first I resented the girl's attack upon me, but later +I came to see the bravery of it and it won my admiration, as have all +her acts. She feared not O-Tar, she feared not me, she feared not all +the warriors of Manator. And you! Blood of a million sires! how you +fight! I am sorry that I exposed you at The Fields of Jetan. I am sorry +that I dragged the girl Tara back to O-Tar. I would make amends. I +would be your friend. Here is my sword at your feet," and drawing his +weapon I-Gos cast it to the floor in front of Gahan. +</P> + +<P> +The Gatholian knew that scarce the most abandoned of knaves would +repudiate this solemn pledge, and so he stooped, and picking up the old +man's sword returned it to him, hilt first, in acceptance of his +friendship. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is the Princess Tara of Helium?" asked Gahan. "Is she safe?" +</P> + +<P> +"She is confined in the tower of the women's quarters awaiting the +ceremony that is to make her Jeddara of Manator," replied I-Gos. +</P> + +<P> +"This thing dared think that Tara of Helium would mate with him?" +growled Gahan. "I will make short work of him if he is not already dead +from fright," and he stepped toward the fallen O-Tar to run his sword +through the jeddak's heart. +</P> + +<P> +"No!" cried I-Gos. "Slay him not and pray that he be not dead if you +would save your princess." +</P> + +<P> +"How is that?" asked Gahan. +</P> + +<P> +"If word of O-Tar's death reached the quarters of the women the +Princess Tara would be lost. They know O-Tar's intention of taking her +to wife and making her Jeddara of Manator, so you may rest assured that +they all hate her with the hate of jealous women. Only O-Tar's power +protects her now from harm. Should O-Tar die they would turn her over +to the warriors and the male slaves, for there would be none to avenge +her." +</P> + +<P> +Gahan sheathed his sword. "Your point is well taken; but what shall we +do with him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Leave him where he lies," counseled I-Gos. "He is not dead. When he +revives he will return to his quarters with a fine tale of his bravery +and there will be none to impugn his boasts—none but I-Gos. Come! he +may revive at any moment and he must not find us here." +</P> + +<P> +I-Gos crossed to the body of his jeddak, knelt beside it for an +instant, and then returned past the couch to Gahan. The two quit the +chamber of O-Mai and took their way toward the spiral runway. Here +I-Gos led Gahan to a higher level and out upon the roof of that portion +of the palace from where he pointed to a high tower quite close by. +"There," he said, "lies the Princess of Helium, and quite safe she will +be until the time of the ceremony." +</P> + +<P> +"Safe, possibly, from other hands, but not from her own," said Gahan. +"She will never become Jeddara of Manator—first will she destroy +herself." +</P> + +<P> +"She would do that?" asked I-Gos. +</P> + +<P> +"She will, unless you can get word to her that I still live and that +there is yet hope," replied Gahan. +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot get word to her," said I-Gos. "The quarters of his women +O-Tar guards with jealous hand. Here are his most trusted slaves and +warriors, yet even so, thick among them are countless spies, so that no +man knows which be which. No shadow falls within those chambers that is +not marked by a hundred eyes." +</P> + +<P> +Gahan stood gazing at the lighted windows of the high tower in the +upper chambers of which Tara of Helium was confined. "I will find a +way, I-Gos," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"There is no way," replied the old man. +</P> + +<P> +For some time they stood upon the roof beneath the brilliant stars and +hurtling moons of dying Mars, laying their plans against the time that +Tara of Helium should be brought from the high tower to the throne room +of O-Tar. It was then, and then alone, argued I-Gos, that any hope of +rescuing her might be entertained. Just how far he might trust the +other Gahan did not know, and so he kept to himself the knowledge of +the plan that he had forwarded to Floran and Val Dor by Ghek, but he +assured the ancient taxidermist that if he were sincere in his +oft-repeated declaration that O-Tar should be denounced and superseded +he would have his opportunity on the night that the jeddak sought to +wed the Heliumetic princess. +</P> + +<P> +"Your time shall come then, I-Gos," Gahan assured the other, "and if +you have any party that thinks as you do, prepare them for the +eventuality that will succeed O-Tar's presumptuous attempt to wed the +daughter of The Warlord. Where shall I see you again, and when? I go +now to speak with Tara, Princess of Helium." +</P> + +<P> +"I like your boldness," said I-Gos; "but it will avail you naught. You +will not speak with Tara, Princess of Helium, though doubtless the +blood of many Manatorians will drench the floors of the women's +quarters before you are slain." +</P> + +<P> +Gahan smiled. "I shall not be slain. Where and when shall we meet? But +you may find me in O-Mai's chamber at night. That seems the safest +retreat in all Manator for an enemy of the