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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29405-h.zip b/29405-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f30ca9e --- /dev/null +++ b/29405-h.zip diff --git a/29405-h/29405-h.htm b/29405-h/29405-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..450cec9 --- /dev/null +++ b/29405-h/29405-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13682 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of The Gods of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: medium; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +PRE { font-size: 10pt; + font-family: "Courier New", serif; } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.finis { text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gods of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Gods of Mars + +Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs + +Illustrator: Frank E. Schoonover + +Release Date: July 14, 2009 [EBook #29405] +[Last updated: May 17, 2012] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GODS OF MARS *** + + + + +Thanks to Al Haines, based on the +non-illustrated version, at +<A HREF="https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/64">www.gutenberg.org/etext/64</A> + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="Frontispiece" BORDER="2" WIDTH="351" HEIGHT="575"> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE GODS OF MARS +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AUTHOR OF +<BR> +TARZAN OF THE APES,<BR> +A PRINCESS OF MARS, Etc. +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +FRONTISPIECE BY +<BR> +FRANK E. SCHOONOVER +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +NEW YORK +<BR> +GROSSET & DUNLAP +<BR> +PUBLISHERS +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Copyright +<BR> +A. C. McClurg & Co. +<BR><BR> +Published September, 1918 +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">The Plant Men</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">A Forest Battle</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">The Chamber of Mystery</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">Thuvia</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">Corridors of Peril</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">The Black Pirates of Barsoom</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">A Fair Goddess</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">The Depths of Omean</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">Issus, Goddess of Life Eternal</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">The Prison Isle of Shador</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">When Hell Broke Loose</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">Doomed to Die</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">A Break for Liberty</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">The Eyes in the Dark</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">Flight and Pursuit</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">Under Arrest</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">The Death Sentence</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">Sola's Story</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">Black Despair</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">The Air Battle</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">Through Flood and Flame</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">Victory and Defeat</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FOREWORD +</H3> + +<P> +Twelve years had passed since I had laid the body of my great-uncle, +Captain John Carter, of Virginia, away from the sight of men in that +strange mausoleum in the old cemetery at Richmond. +</P> + +<P> +Often had I pondered on the odd instructions he had left me governing +the construction of his mighty tomb, and especially those parts which +directed that he be laid in an <I>open</I> casket and that the ponderous +mechanism which controlled the bolts of the vault's huge door be +accessible <I>only from the inside</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Twelve years had passed since I had read the remarkable manuscript of +this remarkable man; this man who remembered no childhood and who could +not even offer a vague guess as to his age; who was always young and +yet who had dandled my grandfather's great-grandfather upon his knee; +this man who had spent ten years upon the planet Mars; who had fought +for the green men of Barsoom and fought against them; who had fought +for and against the red men and who had won the ever beautiful Dejah +Thoris, Princess of Helium, for his wife, and for nearly ten years had +been a prince of the house of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +Twelve years had passed since his body had been found upon the bluff +before his cottage overlooking the Hudson, and oft-times during these +long years I had wondered if John Carter were really dead, or if he +again roamed the dead sea bottoms of that dying planet; if he had +returned to Barsoom to find that he had opened the frowning portals of +the mighty atmosphere plant in time to save the countless millions who +were dying of asphyxiation on that far-gone day that had seen him +hurtled ruthlessly through forty-eight million miles of space back to +Earth once more. I had wondered if he had found his black-haired +Princess and the slender son he had dreamed was with her in the royal +gardens of Tardos Mors, awaiting his return. +</P> + +<P> +Or, had he found that he had been too late, and thus gone back to a +living death upon a dead world? Or was he really dead after all, never +to return either to his mother Earth or his beloved Mars? +</P> + +<P> +Thus was I lost in useless speculation one sultry August evening when +old Ben, my body servant, handed me a telegram. Tearing it open I read: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +'Meet me to-morrow hotel Raleigh Richmond. +<BR> +'JOHN CARTER' +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Early the next morning I took the first train for Richmond and within +two hours was being ushered into the room occupied by John Carter. +</P> + +<P> +As I entered he rose to greet me, his old-time cordial smile of welcome +lighting his handsome face. Apparently he had not aged a minute, but +was still the straight, clean-limbed fighting-man of thirty. His keen +grey eyes were undimmed, and the only lines upon his face were the +lines of iron character and determination that always had been there +since first I remembered him, nearly thirty-five years before. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, nephew,' he greeted me, 'do you feel as though you were seeing a +ghost, or suffering from the effects of too many of Uncle Ben's juleps?' +</P> + +<P> +'Juleps, I reckon,' I replied, 'for I certainly feel mighty good; but +maybe it's just the sight of you again that affects me. You have been +back to Mars? Tell me. And Dejah Thoris? You found her well and +awaiting you?' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, I have been to Barsoom again, and—but it's a long story, too +long to tell in the limited time I have before I must return. I have +learned the secret, nephew, and I may traverse the trackless void at my +will, coming and going between the countless planets as I list; but my +heart is always in Barsoom, and while it is there in the keeping of my +Martian Princess, I doubt that I shall ever again leave the dying world +that is my life. +</P> + +<P> +'I have come now because my affection for you prompted me to see you +once more before you pass over for ever into that other life that I +shall never know, and which though I have died thrice and shall die +again to-night, as you know death, I am as unable to fathom as are you. +</P> + +<P> +'Even the wise and mysterious therns of Barsoom, that ancient cult +which for countless ages has been credited with holding the secret of +life and death in their impregnable fastnesses upon the hither slopes +of the Mountains of Otz, are as ignorant as we. I have proved it, +though I near lost my life in the doing of it; but you shall read it +all in the notes I have been making during the last three months that I +have been back upon Earth.' +</P> + +<P> +He patted a swelling portfolio that lay on the table at his elbow. +</P> + +<P> +'I know that you are interested and that you believe, and I know that +the world, too, is interested, though they will not believe for many +years; yes, for many ages, since they cannot understand. Earth men +have not yet progressed to a point where they can comprehend the things +that I have written in those notes. +</P> + +<P> +'Give them what you wish of it, what you think will not harm them, but +do not feel aggrieved if they laugh at you.' +</P> + +<P> +That night I walked down to the cemetery with him. At the door of his +vault he turned and pressed my hand. +</P> + +<P> +'Good-bye, nephew,' he said. 'I may never see you again, for I doubt +that I can ever bring myself to leave my wife and boy while they live, +and the span of life upon Barsoom is often more than a thousand years.' +</P> + +<P> +He entered the vault. The great door swung slowly to. The ponderous +bolts grated into place. The lock clicked. I have never seen Captain +John Carter, of Virginia, since. +</P> + +<P> +But here is the story of his return to Mars on that other occasion, as +I have gleaned it from the great mass of notes which he left for me +upon the table of his room in the hotel at Richmond. +</P> + +<P> +There is much which I have left out; much which I have not dared to +tell; but you will find the story of his second search for Dejah +Thoris, Princess of Helium, even more remarkable than was his first +manuscript which I gave to an unbelieving world a short time since and +through which we followed the fighting Virginian across dead sea +bottoms under the moons of Mars. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +E. R. B. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE GODS OF MARS +</H1> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE PLANT MEN +</H3> + +<P> +As I stood upon the bluff before my cottage on that clear cold night in +the early part of March, 1886, the noble Hudson flowing like the grey +and silent spectre of a dead river below me, I felt again the strange, +compelling influence of the mighty god of war, my beloved Mars, which +for ten long and lonesome years I had implored with outstretched arms +to carry me back to my lost love. +</P> + +<P> +Not since that other March night in 1866, when I had stood without that +Arizona cave in which my still and lifeless body lay wrapped in the +similitude of earthly death had I felt the irresistible attraction of +the god of my profession. +</P> + +<P> +With arms outstretched toward the red eye of the great star I stood +praying for a return of that strange power which twice had drawn me +through the immensity of space, praying as I had prayed on a thousand +nights before during the long ten years that I had waited and hoped. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly a qualm of nausea swept over me, my senses swam, my knees gave +beneath me and I pitched headlong to the ground upon the very verge of +the dizzy bluff. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly my brain cleared and there swept back across the threshold of +my memory the vivid picture of the horrors of that ghostly Arizona +cave; again, as on that far-gone night, my muscles refused to respond +to my will and again, as though even here upon the banks of the placid +Hudson, I could hear the awful moans and rustling of the fearsome thing +which had lurked and threatened me from the dark recesses of the cave, +I made the same mighty and superhuman effort to break the bonds of the +strange anaesthesia which held me, and again came the sharp click as of +the sudden parting of a taut wire, and I stood naked and free beside +the staring, lifeless thing that had so recently pulsed with the warm, +red life-blood of John Carter. +</P> + +<P> +With scarcely a parting glance I turned my eyes again toward Mars, +lifted my hands toward his lurid rays, and waited. +</P> + +<P> +Nor did I have long to wait; for scarce had I turned ere I shot with +the rapidity of thought into the awful void before me. There was the +same instant of unthinkable cold and utter darkness that I had +experienced twenty years before, and then I opened my eyes in another +world, beneath the burning rays of a hot sun, which beat through a tiny +opening in the dome of the mighty forest in which I lay. +</P> + +<P> +The scene that met my eyes was so un-Martian that my heart sprang to my +throat as the sudden fear swept through me that I had been aimlessly +tossed upon some strange planet by a cruel fate. +</P> + +<P> +Why not? What guide had I through the trackless waste of +interplanetary space? What assurance that I might not as well be +hurtled to some far-distant star of another solar system, as to Mars? +</P> + +<P> +I lay upon a close-cropped sward of red grasslike vegetation, and about +me stretched a grove of strange and beautiful trees, covered with huge +and gorgeous blossoms and filled with brilliant, voiceless birds. I +call them birds since they were winged, but mortal eye ne'er rested on +such odd, unearthly shapes. +</P> + +<P> +The vegetation was similar to that which covers the lawns of the red +Martians of the great waterways, but the trees and birds were unlike +anything that I had ever seen upon Mars, and then through the further +trees I could see that most un-Martian of all sights—an open sea, its +blue waters shimmering beneath the brazen sun. +</P> + +<P> +As I rose to investigate further I experienced the same ridiculous +catastrophe that had met my first attempt to walk under Martian +conditions. The lesser attraction of this smaller planet and the +reduced air pressure of its greatly rarefied atmosphere, afforded so +little resistance to my earthly muscles that the ordinary exertion of +the mere act of rising sent me several feet into the air and +precipitated me upon my face in the soft and brilliant grass of this +strange world. +</P> + +<P> +This experience, however, gave me some slightly increased assurance +that, after all, I might indeed be in some, to me, unknown corner of +Mars, and this was very possible since during my ten years' residence +upon the planet I had explored but a comparatively tiny area of its +vast expanse. +</P> + +<P> +I arose again, laughing at my forgetfulness, and soon had mastered once +more the art of attuning my earthly sinews to these changed conditions. +</P> + +<P> +As I walked slowly down the imperceptible slope toward the sea I could +not help but note the park-like appearance of the sward and trees. The +grass was as close-cropped and carpet-like as some old English lawn and +the trees themselves showed evidence of careful pruning to a uniform +height of about fifteen feet from the ground, so that as one turned his +glance in any direction the forest had the appearance at a little +distance of a vast, high-ceiled chamber. +</P> + +<P> +All these evidences of careful and systematic cultivation convinced me +that I had been fortunate enough to make my entry into Mars on this +second occasion through the domain of a civilized people and that when +I should find them I would be accorded the courtesy and protection that +my rank as a Prince of the house of Tardos Mors entitled me to. +</P> + +<P> +The trees of the forest attracted my deep admiration as I proceeded +toward the sea. Their great stems, some of them fully a hundred feet +in diameter, attested their prodigious height, which I could only guess +at, since at no point could I penetrate their dense foliage above me to +more than sixty or eighty feet. +</P> + +<P> +As far aloft as I could see the stems and branches and twigs were as +smooth and as highly polished as the newest of American-made pianos. +The wood of some of the trees was as black as ebony, while their +nearest neighbours might perhaps gleam in the subdued light of the +forest as clear and white as the finest china, or, again, they were +azure, scarlet, yellow, or deepest purple. +</P> + +<P> +And in the same way was the foliage as gay and variegated as the stems, +while the blooms that clustered thick upon them may not be described in +any earthly tongue, and indeed might challenge the language of the gods. +</P> + +<P> +As I neared the confines of the forest I beheld before me and between +the grove and the open sea, a broad expanse of meadow land, and as I +was about to emerge from the shadows of the trees a sight met my eyes +that banished all romantic and poetic reflection upon the beauties of +the strange landscape. +</P> + +<P> +To my left the sea extended as far as the eye could reach, before me +only a vague, dim line indicated its further shore, while at my right a +mighty river, broad, placid, and majestic, flowed between scarlet banks +to empty into the quiet sea before me. +</P> + +<P> +At a little distance up the river rose mighty perpendicular bluffs, +from the very base of which the great river seemed to rise. +</P> + +<P> +But it was not these inspiring and magnificent evidences of Nature's +grandeur that took my immediate attention from the beauties of the +forest. It was the sight of a score of figures moving slowly about the +meadow near the bank of the mighty river. +</P> + +<P> +Odd, grotesque shapes they were; unlike anything that I had ever seen +upon Mars, and yet, at a distance, most manlike in appearance. The +larger specimens appeared to be about ten or twelve feet in height when +they stood erect, and to be proportioned as to torso and lower +extremities precisely as is earthly man. +</P> + +<P> +Their arms, however, were very short, and from where I stood seemed as +though fashioned much after the manner of an elephant's trunk, in that +they moved in sinuous and snakelike undulations, as though entirely +without bony structure, or if there were bones it seemed that they must +be vertebral in nature. +</P> + +<P> +As I watched them from behind the stem of a huge tree, one of the +creatures moved slowly in my direction, engaged in the occupation that +seemed to be the principal business of each of them, and which +consisted in running their oddly shaped hands over the surface of the +sward, for what purpose I could not determine. +</P> + +<P> +As he approached quite close to me I obtained an excellent view of him, +and though I was later to become better acquainted with his kind, I may +say that that single cursory examination of this awful travesty on +Nature would have proved quite sufficient to my desires had I been a +free agent. The fastest flier of the Heliumetic Navy could not quickly +enough have carried me far from this hideous creature. +</P> + +<P> +Its hairless body was a strange and ghoulish blue, except for a broad +band of white which encircled its protruding, single eye: an eye that +was all dead white—pupil, iris, and ball. +</P> + +<P> +Its nose was a ragged, inflamed, circular hole in the centre of its +blank face; a hole that resembled more closely nothing that I could +think of other than a fresh bullet wound which has not yet commenced to +bleed. +</P> + +<P> +Below this repulsive orifice the face was quite blank to the chin, for +the thing had no mouth that I could discover. +</P> + +<P> +The head, with the exception of the face, was covered by a tangled mass +of jet-black hair some eight or ten inches in length. Each hair was +about the bigness of a large angleworm, and as the thing moved the +muscles of its scalp this awful head-covering seemed to writhe and +wriggle and crawl about the fearsome face as though indeed each +separate hair was endowed with independent life. +</P> + +<P> +The body and the legs were as symmetrically human as Nature could have +fashioned them, and the feet, too, were human in shape, but of +monstrous proportions. From heel to toe they were fully three feet +long, and very flat and very broad. +</P> + +<P> +As it came quite close to me I discovered that its strange movements, +running its odd hands over the surface of the turf, were the result of +its peculiar method of feeding, which consists in cropping off the +tender vegetation with its razorlike talons and sucking it up from its +two mouths, which lie one in the palm of each hand, through its +arm-like throats. +</P> + +<P> +In addition to the features which I have already described, the beast +was equipped with a massive tail about six feet in length, quite round +where it joined the body, but tapering to a flat, thin blade toward the +end, which trailed at right angles to the ground. +</P> + +<P> +By far the most remarkable feature of this most remarkable creature, +however, were the two tiny replicas of it, each about six inches in +length, which dangled, one on either side, from its armpits. They were +suspended by a small stem which seemed to grow from the exact tops of +their heads to where it connected them with the body of the adult. +</P> + +<P> +Whether they were the young, or merely portions of a composite +creature, I did not know. +</P> + +<P> +As I had been scrutinizing this weird monstrosity the balance of the +herd had fed quite close to me and I now saw that while many had the +smaller specimens dangling from them, not all were thus equipped, and I +further noted that the little ones varied in size from what appeared to +be but tiny unopened buds an inch in diameter through various stages of +development to the full-fledged and perfectly formed creature of ten to +twelve inches in length. +</P> + +<P> +Feeding with the herd were many of the little fellows not much larger +than those which remained attached to their parents, and from the young +of that size the herd graded up to the immense adults. +</P> + +<P> +Fearsome-looking as they were, I did not know whether to fear them or +not, for they did not seem to be particularly well equipped for +fighting, and I was on the point of stepping from my hiding-place and +revealing myself to them to note the effect upon them of the sight of a +man when my rash resolve was, fortunately for me, nipped in the bud by +a strange shrieking wail, which seemed to come from the direction of +the bluffs at my right. +</P> + +<P> +Naked and unarmed, as I was, my end would have been both speedy and +horrible at the hands of these cruel creatures had I had time to put my +resolve into execution, but at the moment of the shriek each member of +the herd turned in the direction from which the sound seemed to come, +and at the same instant every particular snake-like hair upon their +heads rose stiffly perpendicular as if each had been a sentient +organism looking or listening for the source or meaning of the wail. +And indeed the latter proved to be the truth, for this strange growth +upon the craniums of the plant men of Barsoom represents the thousand +ears of these hideous creatures, the last remnant of the strange race +which sprang from the original Tree of Life. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly every eye turned toward one member of the herd, a large +fellow who evidently was the leader. A strange purring sound issued +from the mouth in the palm of one of his hands, and at the same time he +started rapidly toward the bluff, followed by the entire herd. +</P> + +<P> +Their speed and method of locomotion were both remarkable, springing as +they did in great leaps of twenty or thirty feet, much after the manner +of a kangaroo. +</P> + +<P> +They were rapidly disappearing when it occurred to me to follow them, +and so, hurling caution to the winds, I sprang across the meadow in +their wake with leaps and bounds even more prodigious than their own, +for the muscles of an athletic Earth man produce remarkable results +when pitted against the lesser gravity and air pressure of Mars. +</P> + +<P> +Their way led directly towards the apparent source of the river at the +base of the cliffs, and as I neared this point I found the meadow +dotted with huge boulders that the ravages of time had evidently +dislodged from the towering crags above. +</P> + +<P> +For this reason I came quite close to the cause of the disturbance +before the scene broke upon my horrified gaze. As I topped a great +boulder I saw the herd of plant men surrounding a little group of +perhaps five or six green men and women of Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +That I was indeed upon Mars I now had no doubt, for here were members +of the wild hordes that people the dead sea bottoms and deserted cities +of that dying planet. +</P> + +<P> +Here were the great males towering in all the majesty of their imposing +height; here were the gleaming white tusks protruding from their +massive lower jaws to a point near the centre of their foreheads, the +laterally placed, protruding eyes with which they could look forward or +backward, or to either side without turning their heads, here the +strange antennae-like ears rising from the tops of their foreheads; and +the additional pair of arms extending from midway between the shoulders +and the hips. +</P> + +<P> +Even without the glossy green hide and the metal ornaments which +denoted the tribes to which they belonged, I would have known them on +the instant for what they were, for where else in all the universe is +their like duplicated? +</P> + +<P> +There were two men and four females in the party and their ornaments +denoted them as members of different hordes, a fact which tended to +puzzle me infinitely, since the various hordes of green men of Barsoom +are eternally at deadly war with one another, and never, except on that +single historic instance when the great Tars Tarkas of Thark gathered a +hundred and fifty thousand green warriors from several hordes to march +upon the doomed city of Zodanga to rescue Dejah Thoris, Princess of +Helium, from the clutches of Than Kosis, had I seen green Martians of +different hordes associated in other than mortal combat. +</P> + +<P> +But now they stood back to back, facing, in wide-eyed amazement, the +very evidently hostile demonstrations of a common enemy. +</P> + +<P> +Both men and women were armed with long-swords and daggers, but no +firearms were in evidence, else it had been short shrift for the +gruesome plant men of Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the leader of the plant men charged the little party, and his +method of attack was as remarkable as it was effective, and by its very +strangeness was the more potent, since in the science of the green +warriors there was no defence for this singular manner of attack, the +like of which it soon was evident to me they were as unfamiliar with as +they were with the monstrosities which confronted them. +</P> + +<P> +The plant man charged to within a dozen feet of the party and then, +with a bound, rose as though to pass directly above their heads. His +powerful tail was raised high to one side, and as he passed close above +them he brought it down in one terrific sweep that crushed a green +warrior's skull as though it had been an eggshell. +</P> + +<P> +The balance of the frightful herd was now circling rapidly and with +bewildering speed about the little knot of victims. Their prodigious +bounds and the shrill, screeching purr of their uncanny mouths were +well calculated to confuse and terrorize their prey, so that as two of +them leaped simultaneously from either side, the mighty sweep of those +awful tails met with no resistance and two more green Martians went +down to an ignoble death. +</P> + +<P> +There were now but one warrior and two females left, and it seemed that +it could be but a matter of seconds ere these, also, lay dead upon the +scarlet sward. +</P> + +<P> +But as two more of the plant men charged, the warrior, who was now +prepared by the experiences of the past few minutes, swung his mighty +long-sword aloft and met the hurtling bulk with a clean cut that clove +one of the plant men from chin to groin. +</P> + +<P> +The other, however, dealt a single blow with his cruel tail that laid +both of the females crushed corpses upon the ground. +</P> + +<P> +As the green warrior saw the last of his companions go down and at the +same time perceived that the entire herd was charging him in a body, he +rushed boldly to meet them, swinging his long-sword in the terrific +manner that I had so often seen the men of his kind wield it in their +ferocious and almost continual warfare among their own race. +</P> + +<P> +Cutting and hewing to right and left, he laid an open path straight +through the advancing plant men, and then commenced a mad race for the +forest, in the shelter of which he evidently hoped that he might find a +haven of refuge. +</P> + +<P> +He had turned for that portion of the forest which abutted on the +cliffs, and thus the mad race was taking the entire party farther and +farther from the boulder where I lay concealed. +</P> + +<P> +As I had watched the noble fight which the great warrior had put up +against such enormous odds my heart had swelled in admiration for him, +and acting as I am wont to do, more upon impulse than after mature +deliberation, I instantly sprang from my sheltering rock and bounded +quickly toward the bodies of the dead green Martians, a well-defined +plan of action already formed. +</P> + +<P> +Half a dozen great leaps brought me to the spot, and another instant +saw me again in my stride in quick pursuit of the hideous monsters that +were rapidly gaining on the fleeing warrior, but this time I grasped a +mighty long-sword in my hand and in my heart was the old blood lust of +the fighting man, and a red mist swam before my eyes and I felt my lips +respond to my heart in the old smile that has ever marked me in the +midst of the joy of battle. +</P> + +<P> +Swift as I was I was none too soon, for the green warrior had been +overtaken ere he had made half the distance to the forest, and now he +stood with his back to a boulder, while the herd, temporarily balked, +hissed and screeched about him. +</P> + +<P> +With their single eyes in the centre of their heads and every eye +turned upon their prey, they did not note my soundless approach, so +that I was upon them with my great long-sword and four of them lay dead +ere they knew that I was among them. +</P> + +<P> +For an instant they recoiled before my terrific onslaught, and in that +instant the green warrior rose to the occasion and, springing to my +side, laid to the right and left of him as I had never seen but one +other warrior do, with great circling strokes that formed a figure +eight about him and that never stopped until none stood living to +oppose him, his keen blade passing through flesh and bone and metal as +though each had been alike thin air. +</P> + +<P> +As we bent to the slaughter, far above us rose that shrill, weird cry +which I had heard once before, and which had called the herd to the +attack upon their victims. Again and again it rose, but we were too +much engaged with the fierce and powerful creatures about us to attempt +to search out even with our eyes the author of the horrid notes. +</P> + +<P> +Great tails lashed in frenzied anger about us, razor-like talons cut +our limbs and bodies, and a green and sticky syrup, such as oozes from +a crushed caterpillar, smeared us from head to foot, for every cut and +thrust of our longswords brought spurts of this stuff upon us from the +severed arteries of the plant men, through which it courses in its +sluggish viscidity in lieu of blood. +</P> + +<P> +Once I felt the great weight of one of the monsters upon my back and as +keen talons sank into my flesh I experienced the frightful sensation of +moist lips sucking the lifeblood from the wounds to which the claws +still clung. +</P> + +<P> +I was very much engaged with a ferocious fellow who was endeavouring to +reach my throat from in front, while two more, one on either side, were +lashing viciously at me with their tails. +</P> + +<P> +The green warrior was much put to it to hold his own, and I felt that +the unequal struggle could last but a moment longer when the huge +fellow discovered my plight, and tearing himself from those that +surrounded him, he raked the assailant from my back with a single sweep +of his blade, and thus relieved I had little difficulty with the others. +</P> + +<P> +Once together, we stood almost back to back against the great boulder, +and thus the creatures were prevented from soaring above us to deliver +their deadly blows, and as we were easily their match while they +remained upon the ground, we were making great headway in dispatching +what remained of them when our attention was again attracted by the +shrill wail of the caller above our heads. +</P> + +<P> +This time I glanced up, and far above us upon a little natural balcony +on the face of the cliff stood a strange figure of a man shrieking out +his shrill signal, the while he waved one hand in the direction of the +river's mouth as though beckoning to some one there, and with the other +pointed and gesticulated toward us. +</P> + +<P> +A glance in the direction toward which he was looking was sufficient to +apprise me of his aims and at the same time to fill me with the dread +of dire apprehension, for, streaming in from all directions across the +meadow, from out of the forest, and from the far distance of the flat +land across the river, I could see converging upon us a hundred +different lines of wildly leaping creatures such as we were now engaged +with, and with them some strange new monsters which ran with great +swiftness, now erect and now upon all fours. +</P> + +<P> +"It will be a great death," I said to my companion. "Look!" +</P> + +<P> +As he shot a quick glance in the direction I indicated he smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"We may at least die fighting and as great warriors should, John +Carter," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +We had just finished the last of our immediate antagonists as he spoke, +and I turned in surprised wonderment at the sound of my name. +</P> + +<P> +And there before my astonished eyes I beheld the greatest of the green +men of Barsoom; their shrewdest statesman, their mightiest general, my +great and good friend, Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A FOREST BATTLE +</H3> + +<P> +Tars Tarkas and I found no time for an exchange of experiences as we +stood there before the great boulder surrounded by the corpses of our +grotesque assailants, for from all directions down the broad valley was +streaming a perfect torrent of terrifying creatures in response to the +weird call of the strange figure far above us. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," cried Tars Tarkas, "we must make for the cliffs. There lies +our only hope of even temporary escape; there we may find a cave or a +narrow ledge which two may defend for ever against this motley, unarmed +horde." +</P> + +<P> +Together we raced across the scarlet sward, I timing my speed that I +might not outdistance my slower companion. We had, perhaps, three +hundred yards to cover between our boulder and the cliffs, and then to +search out a suitable shelter for our stand against the terrifying +things that were pursuing us. +</P> + +<P> +They were rapidly overhauling us when Tars Tarkas cried to me to hasten +ahead and discover, if possible, the sanctuary we sought. The +suggestion was a good one, for thus many valuable minutes might be +saved to us, and, throwing every ounce of my earthly muscles into the +effort, I cleared the remaining distance between myself and the cliffs +in great leaps and bounds that put me at their base in a moment. +</P> + +<P> +The cliffs rose perpendicular directly from the almost level sward of +the valley. There was no accumulation of fallen debris, forming a more +or less rough ascent to them, as is the case with nearly all other +cliffs I have ever seen. The scattered boulders that had fallen from +above and lay upon or partly buried in the turf, were the only +indication that any disintegration of the massive, towering pile of +rocks ever had taken place. +</P> + +<P> +My first cursory inspection of the face of the cliffs filled my heart +with forebodings, since nowhere could I discern, except where the weird +herald stood still shrieking his shrill summons, the faintest +indication of even a bare foothold upon the lofty escarpment. +</P> + +<P> +To my right the bottom of the cliff was lost in the dense foliage of +the forest, which terminated at its very foot, rearing its gorgeous +foliage fully a thousand feet against its stern and forbidding +neighbour. +</P> + +<P> +To the left the cliff ran, apparently unbroken, across the head of the +broad valley, to be lost in the outlines of what appeared to be a range +of mighty mountains that skirted and confined the valley in every +direction. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps a thousand feet from me the river broke, as it seemed, directly +from the base of the cliffs, and as there seemed not the remotest +chance for escape in that direction I turned my attention again toward +the forest. +</P> + +<P> +The cliffs towered above me a good five thousand feet. The sun was not +quite upon them and they loomed a dull yellow in their own shade. Here +and there they were broken with streaks and patches of dusky red, +green, and occasional areas of white quartz. +</P> + +<P> +Altogether they were very beautiful, but I fear that I did not regard +them with a particularly appreciative eye on this, my first inspection +of them. +</P> + +<P> +Just then I was absorbed in them only as a medium of escape, and so, as +my gaze ran quickly, time and again, over their vast expanse in search +of some cranny or crevice, I came suddenly to loathe them as the +prisoner must loathe the cruel and impregnable walls of his dungeon. +</P> + +<P> +Tars Tarkas was approaching me rapidly, and still more rapidly came the +awful horde at his heels. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed the forest now or nothing, and I was just on the point of +motioning Tars Tarkas to follow me in that direction when the sun +passed the cliff's zenith, and as the bright rays touched the dull +surface it burst out into a million scintillant lights of burnished +gold, of flaming red, of soft greens, and gleaming whites—a more +gorgeous and inspiring spectacle human eye has never rested upon. +</P> + +<P> +The face of the entire cliff was, as later inspection conclusively +proved, so shot with veins and patches of solid gold as to quite +present the appearance of a solid wall of that precious metal except +where it was broken by outcroppings of ruby, emerald, and diamond +boulders—a faint and alluring indication of the vast and unguessable +riches which lay deeply buried behind the magnificent surface. +</P> + +<P> +But what caught my most interested attention at the moment that the +sun's rays set the cliff's face a-shimmer, was the several black spots +which now appeared quite plainly in evidence high across the gorgeous +wall close to the forest's top, and extending apparently below and +behind the branches. +</P> + +<P> +Almost immediately I recognised them for what they were, the dark +openings of caves entering the solid walls—possible avenues of escape +or temporary shelter, could we but reach them. +</P> + +<P> +There was but a single way, and that led through the mighty, towering +trees upon our right. That I could scale them I knew full well, but +Tars Tarkas, with his mighty bulk and enormous weight, would find it a +task possibly quite beyond his prowess or his skill, for Martians are +at best but poor climbers. Upon the entire surface of that ancient +planet I never before had seen a hill or mountain that exceeded four +thousand feet in height above the dead sea bottoms, and as the ascent +was usually gradual, nearly to their summits they presented but few +opportunities for the practice of climbing. Nor would the Martians +have embraced even such opportunities as might present themselves, for +they could always find a circuitous route about the base of any +eminence, and these roads they preferred and followed in preference to +the shorter but more arduous ways. +</P> + +<P> +However, there was nothing else to consider than an attempt to scale +the trees contiguous to the cliff in an effort to reach the caves above. +</P> + +<P> +The Thark grasped the possibilities and the difficulties of the plan at +once, but there was no alternative, and so we set out rapidly for the +trees nearest the cliff. +</P> + +<P> +Our relentless pursuers were now close to us, so close that it seemed +that it would be an utter impossibility for the Jeddak of Thark to +reach the forest in advance of them, nor was there any considerable +will in the efforts that Tars Tarkas made, for the green men of Barsoom +do not relish flight, nor ever before had I seen one fleeing from death +in whatsoever form it might have confronted him. But that Tars Tarkas +was the bravest of the brave he had proven thousands of times; yes, +tens of thousands in countless mortal combats with men and beasts. And +so I knew that there was another reason than fear of death behind his +flight, as he knew that a greater power than pride or honour spurred me +to escape these fierce destroyers. In my case it was love—love of the +divine Dejah Thoris; and the cause of the Thark's great and sudden love +of life I could not fathom, for it is oftener that they seek death than +life—these strange, cruel, loveless, unhappy people. +</P> + +<P> +At length, however, we reached the shadows of the forest, while right +behind us sprang the swiftest of our pursuers—a giant plant man with +claws outreaching to fasten his bloodsucking mouths upon us. +</P> + +<P> +He was, I should say, a hundred yards in advance of his closest +companion, and so I called to Tars Tarkas to ascend a great tree that +brushed the cliff's face while I dispatched the fellow, thus giving the +less agile Thark an opportunity to reach the higher branches before the +entire horde should be upon us and every vestige of escape cut off. +</P> + +<P> +But I had reckoned without a just appreciation either of the cunning of +my immediate antagonist or the swiftness with which his fellows were +covering the distance which had separated them from me. +</P> + +<P> +As I raised my long-sword to deal the creature its death thrust it +halted in its charge and, as my sword cut harmlessly through the empty +air, the great tail of the thing swept with the power of a grizzly's +arm across the sward and carried me bodily from my feet to the ground. +In an instant the brute was upon me, but ere it could fasten its +hideous mouths into my breast and throat I grasped a writhing tentacle +in either hand. +</P> + +<P> +The plant man was well muscled, heavy, and powerful but my earthly +sinews and greater agility, in conjunction with the deathly strangle +hold I had upon him, would have given me, I think, an eventual victory +had we had time to discuss the merits of our relative prowess +uninterrupted. But as we strained and struggled about the tree into +which Tars Tarkas was clambering with infinite difficulty, I suddenly +caught a glimpse over the shoulder of my antagonist of the great swarm +of pursuers that now were fairly upon me. +</P> + +<P> +Now, at last, I saw the nature of the other monsters who had come with +the plant men in response to the weird calling of the man upon the +cliff's face. They were that most dreaded of Martian creatures—great +white apes of Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +My former experiences upon Mars had familiarized me thoroughly with +them and their methods, and I may say that of all the fearsome and +terrible, weird and grotesque inhabitants of that strange world, it is +the white apes that come nearest to familiarizing me with the sensation +of fear. +</P> + +<P> +I think that the cause of this feeling which these apes engender within +me is due to their remarkable resemblance in form to our Earth men, +which gives them a human appearance that is most uncanny when coupled +with their enormous size. +</P> + +<P> +They stand fifteen feet in height and walk erect upon their hind feet. +Like the green Martians, they have an intermediary set of arms midway +between their upper and lower limbs. Their eyes are very close set, +but do not protrude as do those of the green men of Mars; their ears +are high set, but more laterally located than are the green men's, +while their snouts and teeth are much like those of our African +gorilla. Upon their heads grows an enormous shock of bristly hair. +</P> + +<P> +It was into the eyes of such as these and the terrible plant men that I +gazed above the shoulder of my foe, and then, in a mighty wave of +snarling, snapping, screaming, purring rage, they swept over me—and of +all the sounds that assailed my ears as I went down beneath them, to me +the most hideous was the horrid purring of the plant men. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly a score of cruel fangs and keen talons were sunk into my +flesh; cold, sucking lips fastened themselves upon my arteries. I +struggled to free myself, and even though weighed down by these immense +bodies, I succeeded in struggling to my feet, where, still grasping my +long-sword, and shortening my grip upon it until I could use it as a +dagger, I wrought such havoc among them that at one time I stood for an +instant free. +</P> + +<P> +What it has taken minutes to write occurred in but a few seconds, but +during that time Tars Tarkas had seen my plight and had dropped from +the lower branches, which he had reached with such infinite labour, and +as I flung the last of my immediate antagonists from me the great Thark +leaped to my side, and again we fought, back to back, as we had done a +hundred times before. +</P> + +<P> +Time and again the ferocious apes sprang in to close with us, and time +and again we beat them back with our swords. The great tails of the +plant men lashed with tremendous power about us as they charged from +various directions or sprang with the agility of greyhounds above our +heads; but every attack met a gleaming blade in sword hands that had +been reputed for twenty years the best that Mars ever had known; for +Tars Tarkas and John Carter were names that the fighting men of the +world of warriors loved best to speak. +</P> + +<P> +But even the two best swords in a world of fighters can avail not for +ever against overwhelming numbers of fierce and savage brutes that know +not what defeat means until cold steel teaches their hearts no longer +to beat, and so, step by step, we were forced back. At length we stood +against the giant tree that we had chosen for our ascent, and then, as +charge after charge hurled its weight upon us, we gave back again and +again, until we had been forced half-way around the huge base of the +colossal trunk. +</P> + +<P> +Tars Tarkas was in the lead, and suddenly I heard a little cry of +exultation from him. +</P> + +<P> +"Here is shelter for one at least, John Carter," he said, and, glancing +down, I saw an opening in the base of the tree about three feet in +diameter. +</P> + +<P> +"In with you, Tars Tarkas," I cried, but he would not go; saying that +his bulk was too great for the little aperture, while I might slip in +easily. +</P> + +<P> +"We shall both die if we remain without, John Carter; here is a slight +chance for one of us. Take it and you may live to avenge me, it is +useless for me to attempt to worm my way into so small an opening with +this horde of demons besetting us on all sides." +</P> + +<P> +"Then we shall die together, Tars Tarkas," I replied, "for I shall not +go first. Let me defend the opening while you get in, then my smaller +stature will permit me to slip in with you before they can prevent." +</P> + +<P> +We still were fighting furiously as we talked in broken sentences, +punctured with vicious cuts and thrusts at our swarming enemy. +</P> + +<P> +At length he yielded, for it seemed the only way in which either of us +might be saved from the ever-increasing numbers of our assailants, who +were still swarming upon us from all directions across the broad valley. +</P> + +<P> +"It was ever your way, John Carter, to think last of your own life," he +said; "but still more your way to command the lives and actions of +others, even to the greatest of Jeddaks who rule upon Barsoom." +</P> + +<P> +There was a grim smile upon his cruel, hard face, as he, the greatest +Jeddak of them all, turned to obey the dictates of a creature of +another world—of a man whose stature was less than half his own. +</P> + +<P> +"If you fail, John Carter," he said, "know that the cruel and heartless +Thark, to whom you taught the meaning of friendship, will come out to +die beside you." +</P> + +<P> +"As you will, my friend," I replied; "but quickly now, head first, +while I cover your retreat." +</P> + +<P> +He hesitated a little at that word, for never before in his whole life +of continual strife had he turned his back upon aught than a dead or +defeated enemy. +</P> + +<P> +"Haste, Tars Tarkas," I urged, "or we shall both go down to profitless +defeat; I cannot hold them for ever alone." +</P> + +<P> +As he dropped to the ground to force his way into the tree, the whole +howling pack of hideous devils hurled themselves upon me. To right and +left flew my shimmering blade, now green with the sticky juice of a +plant man, now red with the crimson blood of a great white ape; but +always flying from one opponent to another, hesitating but the barest +fraction of a second to drink the lifeblood in the centre of some +savage heart. +</P> + +<P> +And thus I fought as I never had fought before, against such frightful +odds that I cannot realize even now that human muscles could have +withstood that awful onslaught, that terrific weight of hurtling tons +of ferocious, battling flesh. +</P> + +<P> +With the fear that we would escape them, the creatures redoubled their +efforts to pull me down, and though the ground about me was piled high +with their dead and dying comrades, they succeeded at last in +overwhelming me, and I went down beneath them for the second time that +day, and once again felt those awful sucking lips against my flesh. +</P> + +<P> +But scarce had I fallen ere I felt powerful hands grip my ankles, and +in another second I was being drawn within the shelter of the tree's +interior. For a moment it was a tug of war between Tars Tarkas and a +great plant man, who clung tenaciously to my breast, but presently I +got the point of my long-sword beneath him and with a mighty thrust +pierced his vitals. +</P> + +<P> +Torn and bleeding from many cruel wounds, I lay panting upon the ground +within the hollow of the tree, while Tars Tarkas defended the opening +from the furious mob without. +</P> + +<P> +For an hour they howled about the tree, but after a few attempts to +reach us they confined their efforts to terrorizing shrieks and +screams, to horrid growling on the part of the great white apes, and +the fearsome and indescribable purring by the plant men. +</P> + +<P> +At length, all but a score, who had apparently been left to prevent our +escape, had left us, and our adventure seemed destined to result in a +siege, the only outcome of which could be our death by starvation; for +even should we be able to slip out after dark, whither in this unknown +and hostile valley could we hope to turn our steps toward possible +escape? +</P> + +<P> +As the attacks of our enemies ceased and our eyes became accustomed to +the semi-darkness of the interior of our strange retreat, I took the +opportunity to explore our shelter. +</P> + +<P> +The tree was hollow to an extent of about fifty feet in diameter, and +from its flat, hard floor I judged that it had often been used to +domicile others before our occupancy. As I raised my eyes toward its +roof to note the height I saw far above me a faint glow of light. +</P> + +<P> +There was an opening above. If we could but reach it we might still +hope to make the shelter of the cliff caves. My eyes had now become +quite used to the subdued light of the interior, and as I pursued my +investigation I presently came upon a rough ladder at the far side of +the cave. +</P> + +<P> +Quickly I mounted it, only to find that it connected at the top with +the lower of a series of horizontal wooden bars that spanned the now +narrow and shaft-like interior of the tree's stem. These bars were set +one above another about three feet apart, and formed a perfect ladder +as far above me as I could see. +</P> + +<P> +Dropping to the floor once more, I detailed my discovery to Tars +Tarkas, who suggested that I explore aloft as far as I could go in +safety while he guarded the entrance against a possible attack. +</P> + +<P> +As I hastened above to explore the strange shaft I found that the +ladder of horizontal bars mounted always as far above me as my eyes +could reach, and as I ascended, the light from above grew brighter and +brighter. +</P> + +<P> +For fully five hundred feet I continued to climb, until at length I +reached the opening in the stem which admitted the light. It was of +about the same diameter as the entrance at the foot of the tree, and +opened directly upon a large flat limb, the well worn surface of which +testified to its long continued use as an avenue for some creature to +and from this remarkable shaft. +</P> + +<P> +I did not venture out upon the limb for fear that I might be discovered +and our retreat in this direction cut off; but instead hurried to +retrace my steps to Tars Tarkas. +</P> + +<P> +I soon reached him and presently we were both ascending the long ladder +toward the opening above. +</P> + +<P> +Tars Tarkas went in advance and as I reached the first of the +horizontal bars I drew the ladder up after me and, handing it to him, +he carried it a hundred feet further aloft, where he wedged it safely +between one of the bars and the side of the shaft. In like manner I +dislodged the lower bars as I passed them, so that we soon had the +interior of the tree denuded of all possible means of ascent for a +distance of a hundred feet from the base; thus precluding possible +pursuit and attack from the rear. +</P> + +<P> +As we were to learn later, this precaution saved us from dire +predicament, and was eventually the means of our salvation. +</P> + +<P> +When we reached the opening at the top Tars Tarkas drew to one side +that I might pass out and investigate, as, owing to my lesser weight +and greater agility, I was better fitted for the perilous threading of +this dizzy, hanging pathway. +</P> + +<P> +The limb upon which I found myself ascended at a slight angle toward +the cliff, and as I followed it I found that it terminated a few feet +above a narrow ledge which protruded from the cliff's face at the +entrance to a narrow cave. +</P> + +<P> +As I approached the slightly more slender extremity of the branch it +bent beneath my weight until, as I balanced perilously upon its outer +tip, it swayed gently on a level with the ledge at a distance of a +couple of feet. +</P> + +<P> +Five hundred feet below me lay the vivid scarlet carpet of the valley; +nearly five thousand feet above towered the mighty, gleaming face of +the gorgeous cliffs. +</P> + +<P> +The cave that I faced was not one of those that I had seen from the +ground, and which lay much higher, possibly a thousand feet. But so +far as I might know it was as good for our purpose as another, and so I +returned to the tree for Tars Tarkas. +</P> + +<P> +Together we wormed our way along the waving pathway, but when we +reached the end of the branch we found that our combined weight so +depressed the limb that the cave's mouth was now too far above us to be +reached. +</P> + +<P> +We finally agreed that Tars Tarkas should return along the branch, +leaving his longest leather harness strap with me, and that when the +limb had risen to a height that would permit me to enter the cave I was +to do so, and on Tars Tarkas' return I could then lower the strap and +haul him up to the safety of the ledge. +</P> + +<P> +This we did without mishap and soon found ourselves together upon the +verge of a dizzy little balcony, with a magnificent view of the valley +spreading out below us. +</P> + +<P> +As far as the eye could reach gorgeous forest and crimson sward skirted +a silent sea, and about all towered the brilliant monster guardian +cliffs. Once we thought we discerned a gilded minaret gleaming in the +sun amidst the waving tops of far-distant trees, but we soon abandoned +the idea in the belief that it was but an hallucination born of our +great desire to discover the haunts of civilized men in this beautiful, +yet forbidding, spot. +</P> + +<P> +Below us upon the river's bank the great white apes were devouring the +last remnants of Tars Tarkas' former companions, while great herds of +plant men grazed in ever-widening circles about the sward which they +kept as close clipped as the smoothest of lawns. +</P> + +<P> +Knowing that attack from the tree was now improbable, we determined to +explore the cave, which we had every reason to believe was but a +continuation of the path we had already traversed, leading the gods +alone knew where, but quite evidently away from this valley of grim +ferocity. +</P> + +<P> +As we advanced we found a well-proportioned tunnel cut from the solid +cliff. Its walls rose some twenty feet above the floor, which was +about five feet in width. The roof was arched. We had no means of +making a light, and so groped our way slowly into the ever-increasing +darkness, Tars Tarkas keeping in touch with one wall while I felt along +the other, while, to prevent our wandering into diverging branches and +becoming separated or lost in some intricate and labyrinthine maze, we +clasped hands. +</P> + +<P> +How far we traversed the tunnel in this manner I do not know, but +presently we came to an obstruction which blocked our further progress. +It seemed more like a partition than a sudden ending of the cave, for +it was constructed not of the material of the cliff, but of something +which felt like very hard wood. +</P> + +<P> +Silently I groped over its surface with my hands, and presently was +rewarded by the feel of the button which as commonly denotes a door on +Mars as does a door knob on Earth. +</P> + +<P> +Gently pressing it, I had the satisfaction of feeling the door slowly +give before me, and in another instant we were looking into a dimly +lighted apartment, which, so far as we could see, was unoccupied. +</P> + +<P> +Without more ado I swung the door wide open and, followed by the huge +Thark, stepped into the chamber. As we stood for a moment in silence +gazing about the room a slight noise behind caused me to turn quickly, +when, to my astonishment, I saw the door close with a sharp click as +though by an unseen hand. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly I sprang toward it to wrench it open again, for something in +the uncanny movement of the thing and the tense and almost palpable +silence of the chamber seemed to portend a lurking evil lying hidden in +this rock-bound chamber within the bowels of the Golden Cliffs. +</P> + +<P> +My fingers clawed futilely at the unyielding portal, while my eyes +sought in vain for a duplicate of the button which had given us ingress. +</P> + +<P> +And then, from unseen lips, a cruel and mocking peal of laughter rang +through the desolate place. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHAMBER OF MYSTERY +</H3> + +<P> +For moments after that awful laugh had ceased reverberating through the +rocky room, Tars Tarkas and I stood in tense and expectant silence. +But no further sound broke the stillness, nor within the range of our +vision did aught move. +</P> + +<P> +At length Tars Tarkas laughed softly, after the manner of his strange +kind when in the presence of the horrible or terrifying. It is not an +hysterical laugh, but rather the genuine expression of the pleasure +they derive from the things that move Earth men to loathing or to tears. +</P> + +<P> +Often and again have I seen them roll upon the ground in mad fits of +uncontrollable mirth when witnessing the death agonies of women and +little children beneath the torture of that hellish green Martian +fete—the Great Games. +</P> + +<P> +I looked up at the Thark, a smile upon my own lips, for here in truth +was greater need for a smiling face than a trembling chin. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you make of it all?" I asked. "Where in the deuce are we?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked at me in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Where are we?" he repeated. "Do you tell me, John Carter, that you +know not where you be?" +</P> + +<P> +"That I am upon Barsoom is all that I can guess, and but for you and +the great white apes I should not even guess that, for the sights I +have seen this day are as unlike the things of my beloved Barsoom as I +knew it ten long years ago as they are unlike the world of my birth. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Tars Tarkas, I know not where we be." +</P> + +<P> +"Where have you been since you opened the mighty portals of the +atmosphere plant years ago, after the keeper had died and the engines +stopped and all Barsoom was dying, that had not already died, of +asphyxiation? Your body even was never found, though the men of a +whole world sought after it for years, though the Jeddak of Helium and +his granddaughter, your princess, offered such fabulous rewards that +even princes of royal blood joined in the search. +</P> + +<P> +"There was but one conclusion to reach when all efforts to locate you +had failed, and that, that you had taken the long, last pilgrimage down +the mysterious River Iss, to await in the Valley Dor upon the shores of +the Lost Sea of Korus the beautiful Dejah Thoris, your princess. +</P> + +<P> +"Why you had gone none could guess, for your princess still lived—" +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God," I interrupted him. "I did not dare to ask you, for I +feared I might have been too late to save her—she was very low when I +left her in the royal gardens of Tardos Mors that long-gone night; so +very low that I scarcely hoped even then to reach the atmosphere plant +ere her dear spirit had fled from me for ever. And she lives yet?" +</P> + +<P> +"She lives, John Carter." +</P> + +<P> +"You have not told me where we are," I reminded him. +</P> + +<P> +"We are where I expected to find you, John Carter—and another. Many +years ago you heard the story of the woman who taught me the thing that +green Martians are reared to hate, the woman who taught me to love. +You know the cruel tortures and the awful death her love won for her at +the hands of the beast, Tal Hajus. +</P> + +<P> +"She, I thought, awaited me by the Lost Sea of Korus. +</P> + +<P> +"You know that it was left for a man from another world, for yourself, +John Carter, to teach this cruel Thark what friendship is; and you, I +thought, also roamed the care-free Valley Dor. +</P> + +<P> +"Thus were the two I most longed for at the end of the long pilgrimage +I must take some day, and so as the time had elapsed which Dejah Thoris +had hoped might bring you once more to her side, for she has always +tried to believe that you had but temporarily returned to your own +planet, I at last gave way to my great yearning and a month since I +started upon the journey, the end of which you have this day witnessed. +Do you understand now where you be, John Carter?" +</P> + +<P> +"And that was the River Iss, emptying into the Lost Sea of Korus in the +Valley Dor?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"This is the valley of love and peace and rest to which every +Barsoomian since time immemorial has longed to pilgrimage at the end of +a life of hate and strife and bloodshed," he replied. "This, John +Carter, is Heaven." +</P> + +<P> +His tone was cold and ironical; its bitterness but reflecting the +terrible disappointment he had suffered. Such a fearful +disillusionment, such a blasting of life-long hopes and aspirations, +such an uprooting of age-old tradition might have excused a vastly +greater demonstration on the part of the Thark. +</P> + +<P> +I laid my hand upon his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry," I said, nor did there seem aught else to say. +</P> + +<P> +"Think, John Carter, of the countless billions of Barsoomians who have +taken the voluntary pilgrimage down this cruel river since the +beginning of time, only to fall into the ferocious clutches of the +terrible creatures that to-day assailed us. +</P> + +<P> +"There is an ancient legend that once a red man returned from the banks +of the Lost Sea of Korus, returned from the Valley Dor, back through +the mysterious River Iss, and the legend has it that he narrated a +fearful blasphemy of horrid brutes that inhabited a valley of wondrous +loveliness, brutes that pounced upon each Barsoomian as he terminated +his pilgrimage and devoured him upon the banks of the Lost Sea where he +had looked to find love and peace and happiness; but the ancients +killed the blasphemer, as tradition has ordained that any shall be +killed who return from the bosom of the River of Mystery. +</P> + +<P> +"But now we know that it was no blasphemy, that the legend is a true +one, and that the man told only of what he saw; but what does it profit +us, John Carter, since even should we escape, we also would be treated +as blasphemers? We are between the wild thoat of certainty and the mad +zitidar of fact—we can escape neither." +</P> + +<P> +"As Earth men say, we are between the devil and the deep sea, Tars +Tarkas," I replied, nor could I help but smile at our dilemma. +</P> + +<P> +"There is naught that we can do but take things as they come, and at +least have the satisfaction of knowing that whoever slays us eventually +will have far greater numbers of their own dead to count than they will +get in return. White ape or plant man, green Barsoomian or red man, +whosoever it shall be that takes the last toll from us will know that +it is costly in lives to wipe out John Carter, Prince of the House of +Tardos Mors, and Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, at the same time." +</P> + +<P> +I could not help but laugh at his grim humour, and he joined in with me +in one of those rare laughs of real enjoyment which was one of the +attributes of this fierce Tharkian chief which marked him from the +others of his kind. +</P> + +<P> +"But about yourself, John Carter," he cried at last. "If you have not +been here all these years where indeed have you been, and how is it +that I find you here to-day?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have been back to Earth," I replied. "For ten long Earth years I +have been praying and hoping for the day that would carry me once more +to this grim old planet of yours, for which, with all its cruel and +terrible customs, I feel a bond of sympathy and love even greater than +for the world that gave me birth. +</P> + +<P> +"For ten years have I been enduring a living death of uncertainty and +doubt as to whether Dejah Thoris lived, and now that for the first time +in all these years my prayers have been answered and my doubt relieved +I find myself, through a cruel whim of fate, hurled into the one tiny +spot of all Barsoom from which there is apparently no escape, and if +there were, at a price which would put out for ever the last flickering +hope which I may cling to of seeing my princess again in this life—and +you have seen to-day with what pitiful futility man yearns toward a +material hereafter. +</P> + +<P> +"Only a bare half-hour before I saw you battling with the plant men I +was standing in the moonlight upon the banks of a broad river that taps +the eastern shore of Earth's most blessed land. I have answered you, +my friend. Do you believe?" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe," replied Tars Tarkas, "though I cannot understand." +</P> + +<P> +As we talked I had been searching the interior of the chamber with my +eyes. It was, perhaps, two hundred feet in length and half as broad, +with what appeared to be a doorway in the centre of the wall directly +opposite that through which we had entered. +</P> + +<P> +The apartment was hewn from the material of the cliff, showing mostly +dull gold in the dim light which a single minute radium illuminator in +the centre of the roof diffused throughout its great dimensions. Here +and there polished surfaces of ruby, emerald, and diamond patched the +golden walls and ceiling. The floor was of another material, very +hard, and worn by much use to the smoothness of glass. Aside from the +two doors I could discern no sign of other aperture, and as one we knew +to be locked against us I approached the other. +</P> + +<P> +As I extended my hand to search for the controlling button, that cruel +and mocking laugh rang out once more, so close to me this time that I +involuntarily shrank back, tightening my grip upon the hilt of my great +sword. +</P> + +<P> +And then from the far corner of the great chamber a hollow voice +chanted: "There is no hope, there is no hope; the dead return not, the +dead return not; nor is there any resurrection. Hope not, for there is +no hope." +</P> + +<P> +Though our eyes instantly turned toward the spot from which the voice +seemed to emanate, there was no one in sight, and I must admit that +cold shivers played along my spine and the short hairs at the base of +my head stiffened and rose up, as do those upon a hound's neck when in +the night his eyes see those uncanny things which are hidden from the +sight of man. +</P> + +<P> +Quickly I walked toward the mournful voice, but it had ceased ere I +reached the further wall, and then from the other end of the chamber +came another voice, shrill and piercing: +</P> + +<P> +"Fools! Fools!" it shrieked. "Thinkest thou to defeat the eternal +laws of life and death? Wouldst cheat the mysterious Issus, Goddess of +Death, of her just dues? Did not her mighty messenger, the ancient +Iss, bear you upon her leaden bosom at your own behest to the Valley +Dor? +</P> + +<P> +"Thinkest thou, O fools, that Issus wilt give up her own? Thinkest +thou to escape from whence in all the countless ages but a single soul +has fled? +</P> + +<P> +"Go back the way thou camest, to the merciful maws of the children of +the Tree of Life or the gleaming fangs of the great white apes, for +there lies speedy surcease from suffering; but insist in your rash +purpose to thread the mazes of the Golden Cliffs of the Mountains of +Otz, past the ramparts of the impregnable fortresses of the Holy +Therns, and upon your way Death in its most frightful form will +overtake you—a death so horrible that even the Holy Therns themselves, +who conceived both Life and Death, avert their eyes from its +fiendishness and close their ears against the hideous shrieks of its +victims. +</P> + +<P> +"Go back, O fools, the way thou camest." +</P> + +<P> +And then the awful laugh broke out from another part of the chamber. +</P> + +<P> +"Most uncanny," I remarked, turning to Tars Tarkas. +</P> + +<P> +"What shall we do?" he asked. "We cannot fight empty air; I would +almost sooner return and face foes into whose flesh I may feel my blade +bite and know that I am selling my carcass dearly before I go down to +that eternal oblivion which is evidently the fairest and most desirable +eternity that mortal man has the right to hope for." +</P> + +<P> +"If, as you say, we cannot fight empty air, Tars Tarkas," I replied, +"neither, on the other hand, can empty air fight us. I, who have faced +and conquered in my time thousands of sinewy warriors and tempered +blades, shall not be turned back by wind; nor no more shall you, Thark." +</P> + +<P> +"But unseen voices may emanate from unseen and unseeable creatures who +wield invisible blades," answered the green warrior. +</P> + +<P> +"Rot, Tars Tarkas," I cried, "those voices come from beings as real as +you or as I. In their veins flows lifeblood that may be let as easily +as ours, and the fact that they remain invisible to us is the best +proof to my mind that they are mortal; nor overly courageous mortals at +that. Think you, Tars Tarkas, that John Carter will fly at the first +shriek of a cowardly foe who dare not come out into the open and face a +good blade?" +</P> + +<P> +I had spoken in a loud voice that there might be no question that our +would-be terrorizers should hear me, for I was tiring of this +nerve-racking fiasco. It had occurred to me, too, that the whole +business was but a plan to frighten us back into the valley of death +from which we had escaped, that we might be quickly disposed of by the +savage creatures there. +</P> + +<P> +For a long period there was silence, then of a sudden a soft, stealthy +sound behind me caused me to turn suddenly to behold a great +many-legged banth creeping sinuously upon me. +</P> + +<P> +The banth is a fierce beast of prey that roams the low hills +surrounding the dead seas of ancient Mars. Like nearly all Martian +animals it is almost hairless, having only a great bristly mane about +its thick neck. +</P> + +<P> +Its long, lithe body is supported by ten powerful legs, its enormous +jaws are equipped, like those of the calot, or Martian hound, with +several rows of long needle-like fangs; its mouth reaches to a point +far back of its tiny ears, while its enormous, protruding eyes of green +add the last touch of terror to its awful aspect. +</P> + +<P> +As it crept toward me it lashed its powerful tail against its yellow +sides, and when it saw that it was discovered it emitted the terrifying +roar which often freezes its prey into momentary paralysis in the +instant that it makes its spring. +</P> + +<P> +And so it launched its great bulk toward me, but its mighty voice had +held no paralysing terrors for me, and it met cold steel instead of the +tender flesh its cruel jaws gaped so widely to engulf. +</P> + +<P> +An instant later I drew my blade from the still heart of this great +Barsoomian lion, and turning toward Tars Tarkas was surprised to see +him facing a similar monster. +</P> + +<P> +No sooner had he dispatched his than I, turning, as though drawn by the +instinct of my guardian subconscious mind, beheld another of the savage +denizens of the Martian wilds leaping across the chamber toward me. +</P> + +<P> +From then on for the better part of an hour one hideous creature after +another was launched upon us, springing apparently from the empty air +about us. +</P> + +<P> +Tars Tarkas was satisfied; here was something tangible that he could +cut and slash with his great blade, while I, for my part, may say that +the diversion was a marked improvement over the uncanny voices from +unseen lips. +</P> + +<P> +That there was nothing supernatural about our new foes was well +evidenced by their howls of rage and pain as they felt the sharp steel +at their vitals, and the very real blood which flowed from their +severed arteries as they died the real death. +</P> + +<P> +I noticed during the period of this new persecution that the beasts +appeared only when our backs were turned; we never saw one really +materialize from thin air, nor did I for an instant sufficiently lose +my excellent reasoning faculties to be once deluded into the belief +that the beasts came into the room other than through some concealed +and well-contrived doorway. +</P> + +<P> +Among the ornaments of Tars Tarkas' leather harness, which is the only +manner of clothing worn by Martians other than silk capes and robes of +silk and fur for protection from the cold after dark, was a small +mirror, about the bigness of a lady's hand glass, which hung midway +between his shoulders and his waist against his broad back. +</P> + +<P> +Once as he stood looking down at a newly fallen antagonist my eyes +happened to fall upon this mirror and in its shiny surface I saw +pictured a sight that caused me to whisper: +</P> + +<P> +"Move not, Tars Tarkas! Move not a muscle!" +</P> + +<P> +He did not ask why, but stood like a graven image while my eyes watched +the strange thing that meant so much to us. +</P> + +<P> +What I saw was the quick movement of a section of the wall behind me. +It was turning upon pivots, and with it a section of the floor directly +in front of it was turning. It was as though you placed a +visiting-card upon end on a silver dollar that you had laid flat upon a +table, so that the edge of the card perfectly bisected the surface of +the coin. +</P> + +<P> +The card might represent the section of the wall that turned and the +silver dollar the section of the floor. Both were so nicely fitted +into the adjacent portions of the floor and wall that no crack had been +noticeable in the dim light of the chamber. +</P> + +<P> +As the turn was half completed a great beast was revealed sitting upon +its haunches upon that part of the revolving floor that had been on the +opposite side before the wall commenced to move; when the section +stopped, the beast was facing toward me on our side of the +partition—it was very simple. +</P> + +<P> +But what had interested me most was the sight that the half-turned +section had presented through the opening that it had made. A great +chamber, well lighted, in which were several men and women chained to +the wall, and in front of them, evidently directing and operating the +movement of the secret doorway, a wicked-faced man, neither red as are +the red men of Mars, nor green as are the green men, but white, like +myself, with a great mass of flowing yellow hair. +</P> + +<P> +The prisoners behind him were red Martians. Chained with them were a +number of fierce beasts, such as had been turned upon us, and others +equally as ferocious. +</P> + +<P> +As I turned to meet my new foe it was with a heart considerably +lightened. +</P> + +<P> +"Watch the wall at your end of the chamber, Tars Tarkas," I cautioned, +"it is through secret doorways in the wall that the brutes are loosed +upon us." I was very close to him and spoke in a low whisper that my +knowledge of their secret might not be disclosed to our tormentors. +</P> + +<P> +As long as we remained each facing an opposite end of the apartment no +further attacks were made upon us, so it was quite clear to me that the +partitions were in some way pierced that our actions might be observed +from without. +</P> + +<P> +At length a plan of action occurred to me, and backing quite close to +Tars Tarkas I unfolded my scheme in a low whisper, keeping my eyes +still glued upon my end of the room. +</P> + +<P> +The great Thark grunted his assent to my proposition when I had done, +and in accordance with my plan commenced backing toward the wall which +I faced while I advanced slowly ahead of him. +</P> + +<P> +When we had reached a point some ten feet from the secret doorway I +halted my companion, and cautioning him to remain absolutely motionless +until I gave the prearranged signal I quickly turned my back to the +door through which I could almost feel the burning and baleful eyes of +our would be executioner. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly my own eyes sought the mirror upon Tars Tarkas' back and in +another second I was closely watching the section of the wall which had +been disgorging its savage terrors upon us. +</P> + +<P> +I had not long to wait, for presently the golden surface commenced to +move rapidly. Scarcely had it started than I gave the signal to Tars +Tarkas, simultaneously springing for the receding half of the pivoting +door. In like manner the Thark wheeled and leaped for the opening +being made by the inswinging section. +</P> + +<P> +A single bound carried me completely through into the adjoining room +and brought me face to face with the fellow whose cruel face I had seen +before. He was about my own height and well muscled and in every +outward detail moulded precisely as are Earth men. +</P> + +<P> +At his side hung a long-sword, a short-sword, a dagger, and one of the +destructive radium revolvers that are common upon Mars. +</P> + +<P> +The fact that I was armed only with a long-sword, and so according to +the laws and ethics of battle everywhere upon Barsoom should only have +been met with a similar or lesser weapon, seemed to have no effect upon +the moral sense of my enemy, for he whipped out his revolver ere I +scarce had touched the floor by his side, but an uppercut from my +long-sword sent it flying from his grasp before he could discharge it. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly he drew his long-sword, and thus evenly armed we set to in +earnest for one of the closest battles I ever have fought. +</P> + +<P> +The fellow was a marvellous swordsman and evidently in practice, while +I had not gripped the hilt of a sword for ten long years before that +morning. +</P> + +<P> +But it did not take me long to fall easily into my fighting stride, so +that in a few minutes the man began to realize that he had at last met +his match. +</P> + +<P> +His face became livid with rage as he found my guard impregnable, while +blood flowed from a dozen minor wounds upon his face and body. +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you, white man?" he hissed. "That you are no Barsoomian from +the outer world is evident from your colour. And you are not of us." +</P> + +<P> +His last statement was almost a question. +</P> + +<P> +"What if I were from the Temple of Issus?" I hazarded on a wild guess. +</P> + +<P> +"Fate forfend!" he exclaimed, his face going white under the blood that +now nearly covered it. +</P> + +<P> +I did not know how to follow up my lead, but I carefully laid the idea +away for future use should circumstances require it. His answer +indicated that for all he KNEW I might be from the Temple of Issus and +in it were men like unto myself, and either this man feared the inmates +of the temple or else he held their persons or their power in such +reverence that he trembled to think of the harm and indignities he had +heaped upon one of them. +</P> + +<P> +But my present business with him was of a different nature than that +which requires any considerable abstract reasoning; it was to get my +sword between his ribs, and this I succeeded in doing within the next +few seconds, nor was I an instant too soon. +</P> + +<P> +The chained prisoners had been watching the combat in tense silence; +not a sound had fallen in the room other than the clashing of our +contending blades, the soft shuffling of our naked feet and the few +whispered words we had hissed at each other through clenched teeth the +while we continued our mortal duel. +</P> + +<P> +But as the body of my antagonist sank an inert mass to the floor a cry +of warning broke from one of the female prisoners. +</P> + +<P> +"Turn! Turn! Behind you!" she shrieked, and as I wheeled at the first +note of her shrill cry I found myself facing a second man of the same +race as he who lay at my feet. +</P> + +<P> +The fellow had crept stealthily from a dark corridor and was almost +upon me with raised sword ere I saw him. Tars Tarkas was nowhere in +sight and the secret panel in the wall, through which I had come, was +closed. +</P> + +<P> +How I wished that he were by my side now! I had fought almost +continuously for many hours; I had passed through such experiences and +adventures as must sap the vitality of man, and with all this I had not +eaten for nearly twenty-four hours, nor slept. +</P> + +<P> +I was fagged out, and for the first time in years felt a question as to +my ability to cope with an antagonist; but there was naught else for it +than to engage my man, and that as quickly and ferociously as lay in +me, for my only salvation was to rush him off his feet by the +impetuosity of my attack—I could not hope to win a long-drawn-out +battle. +</P> + +<P> +But the fellow was evidently of another mind, for he backed and parried +and parried and sidestepped until I was almost completely fagged from +the exertion of attempting to finish him. +</P> + +<P> +He was a more adroit swordsman, if possible, than my previous foe, and +I must admit that he led me a pretty chase and in the end came near to +making a sorry fool of me—and a dead one into the bargain. +</P> + +<P> +I could feel myself growing weaker and weaker, until at length objects +commenced to blur before my eyes and I staggered and blundered about +more asleep than awake, and then it was that he worked his pretty +little coup that came near to losing me my life. +</P> + +<P> +He had backed me around so that I stood in front of the corpse of his +fellow, and then he rushed me suddenly so that I was forced back upon +it, and as my heel struck it the impetus of my body flung me backward +across the dead man. +</P> + +<P> +My head struck the hard pavement with a resounding whack, and to that +alone I owe my life, for it cleared my brain and the pain roused my +temper, so that I was equal for the moment to tearing my enemy to +pieces with my bare hands, and I verily believe that I should have +attempted it had not my right hand, in the act of raising my body from +the ground, come in contact with a bit of cold metal. +</P> + +<P> +As the eyes of the layman so is the hand of the fighting man when it +comes in contact with an implement of his vocation, and thus I did not +need to look or reason to know that the dead man's revolver, lying +where it had fallen when I struck it from his grasp, was at my disposal. +</P> + +<P> +The fellow whose ruse had put me down was springing toward me, the +point of his gleaming blade directed straight at my heart, and as he +came there rang from his lips the cruel and mocking peal of laughter +that I had heard within the Chamber of Mystery. +</P> + +<P> +And so he died, his thin lips curled in the snarl of his hateful laugh, +and a bullet from the revolver of his dead companion bursting in his +heart. +</P> + +<P> +His body, borne by the impetus of his headlong rush, plunged upon me. +The hilt of his sword must have struck my head, for with the impact of +the corpse I lost consciousness. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THUVIA +</H3> + +<P> +It was the sound of conflict that aroused me once more to the realities +of life. For a moment I could neither place my surroundings nor locate +the sounds which had aroused me. And then from beyond the blank wall +beside which I lay I heard the shuffling of feet, the snarling of grim +beasts, the clank of metal accoutrements, and the heavy breathing of a +man. +</P> + +<P> +As I rose to my feet I glanced hurriedly about the chamber in which I +had just encountered such a warm reception. The prisoners and the +savage brutes rested in their chains by the opposite wall eyeing me +with varying expressions of curiosity, sullen rage, surprise, and hope. +</P> + +<P> +The latter emotion seemed plainly evident upon the handsome and +intelligent face of the young red Martian woman whose cry of warning +had been instrumental in saving my life. +</P> + +<P> +She was the perfect type of that remarkably beautiful race whose +outward appearance is identical with the more god-like races of Earth +men, except that this higher race of Martians is of a light reddish +copper colour. As she was entirely unadorned I could not even guess +her station in life, though it was evident that she was either a +prisoner or slave in her present environment. +</P> + +<P> +It was several seconds before the sounds upon the opposite side of the +partition jolted my slowly returning faculties into a realization of +their probable import, and then of a sudden I grasped the fact that +they were caused by Tars Tarkas in what was evidently a desperate +struggle with wild beasts or savage men. +</P> + +<P> +With a cry of encouragement I threw my weight against the secret door, +but as well have assayed the down-hurling of the cliffs themselves. +Then I sought feverishly for the secret of the revolving panel, but my +search was fruitless, and I was about to raise my longsword against the +sullen gold when the young woman prisoner called out to me. +</P> + +<P> +"Save thy sword, O Mighty Warrior, for thou shalt need it more where it +will avail to some purpose—shatter it not against senseless metal +which yields better to the lightest finger touch of one who knows its +secret." +</P> + +<P> +"Know you the secret of it then?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; release me and I will give you entrance to the other horror +chamber, if you wish. The keys to my fetters are upon the first dead +of thy foemen. But why would you return to face again the fierce +banth, or whatever other form of destruction they have loosed within +that awful trap?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because my friend fights there alone," I answered, as I hastily sought +and found the keys upon the carcass of the dead custodian of this grim +chamber of horrors. +</P> + +<P> +There were many keys upon the oval ring, but the fair Martian maid +quickly selected that which sprung the great lock at her waist, and +freed she hurried toward the secret panel. +</P> + +<P> +Again she sought out a key upon the ring. This time a slender, +needle-like affair which she inserted in an almost invisible hole in +the wall. Instantly the door swung upon its pivot, and the contiguous +section of the floor upon which I was standing carried me with it into +the chamber where Tars Tarkas fought. +</P> + +<P> +The great Thark stood with his back against an angle of the walls, +while facing him in a semi-circle a half-dozen huge monsters crouched +waiting for an opening. Their blood-streaked heads and shoulders +testified to the cause of their wariness as well as to the +swordsmanship of the green warrior whose glossy hide bore the same mute +but eloquent witness to the ferocity of the attacks that he had so far +withstood. +</P> + +<P> +Sharp talons and cruel fangs had torn leg, arm, and breast literally to +ribbons. So weak was he from continued exertion and loss of blood that +but for the supporting wall I doubt that he even could have stood +erect. But with the tenacity and indomitable courage of his kind he +still faced his cruel and relentless foes—the personification of that +ancient proverb of his tribe: "Leave to a Thark his head and one hand +and he may yet conquer." +</P> + +<P> +As he saw me enter, a grim smile touched those grim lips of his, but +whether the smile signified relief or merely amusement at the sight of +my own bloody and dishevelled condition I do not know. +</P> + +<P> +As I was about to spring into the conflict with my sharp long-sword I +felt a gentle hand upon my shoulder and turning found, to my surprise, +that the young woman had followed me into the chamber. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait," she whispered, "leave them to me," and pushing me advanced, all +defenceless and unarmed, upon the snarling banths. +</P> + +<P> +When quite close to them she spoke a single Martian word in low but +peremptory tones. Like lightning the great beasts wheeled upon her, +and I looked to see her torn to pieces before I could reach her side, +but instead the creatures slunk to her feet like puppies that expect a +merited whipping. +</P> + +<P> +Again she spoke to them, but in tones so low I could not catch the +words, and then she started toward the opposite side of the chamber +with the six mighty monsters trailing at heel. One by one she sent +them through the secret panel into the room beyond, and when the last +had passed from the chamber where we stood in wide-eyed amazement she +turned and smiled at us and then herself passed through, leaving us +alone. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment neither of us spoke. Then Tars Tarkas said: +</P> + +<P> +"I heard the fighting beyond the partition through which you passed, +but I did not fear for you, John Carter, until I heard the report of a +revolver shot. I knew that there lived no man upon all Barsoom who +could face you with naked steel and live, but the shot stripped the +last vestige of hope from me, since you I knew to be without firearms. +Tell me of it." +</P> + +<P> +I did as he bade, and then together we sought the secret panel through +which I had just entered the apartment—the one at the opposite end of +the room from that through which the girl had led her savage companions. +</P> + +<P> +To our disappointment the panel eluded our every effort to negotiate +its secret lock. We felt that once beyond it we might look with some +little hope of success for a passage to the outside world. +</P> + +<P> +The fact that the prisoners within were securely chained led us to +believe that surely there must be an avenue of escape from the terrible +creatures which inhabited this unspeakable place. +</P> + +<P> +Again and again we turned from one door to another, from the baffling +golden panel at one end of the chamber to its mate at the +other—equally baffling. +</P> + +<P> +When we had about given up all hope one of the panels turned silently +toward us, and the young woman who had led away the banths stood once +more beside us. +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you?" she asked, "and what your mission, that you have the +temerity to attempt to escape from the Valley Dor and the death you +have chosen?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have chosen no death, maiden," I replied. "I am not of Barsoom, nor +have I taken yet the voluntary pilgrimage upon the River Iss. My +friend here is Jeddak of all the Tharks, and though he has not yet +expressed a desire to return to the living world, I am taking him with +me from the living lie that hath lured him to this frightful place. +</P> + +<P> +"I am of another world. I am John Carter, Prince of the House of +Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium. Perchance some faint rumour of me may +have leaked within the confines of your hellish abode." +</P> + +<P> +She smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she replied, "naught that passes in the world we have left is +unknown here. I have heard of you, many years ago. The therns have +ofttimes wondered whither you had flown, since you had neither taken +the pilgrimage, nor could be found upon the face of Barsoom." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me," I said, "and who be you, and why a prisoner, yet with power +over the ferocious beasts of the place that denotes familiarity and +authority far beyond that which might be expected of a prisoner or a +slave?" +</P> + +<P> +"Slave I am," she answered. "For fifteen years a slave in this +terrible place, and now that they have tired of me and become fearful +of the power which my knowledge of their ways has given me I am but +recently condemned to die the death." +</P> + +<P> +She shuddered. +</P> + +<P> +"What death?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"The Holy Therns eat human flesh," she answered me; "but only that +which has died beneath the sucking lips of a plant man—flesh from +which the defiling blood of life has been drawn. And to this cruel end +I have been condemned. It was to be within a few hours, had your +advent not caused an interruption of their plans." +</P> + +<P> +"Was it then Holy Therns who felt the weight of John Carter's hand?" I +asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no; those whom you laid low are lesser therns; but of the same +cruel and hateful race. The Holy Therns abide upon the outer slopes of +these grim hills, facing the broad world from which they harvest their +victims and their spoils. +</P> + +<P> +"Labyrinthine passages connect these caves with the luxurious palaces +of the Holy Therns, and through them pass upon their many duties the +lesser therns, and hordes of slaves, and prisoners, and fierce beasts; +the grim inhabitants of this sunless world. +</P> + +<P> +"There be within this vast network of winding passages and countless +chambers men, women, and beasts who, born within its dim and gruesome +underworld, have never seen the light of day—nor ever shall. +</P> + +<P> +"They are kept to do the bidding of the race of therns; to furnish at +once their sport and their sustenance. +</P> + +<P> +"Now and again some hapless pilgrim, drifting out upon the silent sea +from the cold Iss, escapes the plant men and the great white apes that +guard the Temple of Issus and falls into the remorseless clutches of +the therns; or, as was my misfortune, is coveted by the Holy Thern who +chances to be upon watch in the balcony above the river where it issues +from the bowels of the mountains through the cliffs of gold to empty +into the Lost Sea of Korus. +</P> + +<P> +"All who reach the Valley Dor are, by custom, the rightful prey of the +plant men and the apes, while their arms and ornaments become the +portion of the therns; but if one escapes the terrible denizens of the +valley for even a few hours the therns may claim such a one as their +own. And again the Holy Thern on watch, should he see a victim he +covets, often tramples upon the rights of the unreasoning brutes of the +valley and takes his prize by foul means if he cannot gain it by fair. +</P> + +<P> +"It is said that occasionally some deluded victim of Barsoomian +superstition will so far escape the clutches of the countless enemies +that beset his path from the moment that he emerges from the +subterranean passage through which the Iss flows for a thousand miles +before it enters the Valley Dor as to reach the very walls of the +Temple of Issus; but what fate awaits one there not even the Holy +Therns may guess, for who has passed within those gilded walls never +has returned to unfold the mysteries they have held since the beginning +of time. +</P> + +<P> +"The Temple of Issus is to the therns what the Valley Dor is imagined +by the peoples of the outer world to be to them; it is the ultimate +haven of peace, refuge, and happiness to which they pass after this +life and wherein an eternity of eternities is spent amidst the delights +of the flesh which appeal most strongly to this race of mental giants +and moral pygmies." +</P> + +<P> +"The Temple of Issus is, I take it, a heaven within a heaven," I said. +"Let us hope that there it will be meted to the therns as they have +meted it here unto others." +</P> + +<P> +"Who knows?" the girl murmured. +</P> + +<P> +"The therns, I judge from what you have said, are no less mortal than +we; and yet have I always heard them spoken of with the utmost awe and +reverence by the people of Barsoom, as one might speak of the gods +themselves." +</P> + +<P> +"The therns are mortal," she replied. "They die from the same causes +as you or I might: those who do not live their allotted span of life, +one thousand years, when by the authority of custom they may take their +way in happiness through the long tunnel that leads to Issus. +</P> + +<P> +"Those who die before are supposed to spend the balance of their +allotted time in the image of a plant man, and it is for this reason +that the plant men are held sacred by the therns, since they believe +that each of these hideous creatures was formerly a thern." +</P> + +<P> +"And should a plant man die?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Should he die before the expiration of the thousand years from the +birth of the thern whose immortality abides within him then the soul +passes into a great white ape, but should the ape die short of the +exact hour that terminates the thousand years the soul is for ever lost +and passes for all eternity into the carcass of the slimy and fearsome +silians whose wriggling thousands seethe the silent sea beneath the +hurtling moons when the sun has gone and strange shapes walk through +the Valley Dor." +</P> + +<P> +"We sent several Holy Therns to the silians to-day, then," said Tars +Tarkas, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"And so will your death be the more terrible when it comes," said the +maiden. "And come it will—you cannot escape." +</P> + +<P> +"One has escaped, centuries ago," I reminded her, "and what has been +done may be done again." +</P> + +<P> +"It is useless even to try," she answered hopelessly. +</P> + +<P> +"But try we shall," I cried, "and you shall go with us, if you wish." +</P> + +<P> +"To be put to death by mine own people, and render my memory a disgrace +to my family and my nation? A Prince of the House of Tardos Mors +should know better than to suggest such a thing." +</P> + +<P> +Tars Tarkas listened in silence, but I could feel his eyes riveted upon +me and I knew that he awaited my answer as one might listen to the +reading of his sentence by the foreman of a jury. +</P> + +<P> +What I advised the girl to do would seal our fate as well, since if I +bowed to the inevitable decree of age-old superstition we must all +remain and meet our fate in some horrible form within this awful abode +of horror and cruelty. +</P> + +<P> +"We have the right to escape if we can," I answered. "Our own moral +senses will not be offended if we succeed, for we know that the fabled +life of love and peace in the blessed Valley of Dor is a rank and +wicked deception. We know that the valley is not sacred; we know that +the Holy Therns are not holy; that they are a race of cruel and +heartless mortals, knowing no more of the real life to come than we do. +</P> + +<P> +"Not only is it our right to bend every effort to escape—it is a +solemn duty from which we should not shrink even though we know that we +should be reviled and tortured by our own peoples when we returned to +them. +</P> + +<P> +"Only thus may we carry the truth to those without, and though the +likelihood of our narrative being given credence is, I grant you, +remote, so wedded are mortals to their stupid infatuation for +impossible superstitions, we should be craven cowards indeed were we to +shirk the plain duty which confronts us. +</P> + +<P> +"Again there is a chance that with the weight of the testimony of +several of us the truth of our statements may be accepted, and at least +a compromise effected which will result in the dispatching of an +expedition of investigation to this hideous mockery of heaven." +</P> + +<P> +Both the girl and the green warrior stood silent in thought for some +moments. The former it was who eventually broke the silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Never had I considered the matter in that light before," she said. +"Indeed would I give my life a thousand times if I could but save a +single soul from the awful life that I have led in this cruel place. +Yes, you are right, and I will go with you as far as we can go; but I +doubt that we ever shall escape." +</P> + +<P> +I turned an inquiring glance toward the Thark. +</P> + +<P> +"To the gates of Issus, or to the bottom of Korus," spoke the green +warrior; "to the snows to the north or to the snows to the south, Tars +Tarkas follows where John Carter leads. I have spoken." +</P> + +<P> +"Come, then," I cried, "we must make the start, for we could not be +further from escape than we now are in the heart of this mountain and +within the four walls of this chamber of death." +</P> + +<P> +"Come, then," said the girl, "but do not flatter yourself that you can +find no worse place than this within the territory of the therns." +</P> + +<P> +So saying she swung the secret panel that separated us from the +apartment in which I had found her, and we stepped through once more +into the presence of the other prisoners. +</P> + +<P> +There were in all ten red Martians, men and women, and when we had +briefly explained our plan they decided to join forces with us, though +it was evident that it was with some considerable misgivings that they +thus tempted fate by opposing an ancient superstition, even though each +knew through cruel experience the fallacy of its entire fabric. +</P> + +<P> +Thuvia, the girl whom I had first freed, soon had the others at +liberty. Tars Tarkas and I stripped the bodies of the two therns of +their weapons, which included swords, daggers, and two revolvers of the +curious and deadly type manufactured by the red Martians. +</P> + +<P> +We distributed the weapons as far as they would go among our followers, +giving the firearms to two of the women; Thuvia being one so armed. +</P> + +<P> +With the latter as our guide we set off rapidly but cautiously through +a maze of passages, crossing great chambers hewn from the solid metal +of the cliff, following winding corridors, ascending steep inclines, +and now and again concealing ourselves in dark recesses at the sound of +approaching footsteps. +</P> + +<P> +Our destination, Thuvia said, was a distant storeroom where arms and +ammunition in plenty might be found. From there she was to lead us to +the summit of the cliffs, from where it would require both wondrous wit +and mighty fighting to win our way through the very heart of the +stronghold of the Holy Therns to the world without. +</P> + +<P> +"And even then, O Prince," she cried, "the arm of the Holy Thern is +long. It reaches to every nation of Barsoom. His secret temples are +hidden in the heart of every community. Wherever we go should we +escape we shall find that word of our coming has preceded us, and death +awaits us before we may pollute the air with our blasphemies." +</P> + +<P> +We had proceeded for possibly an hour without serious interruption, and +Thuvia had just whispered to me that we were approaching our first +destination, when on entering a great chamber we came upon a man, +evidently a thern. +</P> + +<P> +He wore in addition to his leathern trappings and jewelled ornaments a +great circlet of gold about his brow in the exact centre of which was +set an immense stone, the exact counterpart of that which I had seen +upon the breast of the little old man at the atmosphere plant nearly +twenty years before. +</P> + +<P> +It is the one priceless jewel of Barsoom. Only two are known to exist, +and these were worn as the insignia of their rank and position by the +two old men in whose charge was placed the operation of the great +engines which pump the artificial atmosphere to all parts of Mars from +the huge atmosphere plant, the secret to whose mighty portals placed in +my possession the ability to save from immediate extinction the life of +a whole world. +</P> + +<P> +The stone worn by the thern who confronted us was of about the same +size as that which I had seen before; an inch in diameter I should say. +It scintillated nine different and distinct rays; the seven primary +colours of our earthly prism and the two rays which are unknown upon +Earth, but whose wondrous beauty is indescribable. +</P> + +<P> +As the thern saw us his eyes narrowed to two nasty slits. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop!" he cried. "What means this, Thuvia?" +</P> + +<P> +For answer the girl raised her revolver and fired point-blank at him. +Without a sound he sank to the earth, dead. +</P> + +<P> +"Beast!" she hissed. "After all these years I am at last revenged." +</P> + +<P> +Then as she turned toward me, evidently with a word of explanation on +her lips, her eyes suddenly widened as they rested upon me, and with a +little exclamation she started toward me. +</P> + +<P> +"O Prince," she cried, "Fate is indeed kind to us. The way is still +difficult, but through this vile thing upon the floor we may yet win to +the outer world. Notest thou not the remarkable resemblance between +this Holy Thern and thyself?" +</P> + +<P> +The man was indeed of my precise stature, nor were his eyes and +features unlike mine; but his hair was a mass of flowing yellow locks, +like those of the two I had killed, while mine is black and close +cropped. +</P> + +<P> +"What of the resemblance?" I asked the girl Thuvia. "Do you wish me +with my black, short hair to pose as a yellow-haired priest of this +infernal cult?" +</P> + +<P> +She smiled, and for answer approached the body of the man she had +slain, and kneeling beside it removed the circlet of gold from the +forehead, and then to my utter amazement lifted the entire scalp bodily +from the corpse's head. +</P> + +<P> +Rising, she advanced to my side and placing the yellow wig over my +black hair, crowned me with the golden circlet set with the magnificent +gem. +</P> + +<P> +"Now don his harness, Prince," she said, "and you may pass where you +will in the realms of the therns, for Sator Throg was a Holy Thern of +the Tenth Cycle, and mighty among his kind." +</P> + +<P> +As I stooped to the dead man to do her bidding I noted that not a hair +grew upon his head, which was quite as bald as an egg. +</P> + +<P> +"They are all thus from birth," explained Thuvia noting my surprise. +"The race from which they sprang were crowned with a luxuriant growth +of golden hair, but for many ages the present race has been entirely +bald. The wig, however, has come to be a part of their apparel, and so +important a part do they consider it that it is cause for the deepest +disgrace were a thern to appear in public without it." +</P> + +<P> +In another moment I stood garbed in the habiliments of a Holy Thern. +</P> + +<P> +At Thuvia's suggestion two of the released prisoners bore the body of +the dead thern upon their shoulders with us as we continued our journey +toward the storeroom, which we reached without further mishap. +</P> + +<P> +Here the keys which Thuvia bore from the dead thern of the prison vault +were the means of giving us immediate entrance to the chamber, and very +quickly we were thoroughly outfitted with arms and ammunition. +</P> + +<P> +By this time I was so thoroughly fagged out that I could go no further, +so I threw myself upon the floor, bidding Tars Tarkas to do likewise, +and cautioning two of the released prisoners to keep careful watch. +</P> + +<P> +In an instant I was asleep. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CORRIDORS OF PERIL +</H3> + +<P> +How long I slept upon the floor of the storeroom I do not know, but it +must have been many hours. +</P> + +<P> +I was awakened with a start by cries of alarm, and scarce were my eyes +opened, nor had I yet sufficiently collected my wits to quite realize +where I was, when a fusillade of shots rang out, reverberating through +the subterranean corridors in a series of deafening echoes. +</P> + +<P> +In an instant I was upon my feet. A dozen lesser therns confronted us +from a large doorway at the opposite end of the storeroom from which we +had entered. About me lay the bodies of my companions, with the +exception of Thuvia and Tars Tarkas, who, like myself, had been asleep +upon the floor and thus escaped the first raking fire. +</P> + +<P> +As I gained my feet the therns lowered their wicked rifles, their faces +distorted in mingled chagrin, consternation, and alarm. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly I rose to the occasion. +</P> + +<P> +"What means this?" I cried in tones of fierce anger. "Is Sator Throg +to be murdered by his own vassals?" +</P> + +<P> +"Have mercy, O Master of the Tenth Cycle!" cried one of the fellows, +while the others edged toward the doorway as though to attempt a +surreptitious escape from the presence of the mighty one. +</P> + +<P> +"Ask them their mission here," whispered Thuvia at my elbow. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you here, fellows?" I cried. +</P> + +<P> +"Two from the outer world are at large within the dominions of the +therns. We sought them at the command of the Father of Therns. One +was white with black hair, the other a huge green warrior," and here +the fellow cast a suspicious glance toward Tars Tarkas. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, then, is one of them," spoke Thuvia, indicating the Thark, "and +if you will look upon this dead man by the door perhaps you will +recognize the other. It was left for Sator Throg and his poor slaves +to accomplish what the lesser therns of the guard were unable to do—we +have killed one and captured the other; for this had Sator Throg given +us our liberty. And now in your stupidity have you come and killed all +but myself, and like to have killed the mighty Sator Throg himself." +</P> + +<P> +The men looked very sheepish and very scared. +</P> + +<P> +"Had they not better throw these bodies to the plant men and then +return to their quarters, O Mighty One?" asked Thuvia of me. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; do as Thuvia bids you," I said. +</P> + +<P> +As the men picked up the bodies I noticed that the one who stooped to +gather up the late Sator Throg started as his closer scrutiny fell upon +the upturned face, and then the fellow stole a furtive, sneaking glance +in my direction from the corner of his eye. +</P> + +<P> +That he suspicioned something of the truth I could have sworn; but that +it was only a suspicion which he did not dare voice was evidenced by +his silence. +</P> + +<P> +Again, as he bore the body from the room, he shot a quick but searching +glance toward me, and then his eyes fell once more upon the bald and +shiny dome of the dead man in his arms. The last fleeting glimpse that +I obtained of his profile as he passed from my sight without the +chamber revealed a cunning smile of triumph upon his lips. +</P> + +<P> +Only Tars Tarkas, Thuvia, and I were left. The fatal marksmanship of +the therns had snatched from our companions whatever slender chance +they had of gaining the perilous freedom of the world without. +</P> + +<P> +So soon as the last of the gruesome procession had disappeared the girl +urged us to take up our flight once more. +</P> + +<P> +She, too, had noted the questioning attitude of the thern who had borne +Sator Throg away. +</P> + +<P> +"It bodes no good for us, O Prince," she said. "For even though this +fellow dared not chance accusing you in error, there be those above +with power sufficient to demand a closer scrutiny, and that, Prince, +would indeed prove fatal." +</P> + +<P> +I shrugged my shoulders. It seemed that in any event the outcome of +our plight must end in death. I was refreshed from my sleep, but still +weak from loss of blood. My wounds were painful. No medicinal aid +seemed possible. How I longed for the almost miraculous healing power +of the strange salves and lotions of the green Martian women. In an +hour they would have had me as new. +</P> + +<P> +I was discouraged. Never had a feeling of such utter hopelessness come +over me in the face of danger. Then the long flowing, yellow locks of +the Holy Thern, caught by some vagrant draught, blew about my face. +</P> + +<P> +Might they not still open the way of freedom? If we acted in time, +might we not even yet escape before the general alarm was sounded? We +could at least try. +</P> + +<P> +"What will the fellow do first, Thuvia?" I asked. "How long will it be +before they may return for us?" +</P> + +<P> +"He will go directly to the Father of Therns, old Matai Shang. He may +have to wait for an audience, but since he is very high among the +lesser therns, in fact as a thorian among them, it will not be long +that Matai Shang will keep him waiting. +</P> + +<P> +"Then if the Father of Therns puts credence in his story, another hour +will see the galleries and chambers, the courts and gardens, filled +with searchers." +</P> + +<P> +"What we do then must be done within an hour. What is the best way, +Thuvia, the shortest way out of this celestial Hades?" +</P> + +<P> +"Straight to the top of the cliffs, Prince," she replied, "and then +through the gardens to the inner courts. From there our way will lie +within the temples of the therns and across them to the outer court. +Then the ramparts—O Prince, it is hopeless. Ten thousand warriors +could not hew a way to liberty from out this awful place. +</P> + +<P> +"Since the beginning of time, little by little, stone by stone, have +the therns been ever adding to the defences of their stronghold. A +continuous line of impregnable fortifications circles the outer slopes +of the Mountains of Otz. +</P> + +<P> +"Within the temples that lie behind the ramparts a million fighting-men +are ever ready. The courts and gardens are filled with slaves, with +women and with children. +</P> + +<P> +"None could go a stone's throw without detection." +</P> + +<P> +"If there is no other way, Thuvia, why dwell upon the difficulties of +this. We must face them." +</P> + +<P> +"Can we not better make the attempt after dark?" asked Tars Tarkas. +"There would seem to be no chance by day." +</P> + +<P> +"There would be a little better chance by night, but even then the +ramparts are well guarded; possibly better than by day. There are +fewer abroad in the courts and gardens, though," said Thuvia. +</P> + +<P> +"What is the hour?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"It was midnight when you released me from my chains," said Thuvia. +"Two hours later we reached the storeroom. There you slept for +fourteen hours. It must now be nearly sundown again. Come, we will go +to some nearby window in the cliff and make sure." +</P> + +<P> +So saying, she led the way through winding corridors until at a sudden +turn we came upon an opening which overlooked the Valley Dor. +</P> + +<P> +At our right the sun was setting, a huge red orb, below the western +range of Otz. A little below us stood the Holy Thern on watch upon his +balcony. His scarlet robe of office was pulled tightly about him in +anticipation of the cold that comes so suddenly with darkness as the +sun sets. So rare is the atmosphere of Mars that it absorbs very +little heat from the sun. During the daylight hours it is always +extremely hot; at night it is intensely cold. Nor does the thin +atmosphere refract the sun's rays or diffuse its light as upon Earth. +There is no twilight on Mars. When the great orb of day disappears +beneath the horizon the effect is precisely as that of the +extinguishing of a single lamp within a chamber. From brilliant light +you are plunged without warning into utter darkness. Then the moons +come; the mysterious, magic moons of Mars, hurtling like monster +meteors low across the face of the planet. +</P> + +<P> +The declining sun lighted brilliantly the eastern banks of Korus, the +crimson sward, the gorgeous forest. Beneath the trees we saw feeding +many herds of plant men. The adults stood aloft upon their toes and +their mighty tails, their talons pruning every available leaf and twig. +It was then that I understood the careful trimming of the trees which +had led me to form the mistaken idea when first I opened my eyes upon +the grove that it was the playground of a civilized people. +</P> + +<P> +As we watched, our eyes wandered to the rolling Iss, which issued from +the base of the cliffs beneath us. Presently there emerged from the +mountain a canoe laden with lost souls from the outer world. There +were a dozen of them. All were of the highly civilized and cultured +race of red men who are dominant on Mars. +</P> + +<P> +The eyes of the herald upon the balcony beneath us fell upon the doomed +party as soon as did ours. He raised his head and leaning far out over +the low rail that rimmed his dizzy perch, voiced the shrill, weird wail +that called the demons of this hellish place to the attack. +</P> + +<P> +For an instant the brutes stood with stiffly erected ears, then they +poured from the grove toward the river's bank, covering the distance +with great, ungainly leaps. +</P> + +<P> +The party had landed and was standing on the sward as the awful horde +came in sight. There was a brief and futile effort of defence. Then +silence as the huge, repulsive shapes covered the bodies of their +victims and scores of sucking mouths fastened themselves to the flesh +of their prey. +</P> + +<P> +I turned away in disgust. +</P> + +<P> +"Their part is soon over," said Thuvia. "The great white apes get the +flesh when the plant men have drained the arteries. Look, they are +coming now." +</P> + +<P> +As I turned my eyes in the direction the girl indicated, I saw a dozen +of the great white monsters running across the valley toward the river +bank. Then the sun went down and darkness that could almost be felt +engulfed us. +</P> + +<P> +Thuvia lost no time in leading us toward the corridor which winds back +and forth up through the cliffs toward the surface thousands of feet +above the level on which we had been. +</P> + +<P> +Twice great banths, wandering loose through the galleries, blocked our +progress, but in each instance Thuvia spoke a low word of command and +the snarling beasts slunk sullenly away. +</P> + +<P> +"If you can dissolve all our obstacles as easily as you master these +fierce brutes I can see no difficulties in our way," I said to the +girl, smiling. "How do you do it?" +</P> + +<P> +She laughed, and then shuddered. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not quite know," she said. "When first I came here I angered +Sator Throg, because I repulsed him. He ordered me to be thrown into +one of the great pits in the inner gardens. It was filled with banths. +In my own country I had been accustomed to command. Something in my +voice, I do not know what, cowed the beasts as they sprang to attack me. +</P> + +<P> +"Instead of tearing me to pieces, as Sator Throg had desired, they +fawned at my feet. So greatly were Sator Throg and his friends amused +by the sight that they kept me to train and handle the terrible +creatures. I know them all by name. There are many of them wandering +through these lower regions. They are the scavengers. Many prisoners +die here in their chains. The banths solve the problem of sanitation, +at least in this respect. +</P> + +<P> +"In the gardens and temples above they are kept in pits. The therns +fear them. It is because of the banths that they seldom venture below +ground except as their duties call them." +</P> + +<P> +An idea occurred to me, suggested by what Thuvia had just said. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not take a number of banths and set them loose before us above +ground?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +Thuvia laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"It would distract attention from us, I am sure," she said. +</P> + +<P> +She commenced calling in a low singsong voice that was half purr. She +continued this as we wound our tedious way through the maze of +subterranean passages and chambers. +</P> + +<P> +Presently soft, padded feet sounded close behind us, and as I turned I +saw a pair of great, green eyes shining in the dark shadows at our +rear. From a diverging tunnel a sinuous, tawny form crept stealthily +toward us. +</P> + +<P> +Low growls and angry snarls assailed our ears on every side as we +hastened on and one by one the ferocious creatures answered the call of +their mistress. +</P> + +<P> +She spoke a word to each as it joined us. Like well-schooled terriers, +they paced the corridors with us, but I could not help but note the +lathering jowls, nor the hungry expressions with which they eyed Tars +Tarkas and myself. +</P> + +<P> +Soon we were entirely surrounded by some fifty of the brutes. Two +walked close on either side of Thuvia, as guards might walk. The sleek +sides of others now and then touched my own naked limbs. It was a +strange experience; the almost noiseless passage of naked human feet +and padded paws; the golden walls splashed with precious stones; the +dim light cast by the tiny radium bulbs set at considerable distances +along the roof; the huge, maned beasts of prey crowding with low growls +about us; the mighty green warrior towering high above us all; myself +crowned with the priceless diadem of a Holy Thern; and leading the +procession the beautiful girl, Thuvia. +</P> + +<P> +I shall not soon forget it. +</P> + +<P> +Presently we approached a great chamber more brightly lighted than the +corridors. Thuvia halted us. Quietly she stole toward the entrance +and glanced within. Then she motioned us to follow her. +</P> + +<P> +The room was filled with specimens of the strange beings that inhabit +this underworld; a heterogeneous collection of hybrids—the offspring +of the prisoners from the outside world; red and green Martians and the +white race of therns. +</P> + +<P> +Constant confinement below ground had wrought odd freaks upon their +skins. They more resemble corpses than living beings. Many are +deformed, others maimed, while the majority, Thuvia explained, are +sightless. +</P> + +<P> +As they lay sprawled about the floor, sometimes overlapping one +another, again in heaps of several bodies, they suggested instantly to +me the grotesque illustrations that I had seen in copies of Dante's +INFERNO, and what more fitting comparison? Was this not indeed a +veritable hell, peopled by lost souls, dead and damned beyond all hope? +</P> + +<P> +Picking our way carefully we threaded a winding path across the +chamber, the great banths sniffing hungrily at the tempting prey spread +before them in such tantalizing and defenceless profusion. +</P> + +<P> +Several times we passed the entrances to other chambers similarly +peopled, and twice again we were compelled to cross directly through +them. In others were chained prisoners and beasts. +</P> + +<P> +"Why is it that we see no therns?" I asked of Thuvia. +</P> + +<P> +"They seldom traverse the underworld at night, for then it is that the +great banths prowl the dim corridors seeking their prey. The therns +fear the awful denizens of this cruel and hopeless world that they have +fostered and allowed to grow beneath their feet. The prisoners even +sometimes turn upon them and rend them. The thern can never tell from +what dark shadow an assassin may spring upon his back. +</P> + +<P> +"By day it is different. Then the corridors and chambers are filled +with guards passing to and fro; slaves from the temples above come by +hundreds to the granaries and storerooms. All is life then. You did +not see it because I led you not in the beaten tracks, but through +roundabout passages seldom used. Yet it is possible that we may meet a +thern even yet. They do occasionally find it necessary to come here +after the sun has set. Because of this I have moved with such great +caution." +</P> + +<P> +But we reached the upper galleries without detection and presently +Thuvia halted us at the foot of a short, steep ascent. +</P> + +<P> +"Above us," she said, "is a doorway which opens on to the inner +gardens. I have brought you thus far. From here on for four miles to +the outer ramparts our way will be beset by countless dangers. Guards +patrol the courts, the temples, the gardens. Every inch of the +ramparts themselves is beneath the eye of a sentry." +</P> + +<P> +I could not understand the necessity for such an enormous force of +armed men about a spot so surrounded by mystery and superstition that +not a soul upon Barsoom would have dared to approach it even had they +known its exact location. I questioned Thuvia, asking her what enemies +the therns could fear in their impregnable fortress. +</P> + +<P> +We had reached the doorway now and Thuvia was opening it. +</P> + +<P> +"They fear the black pirates of Barsoom, O Prince," she said, "from +whom may our first ancestors preserve us." +</P> + +<P> +The door swung open; the smell of growing things greeted my nostrils; +the cool night air blew against my cheek. The great banths sniffed the +unfamiliar odours, and then with a rush they broke past us with low +growls, swarming across the gardens beneath the lurid light of the +nearer moon. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly a great cry arose from the roofs of the temples; a cry of +alarm and warning that, taken up from point to point, ran off to the +east and to the west, from temple, court, and rampart, until it sounded +as a dim echo in the distance. +</P> + +<P> +The great Thark's long-sword leaped from its scabbard; Thuvia shrank +shuddering to my side. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BLACK PIRATES OF BARSOOM +</H3> + +<P> +"What is it?" I asked of the girl. +</P> + +<P> +For answer she pointed to the sky. +</P> + +<P> +I looked, and there, above us, I saw shadowy bodies flitting hither and +thither high over temple, court, and garden. +</P> + +<P> +Almost immediately flashes of light broke from these strange objects. +There was a roar of musketry, and then answering flashes and roars from +temple and rampart. +</P> + +<P> +"The black pirates of Barsoom, O Prince," said Thuvia. +</P> + +<P> +In great circles the air craft of the marauders swept lower and lower +toward the defending forces of the therns. +</P> + +<P> +Volley after volley they vomited upon the temple guards; volley on +volley crashed through the thin air toward the fleeting and illusive +fliers. +</P> + +<P> +As the pirates swooped closer toward the ground, thern soldiery poured +from the temples into the gardens and courts. The sight of them in the +open brought a score of fliers darting toward us from all directions. +</P> + +<P> +The therns fired upon them through shields affixed to their rifles, but +on, steadily on, came the grim, black craft. They were small fliers +for the most part, built for two to three men. A few larger ones there +were, but these kept high aloft dropping bombs upon the temples from +their keel batteries. +</P> + +<P> +At length, with a concerted rush, evidently in response to a signal of +command, the pirates in our immediate vicinity dashed recklessly to the +ground in the very midst of the thern soldiery. +</P> + +<P> +Scarcely waiting for their craft to touch, the creatures manning them +leaped among the therns with the fury of demons. Such fighting! Never +had I witnessed its like before. I had thought the green Martians the +most ferocious warriors in the universe, but the awful abandon with +which the black pirates threw themselves upon their foes transcended +everything I ever before had seen. +</P> + +<P> +Beneath the brilliant light of Mars' two glorious moons the whole scene +presented itself in vivid distinctness. The golden-haired, +white-skinned therns battling with desperate courage in hand-to-hand +conflict with their ebony-skinned foemen. +</P> + +<P> +Here a little knot of struggling warriors trampled a bed of gorgeous +pimalia; there the curved sword of a black man found the heart of a +thern and left its dead foeman at the foot of a wondrous statue carved +from a living ruby; yonder a dozen therns pressed a single pirate back +upon a bench of emerald, upon whose iridescent surface a strangely +beautiful Barsoomian design was traced out in inlaid diamonds. +</P> + +<P> +A little to one side stood Thuvia, the Thark, and I. The tide of +battle had not reached us, but the fighters from time to time swung +close enough that we might distinctly note them. +</P> + +<P> +The black pirates interested me immensely. I had heard vague rumours, +little more than legends they were, during my former life on Mars; but +never had I seen them, nor talked with one who had. +</P> + +<P> +They were popularly supposed to inhabit the lesser moon, from which +they descended upon Barsoom at long intervals. Where they visited they +wrought the most horrible atrocities, and when they left carried away +with them firearms and ammunition, and young girls as prisoners. These +latter, the rumour had it, they sacrificed to some terrible god in an +orgy which ended in the eating of their victims. +</P> + +<P> +I had an excellent opportunity to examine them, as the strife +occasionally brought now one and now another close to where I stood. +They were large men, possibly six feet and over in height. Their +features were clear cut and handsome in the extreme; their eyes were +well set and large, though a slight narrowness lent them a crafty +appearance; the iris, as well as I could determine by moonlight, was of +extreme blackness, while the eyeball itself was quite white and clear. +The physical structure of their bodies seemed identical with those of +the therns, the red men, and my own. Only in the colour of their skin +did they differ materially from us; that is of the appearance of +polished ebony, and odd as it may seem for a Southerner to say it, adds +to rather than detracts from their marvellous beauty. +</P> + +<P> +But if their bodies are divine, their hearts, apparently, are quite the +reverse. Never did I witness such a malign lust for blood as these +demons of the outer air evinced in their mad battle with the therns. +</P> + +<P> +All about us in the garden lay their sinister craft, which the therns +for some reason, then unaccountable to me, made no effort to injure. +Now and again a black warrior would rush from a nearby temple bearing +a young woman in his arms. Straight for his flier he would leap while +those of his comrades who fought near by would rush to cover his escape. +</P> + +<P> +The therns on their side would hasten to rescue the girl, and in an +instant the two would be swallowed in the vortex of a maelstrom of +yelling devils, hacking and hewing at one another, like fiends +incarnate. +</P> + +<P> +But always, it seemed, were the black pirates of Barsoom victorious, +and the girl, brought miraculously unharmed through the conflict, borne +away into the outer darkness upon the deck of a swift flier. +</P> + +<P> +Fighting similar to that which surrounded us could be heard in both +directions as far as sound carried, and Thuvia told me that the attacks +of the black pirates were usually made simultaneously along the entire +ribbon-like domain of the therns, which circles the Valley Dor on the +outer slopes of the Mountains of Otz. +</P> + +<P> +As the fighting receded from our position for a moment, Thuvia turned +toward me with a question. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you understand now, O Prince," she said, "why a million warriors +guard the domains of the Holy Therns by day and by night?" +</P> + +<P> +"The scene you are witnessing now is but a repetition of what I have +seen enacted a score of times during the fifteen years I have been a +prisoner here. From time immemorial the black pirates of Barsoom have +preyed upon the Holy Therns. +</P> + +<P> +"Yet they never carry their expeditions to a point, as one might +readily believe it was in their power to do, where the extermination of +the race of therns is threatened. It is as though they but utilized +the race as playthings, with which they satisfy their ferocious lust +for fighting; and from whom they collect toll in arms and ammunition +and in prisoners." +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't they jump in and destroy these fliers?" I asked. "That +would soon put a stop to the attacks, or at least the blacks would +scarce be so bold. Why, see how perfectly unguarded they leave their +craft, as though they were lying safe in their own hangars at home." +</P> + +<P> +"The therns do not dare. They tried it once, ages ago, but the next +night and for a whole moon thereafter a thousand great black +battleships circled the Mountains of Otz, pouring tons of projectiles +upon the temples, the gardens, and the courts, until every thern who +was not killed was driven for safety into the subterranean galleries. +</P> + +<P> +"The therns know that they live at all only by the sufferance of the +black men. They were near to extermination that once and they will not +venture risking it again." +</P> + +<P> +As she ceased talking a new element was instilled into the conflict. +It came from a source equally unlooked for by either thern or pirate. +The great banths which we had liberated in the garden had evidently +been awed at first by the sound of the battle, the yelling of the +warriors and the loud report of rifle and bomb. +</P> + +<P> +But now they must have become angered by the continuous noise and +excited by the smell of new blood, for all of a sudden a great form +shot from a clump of low shrubbery into the midst of a struggling mass +of humanity. A horrid scream of bestial rage broke from the banth as +he felt warm flesh beneath his powerful talons. +</P> + +<P> +As though his cry was but a signal to the others, the entire great pack +hurled themselves among the fighters. Panic reigned in an instant. +Thern and black man turned alike against the common enemy, for the +banths showed no partiality toward either. +</P> + +<P> +The awful beasts bore down a hundred men by the mere weight of their +great bodies as they hurled themselves into the thick of the fight. +Leaping and clawing, they mowed down the warriors with their powerful +paws, turning for an instant to rend their victims with frightful fangs. +</P> + +<P> +The scene was fascinating in its terribleness, but suddenly it came to +me that we were wasting valuable time watching this conflict, which in +itself might prove a means of our escape. +</P> + +<P> +The therns were so engaged with their terrible assailants that now, if +ever, escape should be comparatively easy. I turned to search for an +opening through the contending hordes. If we could but reach the +ramparts we might find that the pirates somewhere had thinned the +guarding forces and left a way open to us to the world without. +</P> + +<P> +As my eyes wandered about the garden, the sight of the hundreds of air +craft lying unguarded around us suggested the simplest avenue to +freedom. Why it had not occurred to me before! I was thoroughly +familiar with the mechanism of every known make of flier on Barsoom. +For nine years I had sailed and fought with the navy of Helium. I had +raced through space on the tiny one-man air scout and I had commanded +the greatest battleship that ever had floated in the thin air of dying +Mars. +</P> + +<P> +To think, with me, is to act. Grasping Thuvia by the arm, I whispered +to Tars Tarkas to follow me. Quickly we glided toward a small flier +which lay furthest from the battling warriors. Another instant found +us huddled on the tiny deck. My hand was on the starting lever. I +pressed my thumb upon the button which controls the ray of repulsion, +that splendid discovery of the Martians which permits them to navigate +the thin atmosphere of their planet in huge ships that dwarf the +dreadnoughts of our earthly navies into pitiful insignificance. +</P> + +<P> +The craft swayed slightly but she did not move. Then a new cry of +warning broke upon our ears. Turning, I saw a dozen black pirates +dashing toward us from the melee. We had been discovered. With +shrieks of rage the demons sprang for us. With frenzied insistence I +continued to press the little button which should have sent us racing +out into space, but still the vessel refused to budge. Then it came to +me—the reason that she would not rise. +</P> + +<P> +We had stumbled upon a two-man flier. Its ray tanks were charged only +with sufficient repulsive energy to lift two ordinary men. The Thark's +great weight was anchoring us to our doom. +</P> + +<P> +The blacks were nearly upon us. There was not an instant to be lost in +hesitation or doubt. +</P> + +<P> +I pressed the button far in and locked it. Then I set the lever at +high speed and as the blacks came yelling upon us I slipped from the +craft's deck and with drawn long-sword met the attack. +</P> + +<P> +At the same moment a girl's shriek rang out behind me and an instant +later, as the blacks fell upon me. I heard far above my head, and +faintly, in Thuvia's voice: "My Prince, O my Prince; I would rather +remain and die with—" But the rest was lost in the noise of my +assailants. +</P> + +<P> +I knew though that my ruse had worked and that temporarily at least +Thuvia and Tars Tarkas were safe, and the means of escape was theirs. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment it seemed that I could not withstand the weight of numbers +that confronted me, but again, as on so many other occasions when I had +been called upon to face fearful odds upon this planet of warriors and +fierce beasts, I found that my earthly strength so far transcended that +of my opponents that the odds were not so greatly against me as they +appeared. +</P> + +<P> +My seething blade wove a net of death about me. For an instant the +blacks pressed close to reach me with their shorter swords, but +presently they gave back, and the esteem in which they suddenly had +learned to hold my sword arm was writ large upon each countenance. +</P> + +<P> +I knew though that it was but a question of minutes before their +greater numbers would wear me down, or get around my guard. I must go +down eventually to certain death before them. I shuddered at the +thought of it, dying thus in this terrible place where no word of my +end ever could reach my Dejah Thoris. Dying at the hands of nameless +black men in the gardens of the cruel therns. +</P> + +<P> +Then my old-time spirit reasserted itself. The fighting blood of my +Virginian sires coursed hot through my veins. The fierce blood lust +and the joy of battle surged over me. The fighting smile that has +brought consternation to a thousand foemen touched my lips. I put the +thought of death out of my mind, and fell upon my antagonists with fury +that those who escaped will remember to their dying day. +</P> + +<P> +That others would press to the support of those who faced me I knew, so +even as I fought I kept my wits at work, searching for an avenue of +escape. +</P> + +<P> +It came from an unexpected quarter out of the black night behind me. I +had just disarmed a huge fellow who had given me a desperate struggle, +and for a moment the blacks stood back for a breathing spell. +</P> + +<P> +They eyed me with malignant fury, yet withal there was a touch of +respect in their demeanour. +</P> + +<P> +"Thern," said one, "you fight like a Dator. But for your detestable +yellow hair and your white skin you would be an honour to the First +Born of Barsoom." +</P> + +<P> +"I am no thern," I said, and was about to explain that I was from +another world, thinking that by patching a truce with these fellows and +fighting with them against the therns I might enlist their aid in +regaining my liberty. But just at that moment a heavy object smote me +a resounding whack between my shoulders that nearly felled me to the +ground. +</P> + +<P> +As I turned to meet this new enemy an object passed over my shoulder, +striking one of my assailants squarely in the face and knocking him +senseless to the sward. At the same instant I saw that the thing that +had struck us was the trailing anchor of a rather fair-sized air +vessel; possibly a ten man cruiser. +</P> + +<P> +The ship was floating slowly above us, not more than fifty feet over +our heads. Instantly the one chance for escape that it offered +presented itself to me. The vessel was slowly rising and now the +anchor was beyond the blacks who faced me and several feet above their +heads. +</P> + +<P> +With a bound that left them gaping in wide-eyed astonishment I sprang +completely over them. A second leap carried me just high enough to +grasp the now rapidly receding anchor. +</P> + +<P> +But I was successful, and there I hung by one hand, dragging through +the branches of the higher vegetation of the gardens, while my late +foemen shrieked and howled beneath me. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the vessel veered toward the west and then swung gracefully +to the south. In another instant I was carried beyond the crest of the +Golden Cliffs, out over the Valley Dor, where, six thousand feet below +me, the Lost Sea of Korus lay shimmering in the moonlight. +</P> + +<P> +Carefully I climbed to a sitting posture across the anchor's arms. I +wondered if by chance the vessel might be deserted. I hoped so. Or +possibly it might belong to a friendly people, and have wandered by +accident almost within the clutches of the pirates and the therns. The +fact that it was retreating from the scene of battle lent colour to +this hypothesis. +</P> + +<P> +But I decided to know positively, and at once, so, with the greatest +caution, I commenced to climb slowly up the anchor chain toward the +deck above me. +</P> + +<P> +One hand had just reached for the vessel's rail and found it when a +fierce black face was thrust over the side and eyes filled with +triumphant hate looked into mine. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A FAIR GODDESS +</H3> + +<P> +For an instant the black pirate and I remained motionless, glaring into +each other's eyes. Then a grim smile curled the handsome lips above +me, as an ebony hand came slowly in sight from above the edge of the +deck and the cold, hollow eye of a revolver sought the centre of my +forehead. +</P> + +<P> +Simultaneously my free hand shot out for the black throat, just within +reach, and the ebony finger tightened on the trigger. The pirate's +hissing, "Die, cursed thern," was half choked in his windpipe by my +clutching fingers. The hammer fell with a futile click upon an empty +chamber. +</P> + +<P> +Before he could fire again I had pulled him so far over the edge of the +deck that he was forced to drop his firearm and clutch the rail with +both hands. +</P> + +<P> +My grasp upon his throat effectually prevented any outcry, and so we +struggled in grim silence; he to tear away from my hold, I to drag him +over to his death. +</P> + +<P> +His face was taking on a livid hue, his eyes were bulging from their +sockets. It was evident to him that he soon must die unless he tore +loose from the steel fingers that were choking the life from him. With +a final effort he threw himself further back upon the deck, at the same +instant releasing his hold upon the rail to tear frantically with both +hands at my fingers in an effort to drag them from his throat. +</P> + +<P> +That little second was all that I awaited. With one mighty downward +surge I swept him clear of the deck. His falling body came near to +tearing me from the frail hold that my single free hand had upon the +anchor chain and plunging me with him to the waters of the sea below. +</P> + +<P> +I did not relinquish my grasp upon him, however, for I knew that a +single shriek from those lips as he hurtled to his death in the silent +waters of the sea would bring his comrades from above to avenge him. +</P> + +<P> +Instead I held grimly to him, choking, ever choking, while his frantic +struggles dragged me lower and lower toward the end of the chain. +</P> + +<P> +Gradually his contortions became spasmodic, lessening by degrees until +they ceased entirely. Then I released my hold upon him and in an +instant he was swallowed by the black shadows far below. +</P> + +<P> +Again I climbed to the ship's rail. This time I succeeded in raising +my eyes to the level of the deck, where I could take a careful survey +of the conditions immediately confronting me. +</P> + +<P> +The nearer moon had passed below the horizon, but the clear effulgence +of the further satellite bathed the deck of the cruiser, bringing into +sharp relief the bodies of six or eight black men sprawled about in +sleep. +</P> + +<P> +Huddled close to the base of a rapid fire gun was a young white girl, +securely bound. Her eyes were widespread in an expression of horrified +anticipation and fixed directly upon me as I came in sight above the +edge of the deck. +</P> + +<P> +Unutterable relief instantly filled them as if they fell upon the mystic +jewel which sparkled in the centre of my stolen headpiece. She did not +speak. Instead her eyes warned me to beware the sleeping figures that +surrounded her. +</P> + +<P> +Noiselessly I gained the deck. The girl nodded to me to approach her. +As I bent low she whispered to me to release her. +</P> + +<P> +"I can aid you," she said, "and you will need all the aid available +when they awaken." +</P> + +<P> +"Some of them will awake in Korus," I replied smiling. +</P> + +<P> +She caught the meaning of my words, and the cruelty of her answering +smile horrified me. One is not astonished by cruelty in a hideous +face, but when it touches the features of a goddess whose +fine-chiselled lineaments might more fittingly portray love and beauty, +the contrast is appalling. +</P> + +<P> +Quickly I released her. +</P> + +<P> +"Give me a revolver," she whispered. "I can use that upon those your +sword does not silence in time." +</P> + +<P> +I did as she bid. Then I turned toward the distasteful work that lay +before me. This was no time for fine compunctions, nor for a chivalry +that these cruel demons would neither appreciate nor reciprocate. +</P> + +<P> +Stealthily I approached the nearest sleeper. When he awoke he was well +on his journey to the bosom of Korus. His piercing shriek as +consciousness returned to him came faintly up to us from the black +depths beneath. +</P> + +<P> +The second awoke as I touched him, and, though I succeeded in hurling +him from the cruiser's deck, his wild cry of alarm brought the +remaining pirates to their feet. There were five of them. +</P> + +<P> +As they arose the girl's revolver spoke in sharp staccato and one sank +back to the deck again to rise no more. +</P> + +<P> +The others rushed madly upon me with drawn swords. The girl evidently +dared not fire for fear of wounding me, but I saw her sneak stealthily +and cat-like toward the flank of the attackers. Then they were on me. +</P> + +<P> +For a few minutes I experienced some of the hottest fighting I had ever +passed through. The quarters were too small for foot work. It was +stand your ground and give and take. At first I took considerably more +than I gave, but presently I got beneath one fellow's guard and had the +satisfaction of seeing him collapse upon the deck. +</P> + +<P> +The others redoubled their efforts. The crashing of their blades upon +mine raised a terrific din that might have been heard for miles through +the silent night. Sparks flew as steel smote steel, and then there was +the dull and sickening sound of a shoulder bone parting beneath the +keen edge of my Martian sword. +</P> + +<P> +Three now faced me, but the girl was working her way to a point that +would soon permit her to reduce the number by one at least. Then +things happened with such amazing rapidity that I can scarce comprehend +even now all that took place in that brief instant. +</P> + +<P> +The three rushed me with the evident purpose of forcing me back the few +steps that would carry my body over the rail into the void below. At +the same instant the girl fired and my sword arm made two moves. One +man dropped with a bullet in his brain; a sword flew clattering across +the deck and dropped over the edge beyond as I disarmed one of my +opponents and the third went down with my blade buried to the hilt in +his breast and three feet of it protruding from his back, and falling +wrenched the sword from my grasp. +</P> + +<P> +Disarmed myself, I now faced my remaining foeman, whose own sword lay +somewhere thousands of feet below us, lost in the Lost Sea. +</P> + +<P> +The new conditions seemed to please my adversary, for a smile of +satisfaction bared his gleaming teeth as he rushed at me bare-handed. +The great muscles which rolled beneath his glossy black hide evidently +assured him that here was easy prey, not worth the trouble of drawing +the dagger from his harness. +</P> + +<P> +I let him come almost upon me. Then I ducked beneath his outstretched +arms, at the same time sidestepping to the right. Pivoting on my left +toe, I swung a terrific right to his jaw, and, like a felled ox, he +dropped in his tracks. +</P> + +<P> +A low, silvery laugh rang out behind me. +</P> + +<P> +"You are no thern," said the sweet voice of my companion, "for all your +golden locks or the harness of Sator Throg. Never lived there upon all +Barsoom before one who could fight as you have fought this night. Who +are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am John Carter, Prince of the House of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of +Helium," I replied. "And whom," I added, "has the honour of serving +been accorded me?" +</P> + +<P> +She hesitated a moment before speaking. Then she asked: +</P> + +<P> +"You are no thern. Are you an enemy of the therns?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have been in the territory of the therns for a day and a half. +During that entire time my life has been in constant danger. I have +been harassed and persecuted. Armed men and fierce beasts have been +set upon me. I had no quarrel with the therns before, but can you +wonder that I feel no great love for them now? I have spoken." +</P> + +<P> +She looked at me intently for several minutes before she replied. It +was as though she were attempting to read my inmost soul, to judge my +character and my standards of chivalry in that long-drawn, searching +gaze. +</P> + +<P> +Apparently the inventory satisfied her. +</P> + +<P> +"I am Phaidor, daughter of Matai Shang, Holy Hekkador of the Holy +Therns, Father of Therns, Master of Life and Death upon Barsoom, +Brother of Issus, Prince of Life Eternal." +</P> + +<P> +At that moment I noticed that the black I had dropped with my fist was +commencing to show signs of returning consciousness. I sprang to his +side. Stripping his harness from him I securely bound his hands behind +his back, and after similarly fastening his feet tied him to a heavy +gun carriage. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not the simpler way?" asked Phaidor. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not understand. What 'simpler way'?" I replied. +</P> + +<P> +With a slight shrug of her lovely shoulders she made a gesture with her +hands personating the casting of something over the craft's side. +</P> + +<P> +"I am no murderer," I said. "I kill in self-defence only." +</P> + +<P> +She looked at me narrowly. Then she puckered those divine brows of +hers, and shook her head. She could not comprehend. +</P> + +<P> +Well, neither had my own Dejah Thoris been able to understand what to +her had seemed a foolish and dangerous policy toward enemies. Upon +Barsoom, quarter is neither asked nor given, and each dead man means so +much more of the waning resources of this dying planet to be divided +amongst those who survive. +</P> + +<P> +But there seemed a subtle difference here between the manner in which +this girl contemplated the dispatching of an enemy and the +tender-hearted regret of my own princess for the stern necessity which +demanded it. +</P> + +<P> +I think that Phaidor regretted the thrill that the spectacle would have +afforded her rather than the fact that my decision left another enemy +alive to threaten us. +</P> + +<P> +The man had now regained full possession of his faculties, and was +regarding us intently from where he lay bound upon the deck. He was a +handsome fellow, clean limbed and powerful, with an intelligent face +and features of such exquisite chiselling that Adonis himself might +have envied him. +</P> + +<P> +The vessel, unguided, had been moving slowly across the valley; but now +I thought it time to take the helm and direct her course. Only in a +very general way could I guess the location of the Valley Dor. That it +was far south of the equator was evident from the constellations, but I +was not sufficiently a Martian astronomer to come much closer than a +rough guess without the splendid charts and delicate instruments with +which, as an officer in the Heliumite Navy, I had formerly reckoned the +positions of the vessels on which I sailed. +</P> + +<P> +That a northerly course would quickest lead me toward the more settled +portions of the planet immediately decided the direction that I should +steer. Beneath my hand the cruiser swung gracefully about. Then the +button which controlled the repulsive rays sent us soaring far out into +space. With speed lever pulled to the last notch, we raced toward the +north as we rose ever farther and farther above that terrible valley of +death. +</P> + +<P> +As we passed at a dizzy height over the narrow domains of the therns +the flash of powder far below bore mute witness to the ferocity of the +battle that still raged along that cruel frontier. No sound of +conflict reached our ears, for in the rarefied atmosphere of our great +altitude no sound wave could penetrate; they were dissipated in thin +air far below us. +</P> + +<P> +It became intensely cold. Breathing was difficult. The girl, Phaidor, +and the black pirate kept their eyes glued upon me. At length the girl +spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Unconsciousness comes quickly at this altitude," she said quietly. +"Unless you are inviting death for us all you had best drop, and that +quickly." +</P> + +<P> +There was no fear in her voice. It was as one might say: "You had +better carry an umbrella. It is going to rain." +</P> + +<P> +I dropped the vessel quickly to a lower level. Nor was I a moment too +soon. The girl had swooned. +</P> + +<P> +The black, too, was unconscious, while I, myself, retained my senses, I +think, only by sheer will. The one on whom all responsibility rests is +apt to endure the most. +</P> + +<P> +We were swinging along low above the foothills of the Otz. It was +comparatively warm and there was plenty of air for our starved lungs, +so I was not surprised to see the black open his eyes, and a moment +later the girl also. +</P> + +<P> +"It was a close call," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"It has taught me two things though," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +"What?" +</P> + +<P> +"That even Phaidor, daughter of the Master of Life and Death, is +mortal," I said smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"There is immortality only in Issus," she replied. "And Issus is for +the race of therns alone. Thus am I immortal." +</P> + +<P> +I caught a fleeting grin passing across the features of the black as he +heard her words. I did not then understand why he smiled. Later I was +to learn, and she, too, in a most horrible manner. +</P> + +<P> +"If the other thing you have just learned," she continued, "has led to +as erroneous deductions as the first you are little richer in knowledge +than you were before." +</P> + +<P> +"The other," I replied, "is that our dusky friend here does not hail +from the nearer moon—he was like to have died at a few thousand feet +above Barsoom. Had we continued the five thousand miles that lie +between Thuria and the planet he would have been but the frozen memory +of a man." +</P> + +<P> +Phaidor looked at the black in evident astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"If you are not of Thuria, then where?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +He shrugged his shoulders and turned his eyes elsewhere, but did not +reply. +</P> + +<P> +The girl stamped her little foot in a peremptory manner. +</P> + +<P> +"The daughter of Matai Shang is not accustomed to having her queries +remain unanswered," she said. "One of the lesser breed should feel +honoured that a member of the holy race that was born to inherit life +eternal should deign even to notice him." +</P> + +<P> +Again the black smiled that wicked, knowing smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Xodar, Dator of the First Born of Barsoom, is accustomed to give +commands, not to receive them," replied the black pirate. Then, +turning to me, "What are your intentions concerning me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I intend taking you both back to Helium," I said. "No harm will come +to you. You will find the red men of Helium a kindly and magnanimous +race, but if they listen to me there will be no more voluntary +pilgrimages down the river Iss, and the impossible belief that they +have cherished for ages will be shattered into a thousand pieces." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you of Helium?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I am a Prince of the House of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium," I +replied, "but I am not of Barsoom. I am of another world." +</P> + +<P> +Xodar looked at me intently for a few moments. +</P> + +<P> +"I can well believe that you are not of Barsoom," he said at length. +"None of this world could have bested eight of the First Born +single-handed. But how is it that you wear the golden hair and the +jewelled circlet of a Holy Thern?" He emphasized the word holy with a +touch of irony. +</P> + +<P> +"I had forgotten them," I said. "They are the spoils of conquest," and +with a sweep of my hand I removed the disguise from my head. +</P> + +<P> +When the black's eyes fell on my close-cropped black hair they opened +in astonishment. Evidently he had looked for the bald pate of a thern. +</P> + +<P> +"You are indeed of another world," he said, a touch of awe in his +voice. "With the skin of a thern, the black hair of a First Born and +the muscles of a dozen Dators it was no disgrace even for Xodar to +acknowledge your supremacy. A thing he could never do were you a +Barsoomian," he added. +</P> + +<P> +"You are travelling several laps ahead of me, my friend," I +interrupted. "I glean that your name is Xodar, but whom, pray, are the +First Born, and what a Dator, and why, if you were conquered by a +Barsoomian, could you not acknowledge it?" +</P> + +<P> +"The First Born of Barsoom," he explained, "are the race of black men +of which I am a Dator, or, as the lesser Barsoomians would say, Prince. +My race is the oldest on the planet. We trace our lineage, unbroken, +direct to the Tree of Life which flourished in the centre of the Valley +Dor twenty-three million years ago. +</P> + +<P> +"For countless ages the fruit of this tree underwent the gradual +changes of evolution, passing by degrees from true plant life to a +combination of plant and animal. In the first stages the fruit of the +tree possessed only the power of independent muscular action, while the +stem remained attached to the parent plant; later a brain developed in +the fruit, so that hanging there by their long stems they thought and +moved as individuals. +</P> + +<P> +"Then, with the development of perceptions came a comparison of them; +judgments were reached and compared, and thus reason and the power to +reason were born upon Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +"Ages passed. Many forms of life came and went upon the Tree of Life, +but still all were attached to the parent plant by stems of varying +lengths. At length the fruit tree consisted in tiny plant men, such as +we now see reproduced in such huge dimensions in the Valley Dor, but +still hanging to the limbs and branches of the tree by the stems which +grew from the tops of their heads. +</P> + +<P> +"The buds from which the plant men blossomed resembled large nuts about +a foot in diameter, divided by double partition walls into four +sections. In one section grew the plant man, in another a +sixteen-legged worm, in the third the progenitor of the white ape and +in the fourth the primaeval black man of Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +"When the bud burst the plant man remained dangling at the end of his +stem, but the three other sections fell to the ground, where the +efforts of their imprisoned occupants to escape sent them hopping about +in all directions. +</P> + +<P> +"Thus as time went on, all Barsoom was covered with these imprisoned +creatures. For countless ages they lived their long lives within their +hard shells, hopping and skipping about the broad planet; falling into +rivers, lakes, and seas, to be still further spread about the surface +of the new world. +</P> + +<P> +"Countless billions died before the first black man broke through his +prison walls into the light of day. Prompted by curiosity, he broke +open other shells and the peopling of Barsoom commenced. +</P> + +<P> +"The pure strain of the blood of this first black man has remained +untainted by admixture with other creatures in the race of which I am a +member; but from the sixteen-legged worm, the first ape and renegade +black man has sprung every other form of animal life upon Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +"The therns," and he smiled maliciously as he spoke, "are but the +result of ages of evolution from the pure white ape of antiquity. They +are a lower order still. There is but one race of true and immortal +humans on Barsoom. It is the race of black men. +</P> + +<P> +"The Tree of Life is dead, but before it died the plant men learned to +detach themselves from it and roam the face of Barsoom with the other +children of the First Parent. +</P> + +<P> +"Now their bisexuality permits them to reproduce themselves after the +manner of true plants, but otherwise they have progressed but little in +all the ages of their existence. Their actions and movements are +largely matters of instinct and not guided to any great extent by +reason, since the brain of a plant man is but a trifle larger than the +end of your smallest finger. They live upon vegetation and the blood +of animals, and their brain is just large enough to direct their +movements in the direction of food, and to translate the food +sensations which are carried to it from their eyes and ears. They have +no sense of self-preservation and so are entirely without fear in the +face of danger. That is why they are such terrible antagonists in +combat." +</P> + +<P> +I wondered why the black man took such pains to discourse thus at +length to enemies upon the genesis of life Barsoomian. It seemed a +strangely inopportune moment for a proud member of a proud race to +unbend in casual conversation with a captor. Especially in view of the +fact that the black still lay securely bound upon the deck. +</P> + +<P> +It was the faintest straying of his eye beyond me for the barest +fraction of a second that explained his motive for thus dragging out my +interest in his truly absorbing story. +</P> + +<P> +He lay a little forward of where I stood at the levers, and thus he +faced the stern of the vessel as he addressed me. It was at the end of +his description of the plant men that I caught his eye fixed +momentarily upon something behind me. +</P> + +<P> +Nor could I be mistaken in the swift gleam of triumph that brightened +those dark orbs for an instant. +</P> + +<P> +Some time before I had reduced our speed, for we had left the Valley +Dor many miles astern, and I felt comparatively safe. +</P> + +<P> +I turned an apprehensive glance behind me, and the sight that I saw +froze the new-born hope of freedom that had been springing up within me. +</P> + +<P> +A great battleship, forging silent and unlighted through the dark +night, loomed close astern. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE DEPTHS OF OMEAN +</H3> + +<P> +Now I realized why the black pirate had kept me engrossed with his +strange tale. For miles he had sensed the approach of succour, and but +for that single tell-tale glance the battleship would have been +directly above us in another moment, and the boarding party which was +doubtless even now swinging in their harness from the ship's keel, +would have swarmed our deck, placing my rising hope of escape in sudden +and total eclipse. +</P> + +<P> +I was too old a hand in aerial warfare to be at a loss now for the +right manoeuvre. Simultaneously I reversed the engines and dropped the +little vessel a sheer hundred feet. +</P> + +<P> +Above my head I could see the dangling forms of the boarding party as +the battleship raced over us. Then I rose at a sharp angle, throwing +my speed lever to its last notch. +</P> + +<P> +Like a bolt from a crossbow my splendid craft shot its steel prow +straight at the whirring propellers of the giant above us. If I could +but touch them the huge bulk would be disabled for hours and escape +once more possible. +</P> + +<P> +At the same instant the sun shot above the horizon, disclosing a +hundred grim, black faces peering over the stern of the battleship upon +us. +</P> + +<P> +At sight of us a shout of rage went up from a hundred throats. Orders +were shouted, but it was too late to save the giant propellers, and +with a crash we rammed them. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly with the shock of impact I reversed my engine, but my prow +was wedged in the hole it had made in the battleship's stern. Only a +second I hung there before tearing away, but that second was amply long +to swarm my deck with black devils. +</P> + +<P> +There was no fight. In the first place there was no room to fight. We +were simply submerged by numbers. Then as swords menaced me a command +from Xodar stayed the hands of his fellows. +</P> + +<P> +"Secure them," he said, "but do not injure them." +</P> + +<P> +Several of the pirates already had released Xodar. He now personally +attended to my disarming and saw that I was properly bound. At least +he thought that the binding was secure. It would have been had I been +a Martian, but I had to smile at the puny strands that confined my +wrists. When the time came I could snap them as they had been cotton +string. +</P> + +<P> +The girl they bound also, and then they fastened us together. In the +meantime they had brought our craft alongside the disabled battleship, +and soon we were transported to the latter's deck. +</P> + +<P> +Fully a thousand black men manned the great engine of destruction. Her +decks were crowded with them as they pressed forward as far as +discipline would permit to get a glimpse of their captives. +</P> + +<P> +The girl's beauty elicited many brutal comments and vulgar jests. It +was evident that these self-thought supermen were far inferior to the +red men of Barsoom in refinement and in chivalry. +</P> + +<P> +My close-cropped black hair and thern complexion were the subjects of +much comment. When Xodar told his fellow nobles of my fighting ability +and strange origin they crowded about me with numerous questions. +</P> + +<P> +The fact that I wore the harness and metal of a thern who had been +killed by a member of my party convinced them that I was an enemy of +their hereditary foes, and placed me on a better footing in their +estimation. +</P> + +<P> +Without exception the blacks were handsome men, and well built. The +officers were conspicuous through the wondrous magnificence of their +resplendent trappings. Many harnesses were so encrusted with gold, +platinum, silver and precious stones as to entirely hide the leather +beneath. +</P> + +<P> +The harness of the commanding officer was a solid mass of diamonds. +Against the ebony background of his skin they blazed out with a +peculiarly accentuated effulgence. The whole scene was enchanting. +The handsome men; the barbaric splendour of the accoutrements; the +polished skeel wood of the deck; the gloriously grained sorapus of the +cabins, inlaid with priceless jewels and precious metals in intricate +and beautiful design; the burnished gold of hand rails; the shining +metal of the guns. +</P> + +<P> +Phaidor and I were taken below decks, where, still fast bound, we were +thrown into a small compartment which contained a single port-hole. As +our escort left us they barred the door behind them. +</P> + +<P> +We could hear the men working on the broken propellers, and from the +port-hole we could see that the vessel was drifting lazily toward the +south. +</P> + +<P> +For some time neither of us spoke. Each was occupied with his own +thoughts. For my part I was wondering as to the fate of Tars Tarkas +and the girl, Thuvia. +</P> + +<P> +Even if they succeeded in eluding pursuit they must eventually fall +into the hands of either red men or green, and as fugitives from the +Valley Dor they could look for but little else than a swift and +terrible death. +</P> + +<P> +How I wished that I might have accompanied them. It seemed to me that +I could not fail to impress upon the intelligent red men of Barsoom the +wicked deception that a cruel and senseless superstition had foisted +upon them. +</P> + +<P> +Tardos Mors would believe me. Of that I was positive. And that he +would have the courage of his convictions my knowledge of his character +assured me. Dejah Thoris would believe me. Not a doubt as to that +entered my head. Then there were a thousand of my red and green +warrior friends whom I knew would face eternal damnation gladly for my +sake. Like Tars Tarkas, where I led they would follow. +</P> + +<P> +My only danger lay in that should I ever escape the black pirates it +might be to fall into the hands of unfriendly red or green men. Then +it would mean short shrift for me. +</P> + +<P> +Well, there seemed little to worry about on that score, for the +likelihood of my ever escaping the blacks was extremely remote. +</P> + +<P> +The girl and I were linked together by a rope which permitted us to +move only about three or four feet from each other. When we had +entered the compartment we had seated ourselves upon a low bench +beneath the porthole. The bench was the only furniture of the room. +It was of sorapus wood. The floor, ceiling and walls were of +carborundum aluminum, a light, impenetrable composition extensively +utilized in the construction of Martian fighting ships. +</P> + +<P> +As I had sat meditating upon the future my eyes had been riveted upon +the port-hole which was just level with them as I sat. Suddenly I +looked toward Phaidor. She was regarding me with a strange expression +I had not before seen upon her face. She was very beautiful then. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly her white lids veiled her eyes, and I thought I discovered a +delicate flush tingeing her cheek. Evidently she was embarrassed at +having been detected in the act of staring at a lesser creature, I +thought. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you find the study of the lower orders interesting?" I asked, +laughing. +</P> + +<P> +She looked up again with a nervous but relieved little laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh very," she said, "especially when they have such excellent +profiles." +</P> + +<P> +It was my turn to flush, but I did not. I felt that she was poking fun +at me, and I admired a brave heart that could look for humour on the +road to death, and so I laughed with her. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know where we are going?" she said. +</P> + +<P> +"To solve the mystery of the eternal hereafter, I imagine," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going to a worse fate than that," she said, with a little shudder. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can only guess," she replied, "since no thern damsel of all the +millions that have been stolen away by black pirates during the ages +they have raided our domains has ever returned to narrate her +experiences among them. That they never take a man prisoner lends +strength to the belief that the fate of the girls they steal is worse +than death." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it not a just retribution?" I could not help but ask. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do not the therns themselves do likewise with the poor creatures who +take the voluntary pilgrimage down the River of Mystery? Was not +Thuvia for fifteen years a plaything and a slave? Is it less than just +that you should suffer as you have caused others to suffer?" +</P> + +<P> +"You do not understand," she replied. "We therns are a holy race. It +is an honour to a lesser creature to be a slave among us. Did we not +occasionally save a few of the lower orders that stupidly float down an +unknown river to an unknown end all would become the prey of the plant +men and the apes." +</P> + +<P> +"But do you not by every means encourage the superstition among those +of the outside world?" I argued. "That is the wickedest of your deeds. +Can you tell me why you foster the cruel deception?" +</P> + +<P> +"All life on Barsoom," she said, "is created solely for the support of +the race of therns. How else could we live did the outer world not +furnish our labour and our food? Think you that a thern would demean +himself by labour?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is true then that you eat human flesh?" I asked in horror. +</P> + +<P> +She looked at me in pitying commiseration for my ignorance. +</P> + +<P> +"Truly we eat the flesh of the lower orders. Do not you also?" +</P> + +<P> +"The flesh of beasts, yes," I replied, "but not the flesh of man." +</P> + +<P> +"As man may eat of the flesh of beasts, so may gods eat of the flesh of +man. The Holy Therns are the gods of Barsoom." +</P> + +<P> +I was disgusted and I imagine that I showed it. +</P> + +<P> +"You are an unbeliever now," she continued gently, "but should we be +fortunate enough to escape the clutches of the black pirates and come +again to the court of Matai Shang I think that we shall find an +argument to convince you of the error of your ways. And—," she +hesitated, "perhaps we shall find a way to keep you as—as—one of us." +</P> + +<P> +Again her eyes dropped to the floor, and a faint colour suffused her +cheek. I could not understand her meaning; nor did I for a long time. +Dejah Thoris was wont to say that in some things I was a veritable +simpleton, and I guess that she was right. +</P> + +<P> +"I fear that I would ill requite your father's hospitality," I +answered, "since the first thing that I should do were I a thern would +be to set an armed guard at the mouth of the River Iss to escort the +poor deluded voyagers back to the outer world. Also should I devote my +life to the extermination of the hideous plant men and their horrible +companions, the great white apes." +</P> + +<P> +She looked at me really horror struck. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no," she cried, "you must not say such terribly sacrilegious +things—you must not even think them. Should they ever guess that you +entertained such frightful thoughts, should we chance to regain the +temples of the therns, they would mete out a frightful death to you. +Not even my—my—" Again she flushed, and started over. "Not even I +could save you." +</P> + +<P> +I said no more. Evidently it was useless. She was even more steeped +in superstition than the Martians of the outer world. They only +worshipped a beautiful hope for a life of love and peace and happiness +in the hereafter. The therns worshipped the hideous plant men and the +apes, or at least they reverenced them as the abodes of the departed +spirits of their own dead. +</P> + +<P> +At this point the door of our prison opened to admit Xodar. +</P> + +<P> +He smiled pleasantly at me, and when he smiled his expression was +kindly—anything but cruel or vindictive. +</P> + +<P> +"Since you cannot escape under any circumstances," he said, "I cannot +see the necessity for keeping you confined below. I will cut your +bonds and you may come on deck. You will witness something very +interesting, and as you never shall return to the outer world it will +do no harm to permit you to see it. You will see what no other than +the First Born and their slaves know the existence of—the subterranean +entrance to the Holy Land, to the real heaven of Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +"It will be an excellent lesson for this daughter of the therns," he +added, "for she shall see the Temple of Issus, and Issus, perchance, +shall embrace her." +</P> + +<P> +Phaidor's head went high. +</P> + +<P> +"What blasphemy is this, dog of a pirate?" she cried. "Issus would +wipe out your entire breed an' you ever came within sight of her +temple." +</P> + +<P> +"You have much to learn, thern," replied Xodar, with an ugly smile, +"nor do I envy you the manner in which you will learn it." +</P> + +<P> +As we came on deck I saw to my surprise that the vessel was passing +over a great field of snow and ice. As far as the eye could reach in +any direction naught else was visible. +</P> + +<P> +There could be but one solution to the mystery. We were above the +south polar ice cap. Only at the poles of Mars is there ice or snow +upon the planet. No sign of life appeared below us. Evidently we were +too far south even for the great fur-bearing animals which the Martians +so delight in hunting. +</P> + +<P> +Xodar was at my side as I stood looking out over the ship's rail. +</P> + +<P> +"What course?" I asked him. +</P> + +<P> +"A little west of south," he replied. "You will see the Otz Valley +directly. We shall skirt it for a few hundred miles." +</P> + +<P> +"The Otz Valley!" I exclaimed; "but, man, is not there where lie the +domains of the therns from which I but just escaped?