jeddak in whose palace it +lies. I go!" +</P> + +<P> +"And may the spirits of your ancestors surround you," said I-Gos. +</P> + +<P> +After the old man had left him Gahan made his way across the roof to +the high tower, which appeared to have been constructed of concrete and +afterward elaborately carved, its entire surface being covered with +intricate designs cut deep into the stone-like material of which it was +composed. Though wrought ages since, it was but little weather-worn +owing to the aridity of the Martian atmosphere, the infrequency of +rains, and the rarity of dust storms. To scale it, though, presented +difficulties and danger that might have deterred the bravest of +men—that would, doubtless, have deterred Gahan, had he not felt that +the life of the woman he loved depended upon his accomplishing the +hazardous feat. +</P> + +<P> +Removing his sandals and laying aside all of his harness and weapons +other than a single belt supporting a dagger, the Gatholian essayed the +dangerous ascent. Clinging to the carvings with hands and feet he +worked himself slowly aloft, avoiding the windows and keeping upon the +shadowy side of the tower, away from the light of Thuria and Cluros. +The tower rose some fifty feet above the roof of the adjacent part of +the palace, comprising five levels or floors with windows looking in +every direction. A few of the windows were balconied, and these more +than the others he sought to avoid, although, it being now near the +close of the ninth zode, there was little likelihood that many were +awake within the tower. +</P> + +<P> +His progress was noiseless and he came at last, undetected, to the +windows of the upper level. These, like several of the others he had +passed at lower levels, were heavily barred, so that there was no +possibility of his gaining ingress to the apartment where Tara was +confined. Darkness hid the interior behind the first window that he +approached. The second opened upon a lighted chamber where he could see +a guard sleeping at his post outside a door. Here also was the top of +the runway leading to the next level below. Passing still farther +around the tower Gahan approached another window, but now he clung to +that side of the tower which ended in a courtyard a hundred feet below +and in a short time the light of Thuria would reach him. He realized +that he must hasten and he prayed that behind the window he now +approached he would find Tara of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +Coming to the opening he looked in upon a small chamber dimly lighted. +In the center was a sleeping dais upon which a human form lay beneath +silks and furs. A bare arm, protruding from the coverings, lay exposed +against a black and yellow striped orluk skin—an arm of wondrous +beauty about which was clasped an armlet that Gahan knew. No other +creature was visible within the chamber, all of which was exposed to +Gahan's view. Pressing his face to the bars the Gatholian whispered her +dear name. The girl stirred, but did not awaken. Again he called, but +this time louder. Tara sat up and looked about and at the same instant +a huge eunuch leaped to his feet from where he had been lying on the +floor close by that side of the dais farthest from Gahan. +Simultaneously the brilliant light of Thuria flashed full upon the +window where Gahan clung silhouetting him plainly to the two within. +</P> + +<P> +Both sprang to their feet. The eunuch drew his sword and leaped for the +window where the helpless Gahan would have fallen an easy victim to a +single thrust of the murderous weapon the fellow bore, had not Tara of +Helium leaped upon her guard dragging him back. At the same time she +drew the slim dagger from its hiding place in her harness and even as +the eunuch sought to hurl her aside its keen point found his heart. +Without a sound he died and lunged forward to the floor. Then Tara ran +to the window. +</P> + +<P> +"Turan, my chief!" she cried. "What awful risk is this you take to seek +me here, where even your brave heart is powerless to aid me." +</P> + +<P> +"Be not so sure of that, heart of my heart," he replied. "While I bring +but words to my love, they be the forerunner of deeds, I hope, that +will give her back to me forever. I feared that you might destroy +yourself, Tara of Helium, to escape the dishonor that O-Tar would do +you, and so I came to give you new hope and to beg that you live for me +through whatever may transpire, in the knowledge that there is yet a +way and that if all goes well we shall be freed at last. Look for me in +the throne room of O-Tar the night that he would wed you. And now, how +may we dispose of this fellow?" He pointed to the dead eunuch upon the +floor. +</P> + +<P> +"We need not concern ourselves about that," she replied. "None dares +harm me for fear of the wrath of O-Tar—otherwise I should have been +dead so soon as ever I entered this portion of the palace, for the +women hate me. O-Tar alone may punish me, and what cares O-Tar for the +life of a eunuch? No, fear not upon this score." +</P> + +<P> +Their hands were clasped between the bars and now Gahan drew her nearer +to him. +</P> + +<P> +"One kiss," he said, "before I go, my princess," and the proud daughter +of Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, and The Warlord of Barsoom +whispered: "My chieftain!" and pressed her lips to the lips of Turan, +the common panthan. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AT THE MOMENT OF MARRIAGE +</H3> + +<P> +The silence of the tomb lay heavy about him as O-Tar, Jeddak of +Manator, opened his eyes in the chamber of O-Mai. Recollection of the +frightful apparition that had confronted him swept to his +consciousness. He listened, but heard naught. Within the range of his +vision there was nothing apparent that might cause alarm. Slowly he +lifted his head and looked about. Upon the floor beside the couch lay +the thing that had at first attracted his attention and his eyes closed +in terror as he recognized it for what it was; but it moved not, nor +spoke. O-Tar opened his eyes again and rose to his feet. He was +trembling in every limb. There was nothing on the dais from which he +had seen the thing arise. +</P> + +<P> +O-Tar backed slowly from the room. At last he gained the outer +corridor. It was empty. He did not know that it had emptied rapidly as +the loud scream with which his own had mingled had broken upon the +startled ears of the warriors who had been sent to spy upon him. He +looked at the timepiece set in a massive bracelet upon his left +forearm. The ninth zode was nearly half gone. O-Tar had lain for an +hour unconscious. He had spent an hour in the chamber of O-Mai and he +was not dead! He had looked upon the face of his predecessor and was +still sane! He shook himself and smiled. Rapidly he subdued his +rebelliously shaking nerves, so that by the time he reached the +tenanted portion of the palace he had gained control of himself. He +walked with chin high and something of a swagger. To the banquet hall +he went, knowing that his chiefs awaited him there and as he entered +they arose and upon the faces of many were incredulity and amaze, for +they had not thought to see O-Tar the jeddak again after what the spies +had told them of the horrid sounds issuing from the chamber of O-Mai. +Thankful was O-Tar that he had gone alone to that chamber of fright, +for now no one could deny the tale that he should tell. +</P> + +<P> +E-Thas rushed forward to greet him, for E-Thas had seen black looks +directed toward him as the tals slipped by and his benefactor failed to +return. +</P> + +<P> +"O brave and glorious jeddak!" cried the major-domo. "We rejoice at +your safe return and beg of you the story of your adventure." +</P> + +<P> +"It was naught," exclaimed O-Tar. "I searched the chambers carefully +and waited in hiding for the return of the slave, Turan, if he were +temporarily away; but he came not. He is not there and I doubt if he +ever goes there. Few men would choose to remain long in such a dismal +place." +</P> + +<P> +"You were not attacked?" asked E-Thas. "You heard no screams, nor +moans?" +</P> + +<P> +"I heard hideous noises and saw phantom figures; but they fled before +me so that never could I lay hold of one, and I looked upon the face of +O-Mai and I am not mad. I even rested in the chamber beside his corpse." +</P> + +<P> +In a far corner of the room a bent and wrinkled old man hid a smile +behind a golden goblet of strong brew. +</P> + +<P> +"Come! Let us drink!" cried O-Tar and reached for the dagger, the +pommel of which he was accustomed to use to strike the gong which +summoned slaves, but the dagger was not in its scabbard. O-Tar was +puzzled. He knew that it had been there just before he entered the +chamber of O-Mai, for he had carefully felt of all his weapons to make +sure that none was missing. He seized instead a table utensil and +struck the gong, and when the slaves came bade them bring the strongest +brew for O-Tar and his chiefs. Before the dawn broke many were the +expressions of admiration bellowed from drunken lips—admiration for +the courage of their jeddak; but some there were who still looked glum. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Came at last the day that O-Tar would take the Princess Tara of Helium +to wife. For hours slaves prepared the unwilling bride. Seven perfumed +baths occupied three long and weary hours, then her whole body was +anointed with the oil of pimalia blossoms and massaged by the deft +fingers of a slave from distant Dusar. Her harness, all new and wrought +for the occasion was of the white hide of the great white apes of +Barsoom, hung heavily with platinum and diamonds—fairly encrusted with +them. The glossy mass of her jet hair had been built into a coiffure of +stately and becoming grandeur, into which diamond-headed pins were +stuck until the whole scintillated as the stars in heaven upon a +moonless night. +</P> + +<P> +But it was a sullen and defiant bride that they led from the high tower +toward the throne room of O-Tar. The corridors were filled with slaves +and warriors, and the women of the palace and the city who had been +commanded to attend the ceremony. All the power and pride, wealth and +beauty of Manator were there. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly Tara, surrounded by a heavy guard of honor, moved along the +marble corridors filled with people. At the entrance to The Hall of +Chiefs E-Thas, the major-domo, received her. The Hall was empty except +for its ranks of dead chieftains upon their dead mounts. Through this +long chamber E-Thas escorted her to the throne room which also was +empty, the marriage ceremony in Manator differing from that of other +countries of Barsoom. Here the bride would await the groom at the foot +of the steps leading to the throne. The guests followed her in and took +their places, leaving the central aisle from The Hall of Chiefs to the +throne clear, for up this O-Tar would approach his bride alone after a +short solitary communion with the dead behind closed doors in The Hall +of Chiefs. It was the custom. +</P> + +<P> +The guests had all filed through The Hall of Chiefs; the doors at both +ends had been closed. Presently those at the lower end of the hall +opened and O-Tar entered. His black harness was ornamented with rubies +and gold; his face was covered by a grotesque mask of the precious +metal in which two enormous rubies were set for eyes, though below them +were narrow slits through which the wearer could see. His crown was a +fillet supporting carved feathers of the same metal as the mask. To the +least detail his regalia was that demanded of a royal bridegroom by the +customs of Manator, and now in accordance with that same custom he came +alone to The Hall of Chiefs to receive the blessings and the council of +the great ones of Manator who had preceded him. +</P> + +<P> +As the doors at the lower end of the Hall closed behind him O-Tar the +Jeddak stood alone with the great dead. By the dictates of ages no +mortal eye might look upon the scene enacted within that sacred +chamber. As the mighty of Manator respected the traditions of Manator, +let us, too, respect those traditions of a proud and sensitive people. +Of what concern to us the happenings in that solemn chamber of the dead? +</P> + +<P> +Five minutes passed. The bride stood silently at the foot of the +throne. The guests spoke together in low whispers until the room was +filled with the hum of many voices. At length the doors leading into +The Hall of Chiefs swung open, and the resplendent bridegroom stood +framed for a moment in the massive opening. A hush fell upon the +wedding guests. With measured and impressive step the groom approached +the bride. Tara felt the muscles of her heart contract with the +apprehension that had been growing upon her as the coils of Fate +settled more closely about her and no sign came from Turan. Where was +he? What, indeed, could he accomplish now to save her? Surrounded by +the power of O-Tar with never a friend among them, her position seemed +at last without vestige of hope. +</P> + +<P> +"I still live!" she whispered inwardly in a last brave attempt to +combat the terrible hopelessness that was overwhelming her, but her +fingers stole for reassurance to the slim blade that she had managed to +transfer, undetected, from her old harness to the new. And now the +groom was at her side and taking her hand was leading her up the steps +to the throne, before which they halted and stood facing the gathering +below. Came then, from the back of the room a procession headed by the +high dignitary whose office it was to make these two man and wife, and +directly behind him a richly-clad youth bearing a silken pillow on +which lay the golden handcuffs connected by a short length of +chain-of-gold with which the ceremony would be concluded when the +dignitary clasped a handcuff about the wrist of each symbolizing their +indissoluble union in the holy bonds of wedlock. +</P> + +<P> +Would Turan's promised succor come too late? Tara listened to the long, +monotonous intonation of the wedding service. She heard the virtues of +O-Tar extolled and the beauties of the bride. The moment was +approaching and still no sign of Turan. But what could he accomplish +should he succeed in reaching the throne room, other than to die with +her? There could be no hope of rescue. +</P> + +<P> +The dignitary lifted the golden handcuffs from the pillow upon which +they reposed. He blessed them and reached for Tara's wrist. The time +had come! The thing could go no further, for alive or dead, by all the +laws of Barsoom she would be the wife of O-Tar of Manator the instant +the two were locked together. Even should rescue come then or later she +could never dissolve those bonds and Turan would be lost to her as +surely as though death separated them. +</P> + +<P> +Her hand stole toward the hidden blade, but instantly the hand of the +groom shot out and seized her wrist. He had guessed her intention. +Through the slits in the grotesque mask she could see his eyes upon her +and she guessed the sardonic smile that the mask hid. For a tense +moment the two stood thus. The people below them kept breathless +silence for the play before the throne had not passed unnoticed. +</P> + +<P> +Dramatic as was the moment it was suddenly rendered trebly so by the +noisy opening of the doors leading to The Hall of Chiefs. All eyes +turned in the direction of the interruption to see another figure +framed in the massive opening—a half-clad figure buckling the +half-adjusted harness hurriedly in place—the figure of O-Tar, Jeddak +of Manator. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop!" he screamed, springing forward along the aisle toward the +throne. "Seize the impostor!" +</P> + +<P> +All eyes shot to the figure of the groom before the throne. They saw +him raise his hand and snatch off the golden mask, and Tara of Helium +in wide-eyed incredulity looked up into the face of Turan the panthan. +</P> + +<P> +"Turan the slave," they cried then. "Death to him! Death to him!" +</P> + +<P> +"Wait!" shouted Turan, drawing his sword, as a dozen warriors leaped +forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait!" screamed another voice, old and cracked, as I-Gos, the ancient +taxidermist, sprang from among the guests and reached the throne steps +ahead of the foremost warriors. +</P> + +<P> +At sight of the old man the warriors paused, for age is held in great +veneration among the peoples of Barsoom, as is true, perhaps, of all +peoples whose religion is based to any extent upon ancestor worship. +But O-Tar gave no heed to him, leaping instead swiftly toward the +throne. "Stop, coward!" cried I-Gos. +</P> + +<P> +The people looked at the little old man in amazement. "Men of Manator," +he cackled in his thin, shrill voice, "wouldst be ruled by a coward and +a liar?" +</P> + +<P> +"Down with him!" shouted O-Tar. +</P> + +<P> +"Not until I have spoken," retorted I-Gos. "It is my right. If I fail +my life is forfeit—that you all know and I know. I demand therefore to +be heard. It is my right!" +</P> + +<P> +"It is his right," echoed the voices of a score of warriors in various +parts of the chamber. +</P> + +<P> +"That O-Tar is a coward and a liar I can prove," continued I-Gos. "He +said that he faced bravely the horrors of the chamber of O-Mai and saw +nothing of the slave Turan. I was there, hiding behind the hangings, +and I saw all that transpired. Turan had been hiding in the chamber and +was even then lying upon the couch of O-Mai when O-Tar, trembling with +fear, entered the room. Turan, disturbed, arose to a sitting position +at the same time voicing a piercing shriek. O-Tar screamed and swooned." +</P> + +<P> +"It is a lie!" cried O-Tar. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not a lie and I can prove it," retorted I-Gos. "Didst notice the +night that he returned from the chambers of O-Mai and was boasting of +his exploit, that when he would summon slaves to bring wine he reached +for his dagger to strike the gong with its pommel as is always his +custom? Didst note that, any of you? And that he had no dagger? O-Tar, +where is the dagger that you carried into the chamber of O-Mai? You do +not know; but I know. While you lay in the swoon of terror I took it +from your harness and hid it among the sleeping silks upon the couch of +O-Mai. There it is even now, and if any doubt it let them go thither +and there they will find it and know the cowardice of their jeddak." +</P> + +<P> +"But what of this impostor?" demanded one. "Shall he stand with +impunity upon the throne of Manator whilst we squabble about our ruler?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is through his bravery that you have learned the cowardice of +O-Tar," replied I-Gos, "and through him you will be given a greater +jeddak." +</P> + +<P> +"We will choose our own jeddak. Seize and slay the slave!" There were +cries of approval from all parts of the room. Gahan was listening +intently, as though for some hoped-for sound. He saw the warriors +approaching the dais, where he now stood with drawn sword and with one +arm about Tara of Helium. He wondered if his plans had miscarried after +all. If they had it would mean death for him, and he knew that Tara +would take her life if he fell. Had he, then, served her so futilely +after all his efforts? +</P> + +<P> +Several warriors were urging the necessity for sending at once to the +chamber of O-Mai to search for the dagger that would prove, if found, +the cowardice of O-Tar. At last three consented to go. "You need not +fear," I-Gos assured them. "There is naught there to harm you. I have +been there often of late and Turan the slave has slept there for these +many nights. The screams and moans that frightened you and O-Tar were +voiced by Turan to drive you away from his hiding place." Shamefacedly +the three left the apartment to search for O-Tar's dagger. +</P> + +<P> +And now the others turned their attention once more to Gahan. They +approached the throne with bared swords, but they came slowly for they +had seen this slave upon the Field of Jetan and they knew the prowess +of his arm. They had reached the foot of the steps when from far above +there sounded a deep boom, and another, and another, and Turan smiled +and breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps, after all, it had not come too +late. The warriors stopped and listened as did the others in the +chamber. Now there broke upon their ears a loud rattle of musketry and +it all came from above as though men were fighting upon the roofs of +the palace. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" they demanded, one of the other. +</P> + +<P> +"A great storm has broken over Manator," said one. +</P> + +<P> +"Mind not the storm until you have slain the creature who dares stand +upon the throne of your jeddak," demanded O-Tar. "Seize him!" +</P> + +<P> +Even as he ceased speaking the arras behind the throne parted and a +warrior stepped forth upon the dais. An exclamation of surprise and +dismay broke from the lips of the warriors of O-Tar. "U-Thor!" they +cried. "What treason is this?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is no treason," said U-Thor in his deep voice. "I bring you a new +jeddak for all of Manator. No lying poltroon, but a courageous man whom +you all love." +</P> + +<P> +He stepped aside then and another emerged from the corridor hidden by +the arras. It was A-Kor, and at sight of him there rose exclamations of +surprise, of pleasure, and of anger, as the various factions recognized +the coup d'état that had been arranged so cunningly. Behind A-Kor came +other warriors until the dais was crowded with them—all men of Manator +from the city of Manatos. +</P> + +<P> +O-Tar was exhorting his warriors to attack, when a bloody and +disheveled padwar burst into the chamber through a side entrance. "The +city has fallen!" he cried aloud. "The hordes of Manatos pour through +The Gate of Enemies. The slaves from Gathol have arisen and destroyed +the palace guards. Great ships are landing warriors upon the palace +roof and in the Fields of Jetan. The men of Helium and Gathol are +marching through Manator. They cry aloud for the Princess of Helium and +swear to leave Manator a blazing funeral pyre consuming the bodies of +all our people. The skies are black with ships. They come in great +processions from the east and from the south." +</P> + +<P> +And then once more the doors from The Hall of Chiefs swung wide and the +men of Manator turned to see another figure standing upon the +threshold—a mighty figure of a man with white skin, and black hair, +and gray eyes that glittered now like points of steel and behind him +The Hall of Chiefs was filled with fighting men wearing the harness of +far countries. Tara of Helium saw him and her heart leaped in +exultation, for it was John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom, come at the +head of a victorious host to the rescue of his daughter, and at his +side was Djor Kantos to whom she had been betrothed. +</P> + +<P> +The Warlord eyed the assemblage for a moment before he spoke. "Lay down +your arms, men of Manator," he said. "I see my daughter and that she +lives, and if no harm has befallen her no blood need be shed. Your city +is filled with the fighting men of U-Thor, and those from Gathol and +from Helium. The palace is in the hands of the slaves from Gathol, +beside a thousand of my own warriors who fill the halls and chambers +surrounding this room. The fate of your jeddak lies in your own hands. +I have no wish to interfere. I come only for my daughter and to free +the slaves from Gathol. I have spoken!" and without waiting for a reply +and as though the room had been filled with his own people rather than +a hostile band he strode up the broad main aisle toward Tara of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +The chiefs of Manator were stunned. They looked to O-Tar; but he could +only gaze helplessly about him as the enemy entered from The Hall of +Chiefs and circled the throne room until they had surrounded the entire +company. And then a dwar of the army of Helium entered. +</P> + +<P> +"We have captured three chiefs," he reported to The Warlord, "who beg +that they be permitted to enter the throne room and report to their +fellows some matter which they say will decide the fate of Manator." +</P> + +<P> +"Fetch them," ordered The Warlord. +</P> + +<P> +They came, heavily guarded, to the foot of the steps leading to the +throne and there they stopped and the leader turned toward the others +of Manator and raising high his right hand displayed a jeweled dagger. +"We found it," he said, "even where I-Gos said that we would find it," +and he looked menacingly upon O-Tar. +</P> + +<P> +"A-Kor, jeddak of Manator!" cried a voice, and the cry was taken up by +a hundred hoarse-throated warriors. +</P> + +<P> +"There can be but one jeddak in Manator," said the chief who held the +dagger; his eyes still fixed upon the hapless O-Tar he crossed to where +the latter stood and holding the dagger upon an outstretched palm +proffered it to the discredited ruler. "There can be but one jeddak in +Manator," he repeated meaningly. +</P> + +<P> +O-Tar took the proffered blade and drawing himself to his full height +plunged it to the guard into his breast, in that single act redeeming +himself in the esteem of his people and winning an eternal place in The +Hall of Chiefs. +</P> + +<P> +As he fell all was silence in the great room, to be broken presently by +the voice of U-Thor. "O-Tar is dead!" he cried. "Let A-Kor rule until +the chiefs of all Manator may be summoned to choose a new jeddak. What +is your answer?" +</P> + +<P> +"Let A-Kor rule! A-Kor, Jeddak of Manator!" The cries filled the room +and there was no dissenting voice. +</P> + +<P> +A-Kor raised his sword for silence. "It is the will of A-Kor," he said, +"and that of the Great Jed of Manatos, and the commander of the fleet +from Gathol, and of the illustrious John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom, +that peace lie upon the city of Manator and so I decree that the men of +Manator go forth and welcome the fighting men of these our allies as +guests and friends and show them the wonders of our ancient city and +the hospitality of Manator. I have spoken." And U-Thor and John Carter +dismissed their warriors and bade them accept the hospitality of +Manator. As the room emptied Djor Kantos reached the side of Tara of +Helium. The girl's happiness at rescue had been blighted by sight of +this man whom her virtuous heart told her she had wronged. She dreaded +the ordeal that lay before her and the dishonor that she must admit +before she could hope to be freed from the understanding that had for +long existed between them. And now Djor Kantos approached and kneeling +raised her fingers to his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Beautiful daughter of Helium," he said, "how may I tell you the thing +that I must tell you—of the dishonor that I have all unwittingly done +you? I can but throw myself upon your generosity for forgiveness; but +if you demand it I can receive the dagger as honorably as did O-Tar." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" asked Tara of Helium. "What are you talking +about—why speak thus in riddles to one whose heart is already +breaking?" +</P> + +<P> +Her heart already breaking! The outlook was anything but promising, and +the young padwar wished that he had died before ever he had had to +speak the words he now must speak. +</P> + +<P> +"Tara of Helium," he continued, "we all thought you dead. For a long +year have you been gone from Helium. I mourned you truly and then, less +than a moon since, I wed with Olvia Marthis." He stopped and looked at +her with eyes that might have said: "Now, strike me dead!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, foolish man!" cried Tara. "Nothing you could have done could have +pleased me more. Djor Kantos, I could kiss you!" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not think that Olvia Marthis would mind," he said, his face now +wreathed with smiles. As they spoke a body of men had entered the +throne room and approached the dais. They were tall men trapped in +plain harness, absolutely without ornamentation. Just as their leader +reached the dais Tara had turned to Gahan, motioning him to join them. +</P> + +<P> +"Djor Kantos," she said, "I bring you Turan the panthan, whose loyalty +and bravery have won my love." +</P> + +<P> +John Carter and the leader of the new come warriors, who were standing +near, looked quickly at the little group. The former smiled an +inscrutable smile, the latter addressed the Princess of Helium. "'Turan +the panthan!'" he cried. "Know you not, fair daughter of Helium, that +this man you call panthan is Gahan, Jed of Gathol?" +</P> + +<P> +For just a moment Tara of Helium looked her surprise; and then she +shrugged her beautiful shoulders as she turned her head to cast her +eyes over one of them at Gahan of Gathol. +</P> + +<P> +"Jed or panthan," she said; "what difference does it make what one's +slave has been?" and she laughed roguishly into the smiling face of her +lover. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +His story finished, John Carter rose from the chair opposite me, +stretching his giant frame like some great forest-bred lion. +</P> + +<P> +"You must go?" I cried, for I hated to see him leave and it seemed that +he had been with me but a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"The sky is already red beyond those beautiful hills of yours," he +replied, "and it will soon be day." +</P> + +<P> +"Just one question before you go," I begged. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" he assented, good-naturedly. +</P> + +<P> +"How was Gahan able to enter the throne room garbed in O-Tar's +trappings?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"It was simple—for Gahan of Gathol," replied The Warlord. "With the +assistance of I-Gos he crept into The Hall of Chiefs before the +ceremony, while the throne room and Hall of Chiefs were vacated to +receive the bride. He came from the pits through the corridor that +opened behind the arras at the rear of the throne, and passing into The +Hall of Chiefs took his place upon the back of a riderless thoat, whose +warrior was in I-Gos' repair room. When O-Tar entered and came near him +Gahan fell upon him and struck him with the butt of a heavy spear. He +thought that he had killed him and was surprised when O-Tar appeared to +denounce him." +</P> + +<P> +"And Ghek? What became of Ghek?" I insisted. +</P> + +<P> +"After leading Val Dor and Floran to Tara's disabled flier which they +repaired, he accompanied them to Gathol from where a message was sent +to me in Helium. He then led a large party including A-Kor and U-Thor +from the roof, where our ships landed them, down a spiral runway into +the palace and guided them to the throne room. We took him back to +Helium with us, where he still lives, with his single rykor which we +found all but starved to death in the pits of Manator. But come! No +more questions now." +</P> + +<P> +I accompanied him to the east arcade where the red dawn was glowing +beyond the arches. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye!" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"I can scarce believe that it is really you," I exclaimed. "Tomorrow I +will be sure that I have dreamed all this." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed and drawing his sword scratched a rude cross upon the +concrete of one of the arches. +</P> + +<P> +"If you are in doubt tomorrow," he said, "come and see if you dreamed +this." +</P> + +<P> +A moment later he was gone. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +JETAN, OR MARTIAN CHESS +</H3> + +<P> +For those who care for such things, and would like to try the game, I +give the rules of Jetan as they were given me by John Carter. By +writing the names and moves of the various pieces on bits of paper and +pasting them on ordinary checkermen the game may be played quite as +well as with the ornate pieces used upon Mars. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE BOARD: Square board consisting of one hundred alternate black and +orange squares. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE PIECES: In order, as they stand upon the board in the first row, +from left to right of each player. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Warrior: 2 feathers; 2 spaces straight in any direction or combination. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Padwar: 2 feathers; 2 spaces diagonal in any direction or combination. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Dwar: 3 feathers; 3 spaces straight in any direction or combination. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Flier: 3 bladed propellor; 3 spaces diagonal in any direction or +combination; and may jump intervening pieces. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Chief: Diadem with ten jewels; 3 spaces in any direction; straight or +diagonal or combination. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Princess: Diadem with one jewel; same as Chief, except may jump +intervening pieces. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Flier: See above. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Dwar: See above. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Padwar: See above. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Warrior: See above. +</P> + +<P> +And in the second row from left to right: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Thoat: Mounted warrior 2 feathers; 2 spaces, one straight and one +diagonal in any direction. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Panthans: (8 of them): 1 feather; 1 space, forward, side, or diagonal, +but not backward. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Thoat: See above. +</P> + +<P> +The game is played with twenty black pieces by one player and twenty +orange by his opponent, and is presumed to have originally represented +a battle between the Black race of the south and the Yellow race of the +north. On Mars the board is usually arranged so that the Black pieces +are played from the south and the Orange from the north. +</P> + +<P> +The game is won when any piece is placed on same square with opponent's +Princess, or a Chief takes a Chief. +</P> + +<P> +The game is drawn when either Chief is taken by a piece other than the +opposing Chief, or when both sides are reduced to three pieces, or +less, of equal value and the game is not won in the ensuing ten moves, +five apiece. +</P> + +<P> +The Princess may not move onto a threatened square, nor may she take an +opposing piece. She is entitled to one ten-space move at any time +during the game. This move is called the escape. +</P> + +<P> +Two pieces may not occupy the same square except in the final move of a +game where the Princess is taken. +</P> + +<P> +When a player, moving properly and in order, places one of his pieces +upon a square occupied by an opponent piece, the opponent piece is +considered to have been killed and is removed from the game. +</P> + +<P> +The moves explained. Straight moves mean due north, south, east, or +west; diagonal moves mean northeast, southeast, southwest, or +northwest. A Dwar might move straight north three spaces, or north one +space and east two spaces, or any similar combination of straight +moves, so long as he did not cross the same square twice in a single +move. This example explains combination moves. +</P> + +<P> +The first move may be decided in any way that is agreeable to both +players; after the first game the winner of the preceding game moves +first if he chooses, or may instruct his opponent to make the first +move. +</P> + +<P> +Gambling: The Martians gamble at Jetan in several ways. Of course the +outcome of the game indicates to whom the main stake belongs; but they +also put a price upon the head of each piece, according to its value, +and for each piece that a player loses he pays its value to his +opponent. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1153 ***</div> +</BODY> + +</HTML> + + |