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," answered Xodar. "You crossed this ice field last night in the +long chase that you led us. The Otz Valley lies in a mighty depression +at the south pole. It is sunk thousands of feet below the level of the +surrounding country, like a great round bowl. A hundred miles from its +northern boundary rise the Otz Mountains which circle the inner Valley +of Dor, in the exact centre of which lies the Lost Sea of Korus. On +the shore of this sea stands the Golden Temple of Issus in the Land of +the First Born. It is there that we are bound." +</P> + +<P> +As I looked I commenced to realize why it was that in all the ages only +one had escaped from the Valley Dor. My only wonder was that even the +one had been successful. To cross this frozen, wind-swept waste of +bleak ice alone and on foot would be impossible. +</P> + +<P> +"Only by air boat could the journey be made," I finished aloud. +</P> + +<P> +"It was thus that one did escape the therns in bygone times; but none +has ever escaped the First Born," said Xodar, with a touch of pride in +his voice. +</P> + +<P> +We had now reached the southernmost extremity of the great ice barrier. +It ended abruptly in a sheer wall thousands of feet high at the base of +which stretched a level valley, broken here and there by low rolling +hills and little clumps of forest, and with tiny rivers formed by the +melting of the ice barrier at its base. +</P> + +<P> +Once we passed far above what seemed to be a deep canyon-like rift +stretching from the ice wall on the north across the valley as far as +the eye could reach. "That is the bed of the River Iss," said Xodar. +"It runs far beneath the ice field, and below the level of the Valley +Otz, but its canyon is open here." +</P> + +<P> +Presently I descried what I took to be a village, and pointing it out +to Xodar asked him what it might be. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a village of lost souls," he answered, laughing. "This strip +between the ice barrier and the mountains is considered neutral ground. +Some turn off from their voluntary pilgrimage down the Iss, and, +scaling the awful walls of its canyon below us, stop in the valley. +Also a slave now and then escapes from the therns and makes his way +hither. +</P> + +<P> +"They do not attempt to recapture such, since there is no escape from +this outer valley, and as a matter of fact they fear the patrolling +cruisers of the First Born too much to venture from their own domains. +</P> + +<P> +"The poor creatures of this outer valley are not molested by us since +they have nothing that we desire, nor are they numerically strong +enough to give us an interesting fight—so we too leave them alone. +</P> + +<P> +"There are several villages of them, but they have increased in numbers +but little in many years since they are always warring among +themselves." +</P> + +<P> +Now we swung a little north of west, leaving the valley of lost souls, +and shortly I discerned over our starboard bow what appeared to be a +black mountain rising from the desolate waste of ice. It was not high +and seemed to have a flat top. +</P> + +<P> +Xodar had left us to attend to some duty on the vessel, and Phaidor and +I stood alone beside the rail. The girl had not once spoken since we +had been brought to the deck. +</P> + +<P> +"Is what he has been telling me true?" I asked her. +</P> + +<P> +"In part, yes," she answered. "That about the outer valley is true, +but what he says of the location of the Temple of Issus in the centre +of his country is false. If it is not false—" she hesitated. "Oh it +cannot be true, it cannot be true. For if it were true then for +countless ages have my people gone to torture and ignominious death at +the hands of their cruel enemies, instead of to the beautiful Life +Eternal that we have been taught to believe Issus holds for us." +</P> + +<P> +"As the lesser Barsoomians of the outer world have been lured by you to +the terrible Valley Dor, so may it be that the therns themselves have +been lured by the First Born to an equally horrid fate," I suggested. +"It would be a stern and awful retribution, Phaidor; but a just one." +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot believe it," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"We shall see," I answered, and then we fell silent again for we were +rapidly approaching the black mountains, which in some indefinable way +seemed linked with the answer to our problem. +</P> + +<P> +As we neared the dark, truncated cone the vessel's speed was diminished +until we barely moved. Then we topped the crest of the mountain and +below us I saw yawning the mouth of a huge circular well, the bottom of +which was lost in inky blackness. +</P> + +<P> +The diameter of this enormous pit was fully a thousand feet. The walls +were smooth and appeared to be composed of a black, basaltic rock. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment the vessel hovered motionless directly above the centre of +the gaping void, then slowly she began to settle into the black chasm. +Lower and lower she sank until as darkness enveloped us her lights were +thrown on and in the dim halo of her own radiance the monster +battleship dropped on and on down into what seemed to me must be the +very bowels of Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +For quite half an hour we descended and then the shaft terminated +abruptly in the dome of a mighty subterranean world. Below us rose and +fell the billows of a buried sea. A phosphorescent radiance +illuminated the scene. Thousands of ships dotted the bosom of the +ocean. Little islands rose here and there to support the strange and +colourless vegetation of this strange world. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly and with majestic grace the battleship dropped until she rested +on the water. Her great propellers had been drawn and housed during +our descent of the shaft and in their place had been run out the +smaller but more powerful water propellers. As these commenced to +revolve the ship took up its journey once more, riding the new element +as buoyantly and as safely as she had the air. +</P> + +<P> +Phaidor and I were dumbfounded. Neither had either heard or dreamed +that such a world existed beneath the surface of Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +Nearly all the vessels we saw were war craft. There were a few +lighters and barges, but none of the great merchantmen such as ply the +upper air between the cities of the outer world. +</P> + +<P> +"Here is the harbour of the navy of the First Born," said a voice +behind us, and turning we saw Xodar watching us with an amused smile on +his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"This sea," he continued, "is larger than Korus. It receives the +waters of the lesser sea above it. To keep it from filling above a +certain level we have four great pumping stations that force the +oversupply back into the reservoirs far north from which the red men +draw the water which irrigates their farm lands." +</P> + +<P> +A new light burst on me with this explanation. The red men had always +considered it a miracle that caused great columns of water to spurt +from the solid rock of their reservoir sides to increase the supply of +the precious liquid which is so scarce in the outer world of Mars. +</P> + +<P> +Never had their learned men been able to fathom the secret of the +source of this enormous volume of water. As ages passed they had +simply come to accept it as a matter of course and ceased to question +its origin. +</P> + +<P> +We passed several islands on which were strangely shaped circular +buildings, apparently roofless, and pierced midway between the ground +and their tops with small, heavily barred windows. They bore the +earmarks of prisons, which were further accentuated by the armed guards +who squatted on low benches without, or patrolled the short beach lines. +</P> + +<P> +Few of these islets contained over an acre of ground, but presently we +sighted a much larger one directly ahead. This proved to be our +destination, and the great ship was soon made fast against the steep +shore. +</P> + +<P> +Xodar signalled us to follow him and with a half-dozen officers and men +we left the battleship and approached a large oval structure a couple +of hundred yards from the shore. +</P> + +<P> +"You shall soon see Issus," said Xodar to Phaidor. "The few prisoners +we take are presented to her. Occasionally she selects slaves from +among them to replenish the ranks of her handmaidens. None serves +Issus above a single year," and there was a grim smile on the black's +lips that lent a cruel and sinister meaning to his simple statement. +</P> + +<P> +Phaidor, though loath to believe that Issus was allied to such as +these, had commenced to entertain doubts and fears. She clung very +closely to me, no longer the proud daughter of the Master of Life and +Death upon Barsoom, but a young and frightened girl in the power of +relentless enemies. +</P> + +<P> +The building which we now entered was entirely roofless. In its centre +was a long tank of water, set below the level of the floor like the +swimming pool of a natatorium. Near one side of the pool floated an +odd-looking black object. Whether it were some strange monster of +these buried waters, or a queer raft, I could not at once perceive. +</P> + +<P> +We were soon to know, however, for as we reached the edge of the pool +directly above the thing, Xodar cried out a few words in a strange +tongue. Immediately a hatch cover was raised from the surface of the +object, and a black seaman sprang from the bowels of the strange craft. +</P> + +<P> +Xodar addressed the seaman. +</P> + +<P> +"Transmit to your officer," he said, "the commands of Dator Xodar. Say +to him that Dator Xodar, with officers and men, escorting two +prisoners, would be transported to the gardens of Issus beside the +Golden Temple." +</P> + +<P> +"Blessed be the shell of thy first ancestor, most noble Dator," replied +the man. "It shall be done even as thou sayest," and raising both +hands, palms backward, above his head after the manner of salute which +is common to all races of Barsoom, he disappeared once more into the +entrails of his ship. +</P> + +<P> +A moment later an officer resplendent in the gorgeous trappings of his +rank appeared on deck and welcomed Xodar to the vessel, and in the +latter's wake we filed aboard and below. +</P> + +<P> +The cabin in which we found ourselves extended entirely across the +ship, having port-holes on either side below the water line. No sooner +were all below than a number of commands were given, in accordance with +which the hatch was closed and secured, and the vessel commenced to +vibrate to the rhythmic purr of its machinery. +</P> + +<P> +"Where can we be going in such a tiny pool of water?" asked Phaidor. +</P> + +<P> +"Not up," I replied, "for I noticed particularly that while the +building is roofless it is covered with a strong metal grating." +</P> + +<P> +"Then where?" she asked again. +</P> + +<P> +"From the appearance of the craft I judge we are going down," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +Phaidor shuddered. For such long ages have the waters of Barsoom's +seas been a thing of tradition only that even this daughter of the +therns, born as she had been within sight of Mars' only remaining sea, +had the same terror of deep water as is a common attribute of all +Martians. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the sensation of sinking became very apparent. We were going +down swiftly. Now we could hear the water rushing past the port-holes, +and in the dim light that filtered through them to the water beyond the +swirling eddies were plainly visible. +</P> + +<P> +Phaidor grasped my arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Save me!" she whispered. "Save me and your every wish shall be +granted. Anything within the power of the Holy Therns to give will be +yours. Phaidor—" she stumbled a little here, and then in a very low +voice, "Phaidor already is yours." +</P> + +<P> +I felt very sorry for the poor child, and placed my hand over hers +where it rested on my arm. I presume my motive was misunderstood, for +with a swift glance about the apartment to assure herself that we were +alone, she threw both her arms about my neck and dragged my face down +to hers. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ISSUS, GODDESS OF LIFE ETERNAL +</H3> + +<P> +The confession of love which the girl's fright had wrung from her +touched me deeply; but it humiliated me as well, since I felt that in +some thoughtless word or act I had given her reason to believe that I +reciprocated her affection. +</P> + +<P> +Never have I been much of a ladies' man, being more concerned with +fighting and kindred arts which have ever seemed to me more befitting a +man than mooning over a scented glove four sizes too small for him, or +kissing a dead flower that has begun to smell like a cabbage. So I was +quite at a loss as to what to do or say. A thousand times rather face +the wild hordes of the dead sea bottoms than meet the eyes of this +beautiful young girl and tell her the thing that I must tell her. +</P> + +<P> +But there was nothing else to be done, and so I did it. Very clumsily +too, I fear. +</P> + +<P> +Gently I unclasped her hands from about my neck, and still holding them +in mine I told her the story of my love for Dejah Thoris. That of all +the women of two worlds that I had known and admired during my long +life she alone had I loved. +</P> + +<P> +The tale did not seem to please her. Like a tigress she sprang, +panting, to her feet. Her beautiful face was distorted in an +expression of horrible malevolence. Her eyes fairly blazed into mine. +</P> + +<P> +"Dog," she hissed. "Dog of a blasphemer! Think you that Phaidor, +daughter of Matai Shang, supplicates? She commands. What to her is +your puny outer world passion for the vile creature you chose in your +other life? +</P> + +<P> +"Phaidor has glorified you with her love, and you have spurned her. +Ten thousand unthinkably atrocious deaths could not atone for the +affront that you have put upon me. The thing that you call Dejah +Thoris shall die the most horrible of them all. You have sealed the +warrant for her doom. +</P> + +<P> +"And you! You shall be the meanest slave in the service of the goddess +you have attempted to humiliate. Tortures and ignominies shall be +heaped upon you until you grovel at my feet asking the boon of death. +</P> + +<P> +"In my gracious generosity I shall at length grant your prayer, and +from the high balcony of the Golden Cliffs I shall watch the great +white apes tear you asunder." +</P> + +<P> +She had it all fixed up. The whole lovely programme from start to +finish. It amazed me to think that one so divinely beautiful could at +the same time be so fiendishly vindictive. It occurred to me, however, +that she had overlooked one little factor in her revenge, and so, +without any intent to add to her discomfiture, but rather to permit her +to rearrange her plans along more practical lines, I pointed to the +nearest port-hole. +</P> + +<P> +Evidently she had entirely forgotten her surroundings and her present +circumstances, for a single glance at the dark, swirling waters without +sent her crumpled upon a low bench, where with her face buried in her +arms she sobbed more like a very unhappy little girl than a proud and +all-powerful goddess. +</P> + +<P> +Down, down we continued to sink until the heavy glass of the port-holes +became noticeably warm from the heat of the water without. Evidently +we were very far beneath the surface crust of Mars. +</P> + +<P> +Presently our downward motion ceased, and I could hear the propellers +swirling through the water at our stern and forcing us ahead at high +speed. It was very dark down there, but the light from our port-holes, +and the reflection from what must have been a powerful searchlight on +the submarine's nose showed that we were forging through a narrow +passage, rock-lined, and tube-like. +</P> + +<P> +After a few minutes the propellers ceased their whirring. We came to a +full stop, and then commenced to rise swiftly toward the surface. Soon +the light from without increased and we came to a stop. +</P> + +<P> +Xodar entered the cabin with his men. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," he said, and we followed him through the hatchway which had +been opened by one of the seamen. +</P> + +<P> +We found ourselves in a small subterranean vault, in the centre of +which was the pool in which lay our submarine, floating as we had first +seen her with only her black back showing. +</P> + +<P> +Around the edge of the pool was a level platform, and then the walls of +the cave rose perpendicularly for a few feet to arch toward the centre +of the low roof. The walls about the ledge were pierced with a number +of entrances to dimly lighted passageways. +</P> + +<P> +Toward one of these our captors led us, and after a short walk halted +before a steel cage which lay at the bottom of a shaft rising above us +as far as one could see. +</P> + +<P> +The cage proved to be one of the common types of elevator cars that I +had seen in other parts of Barsoom. They are operated by means of +enormous magnets which are suspended at the top of the shaft. By an +electrical device the volume of magnetism generated is regulated and +the speed of the car varied. +</P> + +<P> +In long stretches they move at a sickening speed, especially on the +upward trip, since the small force of gravity inherent to Mars results +in very little opposition to the powerful force above. +</P> + +<P> +Scarcely had the door of the car closed behind us than we were slowing +up to stop at the landing above, so rapid was our ascent of the long +shaft. +</P> + +<P> +When we emerged from the little building which houses the upper +terminus of the elevator, we found ourselves in the midst of a +veritable fairyland of beauty. The combined languages of Earth men +hold no words to convey to the mind the gorgeous beauties of the scene. +</P> + +<P> +One may speak of scarlet sward and ivory-stemmed trees decked with +brilliant purple blooms; of winding walks paved with crushed rubies, +with emerald, with turquoise, even with diamonds themselves; of a +magnificent temple of burnished gold, hand-wrought with marvellous +designs; but where are the words to describe the glorious colours that +are unknown to earthly eyes? where the mind or the imagination that can +grasp the gorgeous scintillations of unheard-of rays as they emanate +from the thousand nameless jewels of Barsoom? +</P> + +<P> +Even my eyes, for long years accustomed to the barbaric splendours of a +Martian Jeddak's court, were amazed at the glory of the scene. +</P> + +<P> +Phaidor's eyes were wide in amazement. +</P> + +<P> +"The Temple of Issus," she whispered, half to herself. +</P> + +<P> +Xodar watched us with his grim smile, partly of amusement and partly +malicious gloating. +</P> + +<P> +The gardens swarmed with brilliantly trapped black men and women. +Among them moved red and white females serving their every want. The +places of the outer world and the temples of the therns had been robbed +of their princesses and goddesses that the blacks might have their +slaves. +</P> + +<P> +Through this scene we moved toward the temple. At the main entrance we +were halted by a cordon of armed guards. Xodar spoke a few words to an +officer who came forward to question us. Together they entered the +temple, where they remained for some time. +</P> + +<P> +When they returned it was to announce that Issus desired to look upon +the daughter of Matai Shang, and the strange creature from another +world who had been a Prince of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly we moved through endless corridors of unthinkable beauty; +through magnificent apartments, and noble halls. At length we were +halted in a spacious chamber in the centre of the temple. One of the +officers who had accompanied us advanced to a large door in the further +end of the chamber. Here he must have made some sort of signal for +immediately the door opened and another richly trapped courtier emerged. +</P> + +<P> +We were then led up to the door, where we were directed to get down on +our hands and knees with our backs toward the room we were to enter. +The doors were swung open and after being cautioned not to turn our +heads under penalty of instant death we were commanded to back into the +presence of Issus. +</P> + +<P> +Never have I been in so humiliating a position in my life, and only my +love for Dejah Thoris and the hope which still clung to me that I might +again see her kept me from rising to face the goddess of the First Born +and go down to my death like a gentleman, facing my foes and with their +blood mingling with mine. +</P> + +<P> +After we had crawled in this disgusting fashion for a matter of a +couple of hundred feet we were halted by our escort. +</P> + +<P> +"Let them rise," said a voice behind us; a thin, wavering voice, yet +one that had evidently been accustomed to command for many years. +</P> + +<P> +"Rise," said our escort, "but do not face toward Issus." +</P> + +<P> +"The woman pleases me," said the thin, wavering voice again after a few +moments of silence. "She shall serve me the allotted time. The man +you may return to the Isle of Shador which lies against the northern +shore of the Sea of Omean. Let the woman turn and look upon Issus, +knowing that those of the lower orders who gaze upon the holy vision of +her radiant face survive the blinding glory but a single year." +</P> + +<P> +I watched Phaidor from the corner of my eye. She paled to a ghastly +hue. Slowly, very slowly she turned, as though drawn by some invisible +yet irresistible force. She was standing quite close to me, so close +that her bare arm touched mine as she finally faced Issus, Goddess of +Life Eternal. +</P> + +<P> +I could not see the girl's face as her eyes rested for the first time +on the Supreme Deity of Mars, but felt the shudder that ran through her +in the trembling flesh of the arm that touched mine. +</P> + +<P> +"It must be dazzling loveliness indeed," thought I, "to cause such +emotion in the breast of so radiant a beauty as Phaidor, daughter of +Matai Shang." +</P> + +<P> +"Let the woman remain. Remove the man. Go." Thus spoke Issus, and +the heavy hand of the officer fell upon my shoulder. In accordance +with his instructions I dropped to my hands and knees once more and +crawled from the Presence. It had been my first audience with deity, +but I am free to confess that I was not greatly impressed—other than +with the ridiculous figure I cut scrambling about on my marrow bones. +</P> + +<P> +Once without the chamber the doors closed behind us and I was bid to +rise. Xodar joined me and together we slowly retraced our steps toward +the gardens. +</P> + +<P> +"You spared my life when you easily might have taken it," he said after +we had proceeded some little way in silence, "and I would aid you if I +might. I can help to make your life here more bearable, but your fate +is inevitable. You may never hope to return to the outer world." +</P> + +<P> +"What will be my fate?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"That will depend largely upon Issus. So long as she does not send for +you and reveal her face to you, you may live on for years in as mild a +form of bondage as I can arrange for you." +</P> + +<P> +"Why should she send for me?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"The men of the lower orders she often uses for various purposes of +amusement. Such a fighter as you, for example, would render fine sport +in the monthly rites of the temple. There are men pitted against men, +and against beasts for the edification of Issus and the replenishment +of her larder." +</P> + +<P> +"She eats human flesh?" I asked. Not in horror, however, for since my +recently acquired knowledge of the Holy Therns I was prepared for +anything in this still less accessible heaven, where all was evidently +dictated by a single omnipotence; where ages of narrow fanaticism and +self-worship had eradicated all the broader humanitarian instincts that +the race might once have possessed. +</P> + +<P> +They were a people drunk with power and success, looking upon the other +inhabitants of Mars as we look upon the beasts of the field and the +forest. Why then should they not eat of the flesh of the lower orders +whose lives and characters they no more understood than do we the +inmost thoughts and sensibilities of the cattle we slaughter for our +earthly tables. +</P> + +<P> +"She eats only the flesh of the best bred of the Holy Therns and the +red Barsoomians. The flesh of the others goes to our boards. The +animals are eaten by the slaves. She also eats other dainties." +</P> + +<P> +I did not understand then that there lay any special significance in +his reference to other dainties. I thought the limit of ghoulishness +already had been reached in the recitation of Issus' menu. I still had +much to learn as to the depths of cruelty and bestiality to which +omnipotence may drag its possessor. +</P> + +<P> +We had about reached the last of the many chambers and corridors which +led to the gardens when an officer overtook us. +</P> + +<P> +"Issus would look again upon this man," he said. "The girl has told +her that he is of wondrous beauty and of such prowess that alone he +slew seven of the First Born, and with his bare hands took Xodar +captive, binding him with his own harness." +</P> + +<P> +Xodar looked uncomfortable. Evidently he did not relish the thought +that Issus had learned of his inglorious defeat. +</P> + +<P> +Without a word he turned and we followed the officer once again to the +closed doors before the audience chamber of Issus, Goddess of Life +Eternal. +</P> + +<P> +Here the ceremony of entrance was repeated. Again Issus bid me rise. +For several minutes all was silent as the tomb. The eyes of deity were +appraising me. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the thin wavering voice broke the stillness, repeating in a +singsong drone the words which for countless ages had sealed the doom +of numberless victims. +</P> + +<P> +"Let the man turn and look upon Issus, knowing that those of the lower +orders who gaze upon the holy vision of her radiant face survive the +blinding glory but a single year." +</P> + +<P> +I turned as I had been bid, expecting such a treat as only the +revealment of divine glory to mortal eyes might produce. What I saw +was a solid phalanx of armed men between myself and a dais supporting a +great bench of carved sorapus wood. On this bench, or throne, squatted +a female black. She was evidently very old. Not a hair remained upon +her wrinkled skull. With the exception of two yellow fangs she was +entirely toothless. On either side of her thin, hawk-like nose her +eyes burned from the depths of horribly sunken sockets. The skin of +her face was seamed and creased with a million deepcut furrows. Her +body was as wrinkled as her face, and as repulsive. +</P> + +<P> +Emaciated arms and legs attached to a torso which seemed to be mostly +distorted abdomen completed the "holy vision of her radiant beauty." +</P> + +<P> +Surrounding her were a number of female slaves, among them Phaidor, +white and trembling. +</P> + +<P> +"This is the man who slew seven of the First Born and, bare-handed, +bound Dator Xodar with his own harness?" asked Issus. +</P> + +<P> +"Most glorious vision of divine loveliness, it is," replied the officer +who stood at my side. +</P> + +<P> +"Produce Dator Xodar," she commanded. +</P> + +<P> +Xodar was brought from the adjoining room. +</P> + +<P> +Issus glared at him, a baleful light in her hideous eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"And such as you are a Dator of the First Born?" she squealed. "For +the disgrace you have brought upon the Immortal Race you shall be +degraded to a rank below the lowest. No longer be you a Dator, but for +evermore a slave of slaves, to fetch and carry for the lower orders +that serve in the gardens of Issus. Remove his harness. Cowards and +slaves wear no trappings." +</P> + +<P> +Xodar stood stiffly erect. Not a muscle twitched, nor a tremor shook +his giant frame as a soldier of the guard roughly stripped his gorgeous +trappings from him. +</P> + +<P> +"Begone," screamed the infuriated little old woman. "Begone, but +instead of the light of the gardens of Issus let you serve as a slave +of this slave who conquered you in the prison on the Isle of Shador in +the Sea of Omean. Take him away out of the sight of my divine eyes." +</P> + +<P> +Slowly and with high held head the proud Xodar turned and stalked from +the chamber. Issus rose and turned to leave the room by another exit. +</P> + +<P> +Turning to me, she said: "You shall be returned to Shador for the +present. Later Issus will see the manner of your fighting. Go." Then +she disappeared, followed by her retinue. Only Phaidor lagged behind, +and as I started to follow my guard toward the gardens, the girl came +running after me. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, do not leave me in this terrible place," she begged. "Forgive the +things I said to you, my Prince. I did not mean them. Only take me +away with you. Let me share your imprisonment on Shador." Her words +were an almost incoherent volley of thoughts, so rapidly she spoke. +"You did not understand the honour that I did you. Among the therns +there is no marriage or giving in marriage, as among the lower orders +of the outer world. We might have lived together for ever in love and +happiness. We have both looked upon Issus and in a year we die. Let +us live that year at least together in what measure of joy remains for +the doomed." +</P> + +<P> +"If it was difficult for me to understand you, Phaidor," I replied, +"can you not understand that possibly it is equally difficult for you +to understand the motives, the customs and the social laws that guide +me? I do not wish to hurt you, nor to seem to undervalue the honour +which you have done me, but the thing you desire may not be. +Regardless of the foolish belief of the peoples of the outer world, or +of Holy Thern, or ebon First Born, I am not dead. While I live my +heart beats for but one woman—the incomparable Dejah Thoris, Princess +of Helium. When death overtakes me my heart shall have ceased to beat; +but what comes after that I know not. And in that I am as wise as +Matai Shang, Master of Life and Death upon Barsoom; or Issus, Goddess +of Life Eternal." +</P> + +<P> +Phaidor stood looking at me intently for a moment. No anger showed in +her eyes this time, only a pathetic expression of hopeless sorrow. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not understand," she said, and turning walked slowly in the +direction of the door through which Issus and her retinue had passed. +A moment later she had passed from my sight. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE PRISON ISLE OF SHADOR +</H3> + +<P> +In the outer gardens to which the guard now escorted me, I found Xodar +surrounded by a crowd of noble blacks. They were reviling and cursing +him. The men slapped his face. The women spat upon him. +</P> + +<P> +When I appeared they turned their attentions toward me. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," cried one, "so this is the creature who overcame the great Xodar +bare-handed. Let us see how it was done." +</P> + +<P> +"Let him bind Thurid," suggested a beautiful woman, laughing. "Thurid +is a noble Dator. Let Thurid show the dog what it means to face a real +man." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Thurid! Thurid!" cried a dozen voices. +</P> + +<P> +"Here he is now," exclaimed another, and turning in the direction +indicated I saw a huge black weighed down with resplendent ornaments +and arms advancing with noble and gallant bearing toward us. +</P> + +<P> +"What now?" he cried. "What would you of Thurid?" +</P> + +<P> +Quickly a dozen voices explained. +</P> + +<P> +Thurid turned toward Xodar, his eyes narrowing to two nasty slits. +</P> + +<P> +"Calot!" he hissed. "Ever did I think you carried the heart of a sorak +in your putrid breast. Often have you bested me in the secret councils +of Issus, but now in the field of war where men are truly gauged your +scabby heart hath revealed its sores to all the world. Calot, I spurn +you with my foot," and with the words he turned to kick Xodar. +</P> + +<P> +My blood was up. For minutes it had been boiling at the cowardly +treatment they had been according this once powerful comrade because he +had fallen from the favour of Issus. I had no love for Xodar, but I +cannot stand the sight of cowardly injustice and persecution without +seeing red as through a haze of bloody mist, and doing things on the +impulse of the moment that I presume I never should do after mature +deliberation. +</P> + +<P> +I was standing close beside Xodar as Thurid swung his foot for the +cowardly kick. The degraded Dator stood erect and motionless as a +carven image. He was prepared to take whatever his former comrades had +to offer in the way of insults and reproaches, and take them in manly +silence and stoicism. +</P> + +<P> +But as Thurid's foot swung so did mine, and I caught him a painful blow +upon the shin bone that saved Xodar from this added ignominy. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment there was tense silence, then Thurid, with a roar of rage +sprang for my throat; just as Xodar had upon the deck of the cruiser. +The results were identical. I ducked beneath his outstretched arms, +and as he lunged past me planted a terrific right on the side of his +jaw. +</P> + +<P> +The big fellow spun around like a top, his knees gave beneath him and +he crumpled to the ground at my feet. +</P> + +<P> +The blacks gazed in astonishment, first at the still form of the proud +Dator lying there in the ruby dust of the pathway, then at me as though +they could not believe that such a thing could be. +</P> + +<P> +"You asked me to bind Thurid," I cried; "behold!" And then I stooped +beside the prostrate form, tore the harness from it, and bound the +fellow's arms and legs securely. +</P> + +<P> +"As you have done to Xodar, now do you likewise to Thurid. Take him +before Issus, bound in his own harness, that she may see with her own +eyes that there be one among you now who is greater than the First +Born." +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you?" whispered the woman who had first suggested that I +attempt to bind Thurid. +</P> + +<P> +"I am a citizen of two worlds; Captain John Carter of Virginia, Prince +of the House of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium. Take this man to your +goddess, as I have said, and tell her, too, that as I have done to +Xodar and Thurid, so also can I do to the mightiest of her Dators. +With naked hands, with long-sword or with short-sword, I challenge the +flower of her fighting-men to combat." +</P> + +<P> +"Come," said the officer who was guarding me back to Shador; "my orders +are imperative; there is to be no delay. Xodar, come you also." +</P> + +<P> +There was little of disrespect in the tone that the man used in +addressing either Xodar or myself. It was evident that he felt less +contempt for the former Dator since he had witnessed the ease with +which I disposed of the powerful Thurid. +</P> + +<P> +That his respect for me was greater than it should have been for a +slave was quite apparent from the fact that during the balance of the +return journey he walked or stood always behind me, a drawn short-sword +in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +The return to the Sea of Omean was uneventful. We dropped down the +awful shaft in the same car that had brought us to the surface. There +we entered the submarine, taking the long dive to the tunnel far +beneath the upper world. Then through the tunnel and up again to the +pool from which we had had our first introduction to the wonderful +passageway from Omean to the Temple of Issus. +</P> + +<P> +From the island of the submarine we were transported on a small cruiser +to the distant Isle of Shador. Here we found a small stone prison and +a guard of half a dozen blacks. There was no ceremony wasted in +completing our incarceration. One of the blacks opened the door of the +prison with a huge key, we walked in, the door closed behind us, the +lock grated, and with the sound there swept over me again that terrible +feeling of hopelessness that I had felt in the Chamber of Mystery in +the Golden Cliffs beneath the gardens of the Holy Therns. +</P> + +<P> +Then Tars Tarkas had been with me, but now I was utterly alone in so +far as friendly companionship was concerned. I fell to wondering about +the fate of the great Thark, and of his beautiful companion, the girl, +Thuvia. Even should they by some miracle have escaped and been +received and spared by a friendly nation, what hope had I of the +succour which I knew they would gladly extend if it lay in their power. +</P> + +<P> +They could not guess my whereabouts or my fate, for none on all Barsoom +even dream of such a place as this. Nor would it have advantaged me +any had they known the exact location of my prison, for who could hope +to penetrate to this buried sea in the face of the mighty navy of the +First Born? No: my case was hopeless. +</P> + +<P> +Well, I would make the best of it, and, rising, I swept aside the +brooding despair that had been endeavouring to claim me. With the idea +of exploring my prison, I started to look around. +</P> + +<P> +Xodar sat, with bowed head, upon a low stone bench near the centre of +the room in which we were. He had not spoken since Issus had degraded +him. +</P> + +<P> +The building was roofless, the walls rising to a height of about thirty +feet. Half-way up were a couple of small, heavily barred windows. The +prison was divided into several rooms by partitions twenty feet high. +There was no one in the room which we occupied, but two doors which led +to other rooms were opened. I entered one of these rooms, but found it +vacant. Thus I continued through several of the chambers until in the +last one I found a young red Martian boy sleeping upon the stone bench +which constituted the only furniture of any of the prison cells. +</P> + +<P> +Evidently he was the only other prisoner. As he slept I leaned over +and looked at him. There was something strangely familiar about his +face, and yet I could not place him. +</P> + +<P> +His features were very regular and, like the proportions of his +graceful limbs and body, beautiful in the extreme. He was very light +in colour for a red man, but in other respects he seemed a typical +specimen of this handsome race. +</P> + +<P> +I did not awaken him, for sleep in prison is such a priceless boon that +I have seen men transformed into raging brutes when robbed by one of +their fellow-prisoners of a few precious moments of it. +</P> + +<P> +Returning to my own cell, I found Xodar still sitting in the same +position in which I had left him. +</P> + +<P> +"Man," I cried, "it will profit you nothing to mope thus. It were no +disgrace to be bested by John Carter. You have seen that in the ease +with which I accounted for Thurid. You knew it before when on the +cruiser's deck you saw me slay three of your comrades." +</P> + +<P> +"I would that you had dispatched me at the same time," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, come!" I cried. "There is hope yet. Neither of us is dead. We +are great fighters. Why not win to freedom?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked at me in amazement. +</P> + +<P> +"You know not of what you speak," he replied. "Issus is omnipotent. +Issus is omniscient. She hears now the words you speak. She knows the +thoughts you think. It is sacrilege even to dream of breaking her +commands." +</P> + +<P> +"Rot, Xodar," I ejaculated impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +He sprang to his feet in horror. +</P> + +<P> +"The curse of Issus will fall upon you," he cried. "In another instant +you will be smitten down, writhing to your death in horrible agony." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you believe that, Xodar?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course; who would dare doubt?" +</P> + +<P> +"I doubt; yes, and further, I deny," I said. "Why, Xodar, you tell me +that she even knows my thoughts. The red men have all had that power +for ages. And another wonderful power. They can shut their minds so +that none may read their thoughts. I learned the first secret years +ago; the other I never had to learn, since upon all Barsoom is none who +can read what passes in the secret chambers of my brain. +</P> + +<P> +"Your goddess cannot read my thoughts; nor can she read yours when you +are out of sight, unless you will it. Had she been able to read mine, +I am afraid that her pride would have suffered a rather severe shock +when I turned at her command to 'gaze upon the holy vision of her +radiant face.'" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" he whispered in an affrighted voice, so low that I +could scarcely hear him. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean that I thought her the most repulsive and vilely hideous +creature my eyes ever had rested upon." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment he eyed me in horror-stricken amazement, and then with a +cry of "Blasphemer" he sprang upon me. +</P> + +<P> +I did not wish to strike him again, nor was it necessary, since he was +unarmed and therefore quite harmless to me. +</P> + +<P> +As he came I grasped his left wrist with my left hand, and, swinging my +right arm about his left shoulder, caught him beneath the chin with my +elbow and bore him backward across my thigh. +</P> + +<P> +There he hung helpless for a moment, glaring up at me in impotent rage. +</P> + +<P> +"Xodar," I said, "let us be friends. For a year, possibly, we may be +forced to live together in the narrow confines of this tiny room. I am +sorry to have offended you, but I could not dream that one who had +suffered from the cruel injustice of Issus still could believe her +divine. +</P> + +<P> +"I will say a few more words, Xodar, with no intent to wound your +feelings further, but rather that you may give thought to the fact that +while we live we are still more the arbiters of our own fate than is +any god. +</P> + +<P> +"Issus, you see, has not struck me dead, nor is she rescuing her +faithful Xodar from the clutches of the unbeliever who defamed her fair +beauty. No, Xodar, your Issus is a mortal old woman. Once out of her +clutches and she cannot harm you. +</P> + +<P> +"With your knowledge of this strange land, and my knowledge of the +outer world, two such fighting-men as you and I should be able to win +our way to freedom. Even though we died in the attempt, would not our +memories be fairer than as though we remained in servile fear to be +butchered by a cruel and unjust tyrant—call her goddess or mortal, as +you will." +</P> + +<P> +As I finished I raised Xodar to his feet and released him. He did not +renew the attack upon me, nor did he speak. Instead, he walked toward +the bench, and, sinking down upon it, remained lost in deep thought for +hours. +</P> + +<P> +A long time afterward I heard a soft sound at the doorway leading to +one of the other apartments, and, looking up, beheld the red Martian +youth gazing intently at us. +</P> + +<P> +"Kaor," I cried, after the red Martian manner of greeting. +</P> + +<P> +"Kaor," he replied. "What do you here?" +</P> + +<P> +"I await my death, I presume," I replied with a wry smile. +</P> + +<P> +He too smiled, a brave and winning smile. +</P> + +<P> +"I also," he said. "Mine will come soon. I looked upon the radiant +beauty of Issus nearly a year since. It has always been a source of +keen wonder to me that I did not drop dead at the first sight of that +hideous countenance. And her belly! By my first ancestor, but never +was there so grotesque a figure in all the universe. That they should +call such a one Goddess of Life Eternal, Goddess of Death, Mother of +the Nearer Moon, and fifty other equally impossible titles, is quite +beyond me." +</P> + +<P> +"How came you here?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"It is very simple. I was flying a one-man air scout far to the south +when the brilliant idea occurred to me that I should like to search for +the Lost Sea of Korus which tradition places near to the south pole. I +must have inherited from my father a wild lust for adventure, as well +as a hollow where my bump of reverence should be. +</P> + +<P> +"I had reached the area of eternal ice when my port propeller jammed, +and I dropped to the ground to make repairs. Before I knew it the air +was black with fliers, and a hundred of these First Born devils were +leaping to the ground all about me. +</P> + +<P> +"With drawn swords they made for me, but before I went down beneath +them they had tasted of the steel of my father's sword, and I had given +such an account of myself as I know would have pleased my sire had he +lived to witness it." +</P> + +<P> +"Your father is dead?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"He died before the shell broke to let me step out into a world that +has been very good to me. But for the sorrow that I had never the +honour to know my father, I have been very happy. My only sorrow now +is that my mother must mourn me as she has for ten long years mourned +my father." +</P> + +<P> +"Who was your father?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +He was about to reply when the outer door of our prison opened and a +burly guard entered and ordered him to his own quarters for the night, +locking the door after him as he passed through into the further +chamber. +</P> + +<P> +"It is Issus' wish that you two be confined in the same room," said the +guard when he had returned to our cell. "This cowardly slave of a +slave is to serve you well," he said to me, indicating Xodar with a +wave of his hand. "If he does not, you are to beat him into +submission. It is Issus' wish that you heap upon him every indignity +and degradation of which you can conceive." +</P> + +<P> +With these words he left us. +</P> + +<P> +Xodar still sat with his face buried in his hands. I walked to his +side and placed my hand upon his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Xodar," I said, "you have heard the commands of Issus, but you need +not fear that I shall attempt to put them into execution. You are a +brave man, Xodar. It is your own affair if you wish to be persecuted +and humiliated; but were I you I should assert my manhood and defy my +enemies." +</P> + +<P> +"I have been thinking very hard, John Carter," he said, "of all the new +ideas you gave me a few hours since. Little by little I have been +piecing together the things that you said which sounded blasphemous to +me then with the things that I have seen in my past life and dared not +even think about for fear of bringing down upon me the wrath of Issus. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe now that she is a fraud; no more divine than you or I. More +I am willing to concede—that the First Born are no holier than the +Holy Therns, nor the Holy Therns more holy than the red men. +</P> + +<P> +"The whole fabric of our religion is based on superstitious belief in +lies that have been foisted upon us for ages by those directly above +us, to whose personal profit and aggrandizement it was to have us +continue to believe as they wished us to believe. +</P> + +<P> +"I am ready to cast off the ties that have bound me. I am ready to +defy Issus herself; but what will it avail us? Be the First Born gods +or mortals, they are a powerful race, and we are as fast in their +clutches as though we were already dead. There is no escape." +</P> + +<P> +"I have escaped from bad plights in the past, my friend," I replied; +"nor while life is in me shall I despair of escaping from the Isle of +Shador and the Sea of Omean." +</P> + +<P> +"But we cannot escape even from the four walls of our prison," urged +Xodar. "Test this flint-like surface," he cried, smiting the solid +rock that confined us. "And look upon this polished surface; none +could cling to it to reach the top." +</P> + +<P> +I smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"That is the least of our troubles, Xodar," I replied. "I will +guarantee to scale the wall and take you with me, if you will help with +your knowledge of the customs here to appoint the best time for the +attempt, and guide me to the shaft that lets from the dome of this +abysmal sea to the light of God's pure air above." +</P> + +<P> +"Night time is the best and offers the only slender chance we have, for +then men sleep, and only a dozing watch nods in the tops of the +battleships. No watch is kept upon the cruisers and smaller craft. +The watchers upon the larger vessels see to all about them. It is +night now." +</P> + +<P> +"But," I exclaimed, "it is not dark! How can it be night, then?" +</P> + +<P> +He smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"You forget," he said, "that we are far below ground. The light of the +sun never penetrates here. There are no moons and no stars reflected +in the bosom of Omean. The phosphorescent light you now see pervading +this great subterranean vault emanates from the rocks that form its +dome; it is always thus upon Omean, just as the billows are always as +you see them—rolling, ever rolling over a windless sea. +</P> + +<P> +"At the appointed hour of night upon the world above, the men whose +duties hold them here sleep, but the light is ever the same." +</P> + +<P> +"It will make escape more difficult," I said, and then I shrugged my +shoulders; for what, pray, is the pleasure of doing an easy thing? +</P> + +<P> +"Let us sleep on it to-night," said Xodar. "A plan may come with our +awakening." +</P> + +<P> +So we threw ourselves upon the hard stone floor of our prison and slept +the sleep of tired men. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WHEN HELL BROKE LOOSE +</H3> + +<P> +Early the next morning Xodar and I commenced work upon our plans for +escape. First I had him sketch upon the stone floor of our cell as +accurate a map of the south polar regions as was possible with the +crude instruments at our disposal—a buckle from my harness, and the +sharp edge of the wondrous gem I had taken from Sator Throg. +</P> + +<P> +From this I computed the general direction of Helium and the distance +at which it lay from the opening which led to Omean. +</P> + +<P> +Then I had him draw a map of Omean, indicating plainly the position of +Shador and of the opening in the dome which led to the outer world. +</P> + +<P> +These I studied until they were indelibly imprinted in my memory. From +Xodar I learned the duties and customs of the guards who patrolled +Shador. It seemed that during the hours set aside for sleep only one +man was on duty at a time. He paced a beat that passed around the +prison, at a distance of about a hundred feet from the building. +</P> + +<P> +The pace of the sentries, Xodar said, was very slow, requiring nearly +ten minutes to make a single round. This meant that for practically +five minutes at a time each side of the prison was unguarded as the +sentry pursued his snail-like pace upon the opposite side. +</P> + +<P> +"This information you ask," said Xodar, "will be all very valuable +AFTER we get out, but nothing that you have asked has any bearing on +that first and most important consideration." +</P> + +<P> +"We will get out all right," I replied, laughing. "Leave that to me." +</P> + +<P> +"When shall we make the attempt?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"The first night that finds a small craft moored near the shore of +Shador," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +"But how will you know that any craft is moored near Shador? The +windows are far beyond our reach." +</P> + +<P> +"Not so, friend Xodar; look!" +</P> + +<P> +With a bound I sprang to the bars of the window opposite us, and took a +quick survey of the scene without. +</P> + +<P> +Several small craft and two large battleships lay within a hundred +yards of Shador. +</P> + +<P> +"To-night," I thought, and was just about to voice my decision to +Xodar, when, without warning, the door of our prison opened and a guard +stepped in. +</P> + +<P> +If the fellow saw me there our chances of escape might quickly go +glimmering, for I knew that they would put me in irons if they had the +slightest conception of the wonderful agility which my earthly muscles +gave me upon Mars. +</P> + +<P> +The man had entered and was standing facing the centre of the room, so +that his back was toward me. Five feet above me was the top of a +partition wall separating our cell from the next. +</P> + +<P> +There was my only chance to escape detection. If the fellow turned, I +was lost; nor could I have dropped to the floor undetected, since he +was so nearly below me that I would have struck him had I done so. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is the white man?" cried the guard of Xodar. "Issus commands +his presence." He started to turn to see if I were in another part of +the cell. +</P> + +<P> +I scrambled up the iron grating of the window until I could catch a +good footing on the sill with one foot; then I let go my hold and +sprang for the partition top. +</P> + +<P> +"What was that?" I heard the deep voice of the black bellow as my metal +grated against the stone wall as I slipped over. Then I dropped +lightly to the floor of the cell beyond. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is the white slave?" again cried the guard. +</P> + +<P> +"I know not," replied Xodar. "He was here even as you entered. I am +not his keeper—go find him." +</P> + +<P> +The black grumbled something that I could not understand, and then I +heard him unlocking the door into one of the other cells on the further +side. Listening intently, I caught the sound as the door closed behind +him. Then I sprang once more to the top of the partition and dropped +into my own cell beside the astonished Xodar. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you see now how we will escape?" I asked him in a whisper. +</P> + +<P> +"I see how you may," he replied, "but I am no wiser than before as to +how I am to pass these walls. Certain it is that I cannot bounce over +them as you do." +</P> + +<P> +We heard the guard moving about from cell to cell, and finally, his +rounds completed, he again entered ours. When his eyes fell upon me +they fairly bulged from his head. +</P> + +<P> +"By the shell of my first ancestor!" he roared. "Where have you been?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have been in prison since you put me here yesterday," I answered. +"I was in this room when you entered. You had better look to your +eyesight." +</P> + +<P> +He glared at me in mingled rage and relief. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," he said. "Issus commands your presence." +</P> + +<P> +He conducted me outside the prison, leaving Xodar behind. There we +found several other guards, and with them the red Martian youth who +occupied another cell upon Shador. +</P> + +<P> +The journey I had taken to the Temple of Issus on the preceding day was +repeated. The guards kept the red boy and myself separated, so that we +had no opportunity to continue the conversation that had been +interrupted the previous night. +</P> + +<P> +The youth's face had haunted me. Where had I seen him before. There +was something strangely familiar in every line of him; in his carriage, +his manner of speaking, his gestures. I could have sworn that I knew +him, and yet I knew too that I had never seen him before. +</P> + +<P> +When we reached the gardens of Issus we were led away from the temple +instead of toward it. The way wound through enchanted parks to a +mighty wall that towered a hundred feet in air. +</P> + +<P> +Massive gates gave egress upon a small plain, surrounded by the same +gorgeous forests that I had seen at the foot of the Golden Cliffs. +</P> + +<P> +Crowds of blacks were strolling in the same direction that our guards +were leading us, and with them mingled my old friends the plant men and +great white apes. +</P> + +<P> +The brutal beasts moved among the crowd as pet dogs might. If they +were in the way the blacks pushed them roughly to one side, or whacked +them with the flat of a sword, and the animals slunk away as in great +fear. +</P> + +<P> +Presently we came upon our destination, a great amphitheatre situated +at the further edge of the plain, and about half a mile beyond the +garden walls. +</P> + +<P> +Through a massive arched gateway the blacks poured in to take their +seats, while our guards led us to a smaller entrance near one end of +the structure. +</P> + +<P> +Through this we passed into an enclosure beneath the seats, where we +found a number of other prisoners herded together under guard. Some of +them were in irons, but for the most part they seemed sufficiently awed +by the presence of their guards to preclude any possibility of +attempted escape. +</P> + +<P> +During the trip from Shador I had had no opportunity to talk with my +fellow-prisoner, but now that we were safely within the barred paddock +our guards abated their watchfulness, with the result that I found +myself able to approach the red Martian youth for whom I felt such a +strange attraction. +</P> + +<P> +"What is the object of this assembly?" I asked him. "Are we to fight +for the edification of the First Born, or is it something worse than +that?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is a part of the monthly rites of Issus," he replied, "in which +black men wash the sins from their souls in the blood of men from the +outer world. If, perchance, the black is killed, it is evidence of his +disloyalty to Issus—the unpardonable sin. If he lives through the +contest he is held acquitted of the charge that forced the sentence of +the rites, as it is called, upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"The forms of combat vary. A number of us may be pitted together +against an equal number, or twice the number of blacks; or singly we +may be sent forth to face wild beasts, or some famous black warrior." +</P> + +<P> +"And if we are victorious," I asked, "what then—freedom?" +</P> + +<P> +He laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Freedom, forsooth. The only freedom for us death. None who enters +the domains of the First Born ever leave. If we prove able fighters we +are permitted to fight often. If we are not mighty fighters—" He +shrugged his shoulders. "Sooner or later we die in the arena." +</P> + +<P> +"And you have fought often?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Very often," he replied. "It is my only pleasure. Some hundred black +devils have I accounted for during nearly a year of the rites of Issus. +My mother would be very proud could she only know how well I have +maintained the traditions of my father's prowess." +</P> + +<P> +"Your father must have been a mighty warrior!" I said. "I have known +most of the warriors of Barsoom in my time; doubtless I knew him. Who +was he?" +</P> + +<P> +"My father was—" +</P> + +<P> +"Come, calots!" cried the rough voice of a guard. "To the slaughter +with you," and roughly we were hustled to the steep incline that led to +the chambers far below which let out upon the arena. +</P> + +<P> +The amphitheatre, like all I had ever seen upon Barsoom, was built in a +large excavation. Only the highest seats, which formed the low wall +surrounding the pit, were above the level of the ground. The arena +itself was far below the surface. +</P> + +<P> +Just beneath the lowest tier of seats was a series of barred cages on a +level with the surface of the arena. Into these we were herded. But, +unfortunately, my youthful friend was not of those who occupied a cage +with me. +</P> + +<P> +Directly opposite my cage was the throne of Issus. Here the horrid +creature squatted, surrounded by a hundred slave maidens sparkling in +jewelled trappings. Brilliant cloths of many hues and strange patterns +formed the soft cushion covering of the dais upon which they reclined +about her. +</P> + +<P> +On four sides of the throne and several feet below it stood three solid +ranks of heavily armed soldiery, elbow to elbow. In front of these +were the high dignitaries of this mock heaven—gleaming blacks bedecked +with precious stones, upon their foreheads the insignia of their rank +set in circles of gold. +</P> + +<P> +On both sides of the throne stretched a solid mass of humanity from top +to bottom of the amphitheatre. There were as many women as men, and +each was clothed in the wondrously wrought harness of his station and +his house. With each black was from one to three slaves, drawn from +the domains of the therns and from the outer world. The blacks are all +"noble." There is no peasantry among the First Born. Even the lowest +soldier is a god, and has his slaves to wait upon him. +</P> + +<P> +The First Born do no work. The men fight—that is a sacred privilege +and duty; to fight and die for Issus. The women do nothing, absolutely +nothing. Slaves wash them, slaves dress them, slaves feed them. There +are some, even, who have slaves that talk for them, and I saw one who +sat during the rites with closed eyes while a slave narrated to her the +events that were transpiring within the arena. +</P> + +<P> +The first event of the day was the Tribute to Issus. It marked the end +of those poor unfortunates who had looked upon the divine glory of the +goddess a full year before. There were ten of them—splendid beauties +from the proud courts of mighty Jeddaks and from the temples of the +Holy Therns. For a year they had served in the retinue of Issus; +to-day they were to pay the price of this divine preferment with their +lives; tomorrow they would grace the tables of the court functionaries. +</P> + +<P> +A huge black entered the arena with the young women. Carefully he +inspected them, felt of their limbs and poked them in the ribs. +Presently he selected one of their number whom he led before the throne +of Issus. He addressed some words to the goddess which I could not +hear. Issus nodded her head. The black raised his hands above his +head in token of salute, grasped the girl by the wrist, and dragged her +from the arena through a small doorway below the throne. +</P> + +<P> +"Issus will dine well to-night," said a prisoner beside me. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"That was her dinner that old Thabis is taking to the kitchens. Didst +not note how carefully he selected the plumpest and tenderest of the +lot?" +</P> + +<P> +I growled out my curses on the monster sitting opposite us on the +gorgeous throne. +</P> + +<P> +"Fume not," admonished my companion; "you will see far worse than that +if you live even a month among the First Born." +</P> + +<P> +I turned again in time to see the gate of a nearby cage thrown open and +three monstrous white apes spring into the arena. The girls shrank in +a frightened group in the centre of the enclosure. +</P> + +<P> +One was on her knees with imploring hands outstretched toward Issus; +but the hideous deity only leaned further forward in keener +anticipation of the entertainment to come. At length the apes spied +the huddled knot of terror-stricken maidens and with demoniacal shrieks +of bestial frenzy, charged upon them. +</P> + +<P> +A wave of mad fury surged over me. The cruel cowardliness of the +power-drunk creature whose malignant mind conceived such frightful +forms of torture stirred to their uttermost depths my resentment and my +manhood. The blood-red haze that presaged death to my foes swam before +my eyes. +</P> + +<P> +The guard lolled before the unbarred gate of the cage which confined +me. What need of bars, indeed, to keep those poor victims from rushing +into the arena which the edict of the gods had appointed as their death +place! +</P> + +<P> +A single blow sent the black unconscious to the ground. Snatching up +his long-sword, I sprang into the arena. The apes were almost upon the +maidens, but a couple of mighty bounds were all my earthly muscles +required to carry me to the centre of the sand-strewn floor. +</P> + +<P> +For an instant silence reigned in the great amphitheatre, then a wild +shout arose from the cages of the doomed. My long-sword circled +whirring through the air, and a great ape sprawled, headless, at the +feet of the fainting girls. +</P> + +<P> +The other apes turned now upon me, and as I stood facing them a sullen +roar from the audience answered the wild cheers from the cages. From +the tail of my eye I saw a score of guards rushing across the +glistening sand toward me. Then a figure broke from one of the cages +behind them. It was the youth whose personality so fascinated me. +</P> + +<P> +He paused a moment before the cages, with upraised sword. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, men of the outer world!" he shouted. "Let us make our deaths +worth while, and at the back of this unknown warrior turn this day's +Tribute to Issus into an orgy of revenge that will echo through the +ages and cause black skins to blanch at each repetition of the rites of +Issus. Come! The racks without your cages are filled with blades." +</P> + +<P> +Without waiting to note the outcome of his plea, he turned and bounded +toward me. From every cage that harboured red men a thunderous shout +went up in answer to his exhortation. The inner guards went down +beneath howling mobs, and the cages vomited forth their inmates hot +with the lust to kill. +</P> + +<P> +The racks that stood without were stripped of the swords with which the +prisoners were to have been armed to enter their allotted combats, and +a swarm of determined warriors sped to our support. +</P> + +<P> +The great apes, towering in all their fifteen feet of height, had gone +down before my sword while the charging guards were still some distance +away. Close behind them pursued the youth. At my back were the young +girls, and as it was in their service that I fought, I remained +standing there to meet my inevitable death, but with the determination +to give such an account of myself as would long be remembered in the +land of the First Born. +</P> + +<P> +I noted the marvellous speed of the young red man as he raced after the +guards. Never had I seen such speed in any Martian. His leaps and +bounds were little short of those which my earthly muscles had produced +to create such awe and respect on the part of the green Martians into +whose hands I had fallen on that long-gone day that had seen my first +advent upon Mars. +</P> + +<P> +The guards had not reached me when he fell upon them from the rear, and +as they turned, thinking from the fierceness of his onslaught that a +dozen were attacking them, I rushed them from my side. +</P> + +<P> +In the rapid fighting that followed I had little chance to note aught +else than the movements of my immediate adversaries, but now and again +I caught a fleeting glimpse of a purring sword and a lightly springing +figure of sinewy steel that filled my heart with a strange yearning and +a mighty but unaccountable pride. +</P> + +<P> +On the handsome face of the boy a grim smile played, and ever and anon +he threw a taunting challenge to the foes that faced him. In this and +other ways his manner of fighting was similar to that which had always +marked me on the field of combat. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps it was this vague likeness which made me love the boy, while +the awful havoc that his sword played amongst the blacks filled my soul +with a tremendous respect for him. +</P> + +<P> +For my part, I was fighting as I had fought a thousand times +before—now sidestepping a wicked thrust, now stepping quickly in to +let my sword's point drink deep in a foeman's heart, before it buried +itself in the throat of his companion. +</P> + +<P> +We were having a merry time of it, we two, when a great body of Issus' +own guards were ordered into the arena. On they came with fierce +cries, while from every side the armed prisoners swarmed upon them. +</P> + +<P> +For half an hour it was as though all hell had broken loose. In the +walled confines of the arena we fought in an inextricable +mass—howling, cursing, blood-streaked demons; and ever the sword of +the young red man flashed beside me. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly and by repeated commands I had succeeded in drawing the +prisoners into a rough formation about us, so that at last we fought +formed into a rude circle in the centre of which were the doomed maids. +</P> + +<P> +Many had gone down on both sides, but by far the greater havoc had been +wrought in the ranks of the guards of Issus. I could see messengers +running swiftly through the audience, and as they passed the nobles +there unsheathed their swords and sprang into the arena. They were +going to annihilate us by force of numbers—that was quite evidently +their plan. +</P> + +<P> +I caught a glimpse of Issus leaning far forward upon her throne, her +hideous countenance distorted in a horrid grimace of hate and rage, in +which I thought I could distinguish an expression of fear. It was that +face that inspired me to the thing that followed. +</P> + +<P> +Quickly I ordered fifty of the prisoners to drop back behind us and +form a new circle about the maidens. +</P> + +<P> +"Remain and protect them until I return," I commanded. +</P> + +<P> +Then, turning to those who formed the outer line, I cried, "Down with +Issus! Follow me to the throne; we will reap vengeance where vengeance +is deserved." +</P> + +<P> +The youth at my side was the first to take up the cry of "Down with +Issus!" and then at my back and from all sides rose a hoarse shout, "To +the throne! To the throne!" +</P> + +<P> +As one man we moved, an irresistible fighting mass, over the bodies of +dead and dying foes toward the gorgeous throne of the Martian deity. +Hordes of the doughtiest fighting-men of the First Born poured from the +audience to check our progress. We mowed them down before us as they +had been paper men. +</P> + +<P> +"To the seats, some of you!" I cried as we approached the arena's +barrier wall. "Ten of us can take the throne," for I had seen that +Issus' guards had for the most part entered the fray within the arena. +</P> + +<P> +On both sides of me the prisoners broke to left and right for the +seats, vaulting the low wall with dripping swords lusting for the +crowded victims who awaited them. +</P> + +<P> +In another moment the entire amphitheatre was filled with the shrieks +of the dying and the wounded, mingled with the clash of arms and +triumphant shouts of the victors. +</P> + +<P> +Side by side the young red man and I, with perhaps a dozen others, +fought our way to the foot of the throne. The remaining guards, +reinforced by the high dignitaries and nobles of the First Born, closed +in between us and Issus, who sat leaning far forward upon her carved +sorapus bench, now screaming high-pitched commands to her following, +now hurling blighting curses upon those who sought to desecrate her +godhood. +</P> + +<P> +The frightened slaves about her trembled in wide-eyed expectancy, +knowing not whether to pray for our victory or our defeat. Several +among them, proud daughters no doubt of some of Barsoom's noblest +warriors, snatched swords from the hands of the fallen and fell upon +the guards of Issus, but they were soon cut down; glorious martyrs to a +hopeless cause. +</P> + +<P> +The men with us fought well, but never since Tars Tarkas and I fought +out that long, hot afternoon shoulder to shoulder against the hordes of +Warhoon in the dead sea bottom before Thark, had I seen two men fight +to such good purpose and with such unconquerable ferocity as the young +red man and I fought that day before the throne of Issus, Goddess of +Death, and of Life Eternal. +</P> + +<P> +Man by man those who stood between us and the carven sorapus wood bench +went down before our blades. Others swarmed in to fill the breach, but +inch by inch, foot by foot we won nearer and nearer to our goal. +</P> + +<P> +Presently a cry went up from a section of the stands near by—"Rise +slaves!" "Rise slaves!" it rose and fell until it swelled to a mighty +volume of sound that swept in great billows around the entire +amphitheatre. +</P> + +<P> +For an instant, as though by common assent, we ceased our fighting to +look for the meaning of this new note nor did it take but a moment to +translate its significance. In all parts of the structure the female +slaves were falling upon their masters with whatever weapon came first +to hand. A dagger snatched from the harness of her mistress was waved +aloft by some fair slave, its shimmering blade crimson with the +lifeblood of its owner; swords plucked from the bodies of the dead +about them; heavy ornaments which could be turned into bludgeons—such +were the implements with which these fair women wreaked the long-pent +vengeance which at best could but partially recompense them for the +unspeakable cruelties and indignities which their black masters had +heaped upon them. And those who could find no other weapons used their +strong fingers and their gleaming teeth. +</P> + +<P> +It was at once a sight to make one shudder and to cheer; but in a brief +second we were engaged once more in our own battle with only the +unquenchable battle cry of the women to remind us that they still +fought—"Rise slaves!" "Rise slaves!" +</P> + +<P> +Only a single thin rank of men now stood between us and Issus. Her +face was blue with terror. Foam flecked her lips. She seemed too +paralysed with fear to move. Only the youth and I fought now. The +others all had fallen, and I was like to have gone down too from a +nasty long-sword cut had not a hand reached out from behind my +adversary and clutched his elbow as the blade was falling upon me. The +youth sprang to my side and ran his sword through the fellow before he +could recover to deliver another blow. +</P> + +<P> +I should have died even then but for that as my sword was tight wedged +in the breastbone of a Dator of the First Born. As the fellow went +down I snatched his sword from him and over his prostrate body looked +into the eyes of the one whose quick hand had saved me from the first +cut of his sword—it was Phaidor, daughter of Matai Shang. +</P> + +<P> +"Fly, my Prince!" she cried. "It is useless to fight them longer. All +within the arena are dead. All who charged the throne are dead but you +and this youth. Only among the seats are there left any of your +fighting-men, and they and the slave women are fast being cut down. +Listen! You can scarce hear the battle-cry of the women now for nearly +all are dead. For each one of you there are ten thousand blacks within +the domains of the First Born. Break for the open and the sea of +Korus. With your mighty sword arm you may yet win to the Golden Cliffs +and the templed gardens of the Holy Therns. There tell your story to +Matai Shang, my father. He will keep you, and together you may find a +way to rescue me. Fly while there is yet a bare chance for flight." +</P> + +<P> +But that was not my mission, nor could I see much to be preferred in +the cruel hospitality of the Holy Therns to that of the First Born. +</P> + +<P> +"Down with Issus!" I shouted, and together the boy and I took up the +fight once more. Two blacks went down with our swords in their vitals, +and we stood face to face with Issus. As my sword went up to end her +horrid career her paralysis left her, and with an ear-piercing shriek +she turned to flee. Directly behind her a black gulf suddenly yawned +in the flooring of the dais. She sprang for the opening with the youth +and I close at her heels. Her scattered guard rallied at her cry and +rushed for us. A blow fell upon the head of the youth. He staggered +and would have fallen, but I caught him in my left arm and turned to +face an infuriated mob of religious fanatics crazed by the affront I +had put upon their goddess, just as Issus disappeared into the black +depths beneath me. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DOOMED TO DIE +</H3> + +<P> +For an instant I stood there before they fell upon me, but the first +rush of them forced me back a step or two. My foot felt for the floor +but found only empty space. I had backed into the pit which had +received Issus. For a second I toppled there upon the brink. Then I +too with the boy still tightly clutched in my arms pitched backward +into the black abyss. +</P> + +<P> +We struck a polished chute, the opening above us closed as magically as +it had opened, and we shot down, unharmed, into a dimly lighted +apartment far below the arena. +</P> + +<P> +As I rose to my feet the first thing I saw was the malignant +countenance of Issus glaring at me through the heavy bars of a grated +door at one side of the chamber. +</P> + +<P> +"Rash mortal!" she shrilled. "You shall pay the awful penalty for your +blasphemy in this secret cell. Here you shall lie alone and in +darkness with the carcass of your accomplice festering in its +rottenness by your side, until crazed by loneliness and hunger you feed +upon the crawling maggots that were once a man." +</P> + +<P> +That was all. In another instant she was gone, and the dim light which +had filled the cell faded into Cimmerian blackness. +</P> + +<P> +"Pleasant old lady," said a voice at my side. +</P> + +<P> +"Who speaks?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis I, your companion, who has had the honour this day of fighting +shoulder to shoulder with the greatest warrior that ever wore metal +upon Barsoom." +</P> + +<P> +"I thank God that you are not dead," I said. "I feared for that nasty +cut upon your head." +</P> + +<P> +"It but stunned me," he replied. "A mere scratch." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe it were as well had it been final," I said. "We seem to be in a +pretty fix here with a splendid chance of dying of starvation and +thirst." +</P> + +<P> +"Where are we?" +</P> + +<P> +"Beneath the arena," I replied. "We tumbled down the shaft that +swallowed Issus as she was almost at our mercy." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed a low laugh of pleasure and relief, and then reaching out +through the inky blackness he sought my shoulder and pulled my ear +close to his mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing could be better," he whispered. "There are secrets within the +secrets of Issus of which Issus herself does not dream." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"I laboured with the other slaves a year since in the remodelling of +these subterranean galleries, and at that time we found below these an +ancient system of corridors and chambers that had been sealed up for +ages. The blacks in charge of the work explored them, taking several +of us along to do whatever work there might be occasion for. I know +the entire system perfectly. +</P> + +<P> +"There are miles of corridors honeycombing the ground beneath the +gardens and the temple itself, and there is one passage that leads down +to and connects with the lower regions that open on the water shaft +that gives passage to Omean. +</P> + +<P> +"If we can reach the submarine undetected we may yet make the sea in +which there are many islands where the blacks never go. There we may +live for a time, and who knows what may transpire to aid us to escape?" +</P> + +<P> +He had spoken all in a low whisper, evidently fearing spying ears even +here, and so I answered him in the same subdued tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Lead back to Shador, my friend," I whispered. "Xodar, the black, is +there. We were to attempt our escape together, so I cannot desert him." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said the boy, "one cannot desert a friend. It were better to be +recaptured ourselves than that." +</P> + +<P> +Then he commenced groping his way about the floor of the dark chamber +searching for the trap that led to the corridors beneath. At length he +summoned me by a low, "S-s-t," and I crept toward the sound of his +voice to find him kneeling on the brink of an opening in the floor. +</P> + +<P> +"There is a drop here of about ten feet," he whispered. "Hang by your +hands and you will alight safely on a level floor of soft sand." +</P> + +<P> +Very quietly I lowered myself from the inky cell above into the inky +pit below. So utterly dark was it that we could not see our hands at +an inch from our noses. Never, I think, have I known such complete +absence of light as existed in the pits of Issus. +</P> + +<P> +For an instant I hung in mid air. There is a strange sensation +connected with an experience of that nature which is quite difficult to +describe. When the feet tread empty air and the distance below is +shrouded in darkness there is a feeling akin to panic at the thought of +releasing the hold and taking the plunge into unknown depths. +</P> + +<P> +Although the boy had told me that it was but ten feet to the floor +below I experienced the same thrills as though I were hanging above a +bottomless pit. Then I released my hold and dropped—four feet to a +soft cushion of sand. +</P> + +<P> +The boy followed me. +</P> + +<P> +"Raise me to your shoulders," he said, "and I will replace the trap." +</P> + +<P> +This done he took me by the hand, leading me very slowly, with much +feeling about and frequent halts to assure himself that he did not +stray into wrong passageways. +</P> + +<P> +Presently we commenced the descent of a very steep incline. +</P> + +<P> +"It will not be long," he said, "before we shall have light. At the +lower levels we meet the same stratum of phosphorescent rock that +illuminates Omean." +</P> + +<P> +Never shall I forget that trip through the pits of Issus. While it was +devoid of important incidents yet it was filled for me with a strange +charm of excitement and adventure which I think must have hinged +principally on the unguessable antiquity of these long-forgotten +corridors. The things which the Stygian darkness hid from my objective +eye could not have been half so wonderful as the pictures which my +imagination wrought as it conjured to life again the ancient peoples of +this dying world and set them once more to the labours, the intrigues, +the mysteries and the cruelties which they had practised to make their +last stand against the swarming hordes of the dead sea bottoms that had +driven them step by step to the uttermost pinnacle of the world where +they were now intrenched behind an impenetrable barrier of superstition. +</P> + +<P> +In addition to the green men there had been three principal races upon +Barsoom. The blacks, the whites, and a race of yellow men. As the +waters of the planet dried and the seas receded, all other resources +dwindled until life upon the planet became a constant battle for +survival. +</P> + +<P> +The various races had made war upon one another for ages, and the three +higher types had easily bested the green savages of the water places of +the world, but now that the receding seas necessitated constant +abandonment of their fortified cities and forced upon them a more or +less nomadic life in which they became separated into smaller +communities they soon fell prey to the fierce hordes of green men. The +result was a partial amalgamation of the blacks, whites and yellows, +the result of which is shown in the present splendid race of red men. +</P> + +<P> +I had always supposed that all traces of the original races had +disappeared from the face of Mars, yet within the past four days I had +found both whites and blacks in great multitudes. Could it be possible +that in some far-off corner of the planet there still existed a remnant +of the ancient race of yellow men? +</P> + +<P> +My reveries were broken in upon by a low exclamation from the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"At last, the lighted way," he cried, and looking up I beheld at a long +distance before us a dim radiance. +</P> + +<P> +As we advanced the light increased until presently we emerged into +well-lighted passageways. From then on our progress was rapid until we +came suddenly to the end of a corridor that let directly upon the ledge +surrounding the pool of the submarine. +</P> + +<P> +The craft lay at her moorings with uncovered hatch. Raising his finger +to his lips and then tapping his sword in a significant manner, the +youth crept noiselessly toward the vessel. I was close at his heels. +</P> + +<P> +Silently we dropped to the deserted deck, and on hands and knees +crawled toward the hatchway. A stealthy glance below revealed no guard +in sight, and so with the quickness and the soundlessness of cats we +dropped together into the main cabin of the submarine. Even here was +no sign of life. Quickly we covered and secured the hatch. +</P> + +<P> +Then the boy stepped into the pilot house, touched a button and the +boat sank amid swirling waters toward the bottom of the shaft. Even +then there was no scurrying of feet as we had expected, and while the +boy remained to direct the boat I slid from cabin to cabin in futile +search for some member of the crew. The craft was entirely deserted. +Such good fortune seemed almost unbelievable. +</P> + +<P> +When I returned to the pilot house to report the good news to my +companion he handed me a paper. +</P> + +<P> +"This may explain the absence of the crew," he said. +</P> + +<P> +It was a radio-aerial message to the commander of the submarine: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"The slaves have risen. Come with what men you have and those that you +can gather on the way. Too late to get aid from Omean. They are +massacring all within the amphitheatre. Issus is threatened. Haste. +<BR><BR> +"ZITHAD" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Zithad is Dator of the guards of Issus," explained the youth. "We +gave them a bad scare—one that they will not soon forget." +</P> + +<P> +"Let us hope that it is but the beginning of the end of Issus," I said. +</P> + +<P> +"Only our first ancestor knows," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +We reached the submarine pool in Omean without incident. Here we +debated the wisdom of sinking the craft before leaving her, but finally +decided that it would add nothing to our chances for escape. There +were plenty of blacks on Omean to thwart us were we apprehended; +however many more might come from the temples and gardens of Issus +would not in any way decrease our chances. +</P> + +<P> +We were now in a quandary as to how to pass the guards who patrolled +the island about the pool. At last I hit upon a plan. +</P> + +<P> +"What is the name or title of the officer in charge of these guards?" I +asked the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"A fellow named Torith was on duty when we entered this morning," he +replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Good. And what is the name of the commander of the submarine?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yersted." +</P> + +<P> +I found a dispatch blank in the cabin and wrote the following order: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Dator Torith: Return these two slaves at once to Shador. +<BR><BR> +"YERSTED" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"That will be the simpler way to return," I said, smiling, as I handed +the forged order to the boy. "Come, we shall see now how well it +works." +</P> + +<P> +"But our swords!" he exclaimed. "What shall we say to explain them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Since we cannot explain them we shall have to leave them behind us," I +replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it not the extreme of rashness to thus put ourselves again, +unarmed, in the power of the First Born?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is the only way," I answered. "You may trust me to find a way out +of the prison of Shador, and I think, once out, that we shall find no +great difficulty in arming ourselves once more in a country which +abounds so plentifully in armed men." +</P> + +<P> +"As you say," he replied with a smile and shrug. "I could not follow +another leader who inspired greater confidence than you. Come, let us +put your ruse to the test." +</P> + +<P> +Boldly we emerged from the hatchway of the craft, leaving our swords +behind us, and strode to the main exit which led to the sentry's post +and the office of the Dator of the guard. +</P> + +<P> +At sight of us the members of the guard sprang forward in surprise, and +with levelled rifles halted us. I held out the message to one of them. +He took it and seeing to whom it was addressed turned and handed it to +Torith who was emerging from his office to learn the cause of the +commotion. +</P> + +<P> +The black read the order, and for a moment eyed us with evident +suspicion. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is Dator Yersted?" he asked, and my heart sank within me, as I +cursed myself for a stupid fool in not having sunk the submarine to +make good the lie that I must tell. +</P> + +<P> +"His orders were to return immediately to the temple landing," I +replied. +</P> + +<P> +Torith took a half step toward the entrance to the pool as though to +corroborate my story. For that instant everything hung in the balance, +for had he done so and found the empty submarine still lying at her +wharf the whole weak fabric of my concoction would have tumbled about +our heads; but evidently he decided the message must be genuine, nor +indeed was there any good reason to doubt it since it would scarce have +seemed credible to him that two slaves would voluntarily have given +themselves into custody in any such manner as this. It was the very +boldness of the plan which rendered it successful. +</P> + +<P> +"Were you connected with the rising of the slaves?" asked Torith. "We +have just had meagre reports of some such event." +</P> + +<P> +"All were involved," I replied. "But it amounted to little. The +guards quickly overcame and killed the majority of us." +</P> + +<P> +He seemed satisfied with this reply. "Take them to Shador," he +ordered, turning to one of his subordinates. We entered a small boat +lying beside the island, and in a few minutes were disembarking upon +Shador. Here we were returned to our respective cells; I with Xodar, +the boy by himself; and behind locked doors we were again prisoners of +the First Born. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A BREAK FOR LIBERTY +</H3> + +<P> +Xodar listened in incredulous astonishment to my narration of the +events which had transpired within the arena at the rites of Issus. He +could scarce conceive, even though he had already professed his doubt +as to the deity of Issus, that one could threaten her with sword in +hand and not be blasted into a thousand fragments by the mere fury of +her divine wrath. +</P> + +<P> +"It is the final proof," he said, at last. "No more is needed to +completely shatter the last remnant of my superstitious belief in the +divinity of Issus. She is only a wicked old woman, wielding a mighty +power for evil through machinations that have kept her own people and +all Barsoom in religious ignorance for ages." +</P> + +<P> +"She is still all-powerful here, however," I replied. "So it behooves +us to leave at the first moment that appears at all propitious." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope that you may find a propitious moment," he said, with a laugh, +"for it is certain that in all my life I have never seen one in which a +prisoner of the First Born might escape." +</P> + +<P> +"To-night will do as well as any," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +"It will soon be night," said Xodar. "How may I aid in the adventure?" +</P> + +<P> +"Can you swim?" I asked him. +</P> + +<P> +"No slimy silian that haunts the depths of Korus is more at home in +water than is Xodar," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Good. The red one in all probability cannot swim," I said, "since +there is scarce enough water in all their domains to float the tiniest +craft. One of us therefore will have to support him through the sea to +the craft we select. I had hoped that we might make the entire +distance below the surface, but I fear that the red youth could not +thus perform the trip. Even the bravest of the brave among them are +terrorized at the mere thought of deep water, for it has been ages +since their forebears saw a lake, a river or a sea." +</P> + +<P> +"The red one is to accompany us?" asked Xodar. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"It is well. Three swords are better than two. Especially when the +third is as mighty as this fellow's. I have seen him battle in the +arena at the rites of Issus many times. Never, until I saw you fight, +had I seen one who seemed unconquerable even in the face of great odds. +One might think you two master and pupil, or father and son. Come to +recall his face there is a resemblance between you. It is very marked +when you fight—there is the same grim smile, the same maddening +contempt for your adversary apparent in every movement of your bodies +and in every changing expression of your faces." +</P> + +<P> +"Be that as it may, Xodar, he is a great fighter. I think that we will +make a trio difficult to overcome, and if my friend Tars Tarkas, Jeddak +of Thark, were but one of us we could fight our way from one end of +Barsoom to the other even though the whole world were pitted against +us." +</P> + +<P> +"It will be," said Xodar, "when they find from whence you have come. +That is but one of the superstitions which Issus has foisted upon a +credulous humanity. She works through the Holy Therns who are as +ignorant of her real self as are the Barsoomians of the outer world. +Her decrees are borne to the therns written in blood upon a strange +parchment. The poor deluded fools think that they are receiving the +revelations of a goddess through some supernatural agency, since they +find these messages upon their guarded altars to which none could have +access without detection. I myself have borne these messages for Issus +for many years. There is a long tunnel from the temple of Issus to the +principal temple of Matai Shang. It was dug ages ago by the slaves of +the First Born in such utter secrecy that no thern ever guessed its +existence. +</P> + +<P> +"The therns for their part have temples dotted about the entire +civilized world. Here priests whom the people never see communicate +the doctrine of the Mysterious River Iss, the Valley Dor, and the Lost +Sea of Korus to persuade the poor deluded creatures to take the +voluntary pilgrimage that swells the wealth of the Holy Therns and adds +to the numbers of their slaves. +</P> + +<P> +"Thus the therns are used as the principal means for collecting the +wealth and labour that the First Born wrest from them as they need it. +Occasionally the First Born themselves make raids upon the outer world. +It is then that they capture many females of the royal houses of the +red men, and take the newest in battleships and the trained artisans +who build them, that they may copy what they cannot create. +</P> + +<P> +"We are a non-productive race, priding ourselves upon our +non-productiveness. It is criminal for a First Born to labour or +invent. That is the work of the lower orders, who live merely that the +First Born may enjoy long lives of luxury and idleness. With us +fighting is all that counts; were it not for that there would be more +of the First Born than all the creatures of Barsoom could support, for +in so far as I know none of us ever dies a natural death. Our females +would live for ever but for the fact that we tire of them and remove +them to make place for others. Issus alone of all is protected against +death. She has lived for countless ages." +</P> + +<P> +"Would not the other Barsoomians live for ever but for the doctrine of +the voluntary pilgrimage which drags them to the bosom of Iss at or +before their thousandth year?" I asked him. +</P> + +<P> +"I feel now that there is no doubt but that they are precisely the same +species of creature as the First Born, and I hope that I shall live to +fight for them in atonement of the sins I have committed against them +through the ignorance born of generations of false teaching." +</P> + +<P> +As he ceased speaking a weird call rang out across the waters of Omean. +I had heard it at the same time the previous evening and knew that it +marked the ending of the day, when the men of Omean spread their silks +upon the deck of battleship and cruiser and fall into the dreamless +sleep of Mars. +</P> + +<P> +Our guard entered to inspect us for the last time before the new day +broke upon the world above. His duty was soon performed and the heavy +door of our prison closed behind him—we were alone for the night. +</P> + +<P> +I gave him time to return to his quarters, as Xodar said he probably +would do, then I sprang to the grated window and surveyed the nearby +waters. At a little distance from the island, a quarter of a mile +perhaps, lay a monster battleship, while between her and the shore were +a number of smaller cruisers and one-man scouts. Upon the battleship +alone was there a watch. I could see him plainly in the upper works of +the ship, and as I watched I saw him spread his sleeping silks upon the +tiny platform in which he was stationed. Soon he threw himself at full +length upon his couch. The discipline on Omean was lax indeed. But it +is not to be wondered at since no enemy guessed the existence upon +Barsoom of such a fleet, or even of the First Born, or the Sea of +Omean. Why indeed should they maintain a watch? +</P> + +<P> +Presently I dropped to the floor again and talked with Xodar, +describing the various craft I had seen. +</P> + +<P> +"There is one there," he said, "my personal property, built to carry +five men, that is the swiftest of the swift. If we can board her we +can at least make a memorable run for liberty," and then he went on to +describe to me the equipment of the boat; her engines, and all that +went to make her the flier that she was. +</P> + +<P> +In his explanation I recognized a trick of gearing that Kantos Kan had +taught me that time we sailed under false names in the navy of Zodanga +beneath Sab Than, the Prince. And I knew then that the First Born had +stolen it from the ships of Helium, for only they are thus geared. And +I knew too that Xodar spoke the truth when he lauded the speed of his +little craft, for nothing that cleaves the thin air of Mars can +approximate the speed of the ships of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +We decided to wait for an hour at least until all the stragglers had +sought their silks. In the meantime I was to fetch the red youth to +our cell so that we would be in readiness to make our rash break for +freedom together. +</P> + +<P> +I sprang to the top of our partition wall and pulled myself up on to +it. There I found a flat surface about a foot in width and along this +I walked until I came to the cell in which I saw the boy sitting upon +his bench. He had been leaning back against the wall looking up at the +glowing dome above Omean, and when he spied me balancing upon the +partition wall above him his eyes opened wide in astonishment. Then a +wide grin of appreciative understanding spread across his countenance. +</P> + +<P> +As I stooped to drop to the floor beside him he motioned me to wait, +and coming close below me whispered: "Catch my hand; I can almost leap +to the top of that wall myself. I have tried it many times, and each +day I come a little closer. Some day I should have been able to make +it." +</P> + +<P> +I lay upon my belly across the wall and reached my hand far down toward +him. With a little run from the centre of the cell he sprang up until +I grasped his outstretched hand, and thus I pulled him to the wall's +top beside me. +</P> + +<P> +"You are the first jumper I ever saw among the red men of Barsoom," I +said. +</P> + +<P> +He smiled. "It is not strange. I will tell you why when we have more +time." +</P> + +<P> +Together we returned to the cell in which Xodar sat; descending to talk +with him until the hour had passed. +</P> + +<P> +There we made our plans for the immediate future, binding ourselves by +a solemn oath to fight to the death for one another against whatsoever +enemies should confront us, for we knew that even should we succeed in +escaping the First Born we might still have a whole world against +us—the power of religious superstition is mighty. +</P> + +<P> +It was agreed that I should navigate the craft after we had reached +her, and that if we made the outer world in safety we should attempt to +reach Helium without a stop. +</P> + +<P> +"Why Helium?" asked the red youth. +</P> + +<P> +"I am a prince of Helium," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +He gave me a peculiar look, but said nothing further on the subject. I +wondered at the time what the significance of his expression might be, +but in the press of other matters it soon left my mind, nor did I have +occasion to think of it again until later. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," I said at length, "now is as good a time as any. Let us go." +</P> + +<P> +Another moment found me at the top of the partition wall again with the +boy beside me. Unbuckling my harness I snapped it together with a +single long strap which I lowered to the waiting Xodar below. He +grasped the end and was soon sitting beside us. +</P> + +<P> +"How simple," he laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"The balance should be even simpler," I replied. Then I raised myself +to the top of the outer wall of the prison, just so that I could peer +over and locate the passing sentry. For a matter of five minutes I +waited and then he came in sight on his slow and snail-like beat about +the structure. +</P> + +<P> +I watched him until he had made the turn at the end of the building +which carried him out of sight of the side of the prison that was to +witness our dash for freedom. The moment his form disappeared I +grasped Xodar and drew him to the top of the wall. Placing one end of +my harness strap in his hands I lowered him quickly to the ground +below. Then the boy grasped the strap and slid down to Xodar's side. +</P> + +<P> +In accordance with our arrangement they did not wait for me, but walked +slowly toward the water, a matter of a hundred yards, directly past the +guard-house filled with sleeping soldiers. +</P> + +<P> +They had taken scarce a dozen steps when I too dropped to the ground +and followed them leisurely toward the shore. As I passed the +guard-house the thought of all the good blades lying there gave me +pause, for if ever men were to have need of swords it was my companions +and I on the perilous trip upon which we were about to embark. +</P> + +<P> +I glanced toward Xodar and the youth and saw that they had slipped over +the edge of the dock into the water. In accordance with our plan they +were to remain there clinging to the metal rings which studded the +concrete-like substance of the dock at the water's level, with only +their mouths and noses above the surface of the sea, until I should +join them. +</P> + +<P> +The lure of the swords within the guard-house was strong upon me, and I +hesitated a moment, half inclined to risk the attempt to take the few +we needed. That he who hesitates is lost proved itself a true aphorism +in this instance, for another moment saw me creeping stealthily toward +the door of the guard-house. +</P> + +<P> +Gently I pressed it open a crack; enough to discover a dozen blacks +stretched upon their silks in profound slumber. At the far side of the +room a rack held the swords and firearms of the men. Warily I pushed +the door a trifle wider to admit my body. A hinge gave out a resentful +groan. One of the men stirred, and my heart stood still. I cursed +myself for a fool to have thus jeopardized our chances for escape; but +there was nothing for it now but to see the adventure through. +</P> + +<P> +With a spring as swift and as noiseless as a tiger's I lit beside the +guardsman who had moved. My hands hovered about his throat awaiting +the moment that his eyes should open. For what seemed an eternity to +my overwrought nerves I remained poised thus. Then the fellow turned +again upon his side and resumed the even respiration of deep slumber. +</P> + +<P> +Carefully I picked my way between and over the soldiers until I had +gained the rack at the far side of the room. Here I turned to survey +the sleeping men. All were quiet. Their regular breathing rose and +fell in a soothing rhythm that seemed to me the sweetest music I ever +had heard. +</P> + +<P> +Gingerly I drew a long-sword from the rack. The scraping of the +scabbard against its holder as I withdrew it sounded like the filing of +cast iron with a great rasp, and I looked to see the room immediately +filled with alarmed and attacking guardsmen. But none stirred. +</P> + +<P> +The second sword I withdrew noiselessly, but the third clanked in its +scabbard with a frightful din. I knew that it must awaken some of the +men at least, and was on the point of forestalling their attack by a +rapid charge for the doorway, when again, to my intense surprise, not a +black moved. Either they were wondrous heavy sleepers or else the +noises that I made were really much less than they seemed to me. +</P> + +<P> +I was about to leave the rack when my attention was attracted by the +revolvers. I knew that I could not carry more than one away with me, +for I was already too heavily laden to move quietly with any degree of +safety or speed. As I took one of them from its pin my eye fell for +the first time on an open window beside the rack. Ah, here was a +splendid means of escape, for it let directly upon the dock, not twenty +feet from the water's edge. +</P> + +<P> +And as I congratulated myself, I heard the door opposite me open, and +there looking me full in the face stood the officer of the guard. He +evidently took in the situation at a glance and appreciated the gravity +of it as quickly as I, for our revolvers came up simultaneously and the +sounds of the two reports were as one as we touched the buttons on the +grips that exploded the cartridges. +</P> + +<P> +I felt the wind of his bullet as it whizzed past my ear, and at the +same instant I saw him crumple to the ground. Where I hit him I do not +know, nor if I killed him, for scarce had he started to collapse when I +was through the window at my rear. In another second the waters of +Omean closed above my head, and the three of us were making for the +little flier a hundred yards away. +</P> + +<P> +Xodar was burdened with the boy, and I with the three long-swords. The +revolver I had dropped, so that while we were both strong swimmers it +seemed to me that we moved at a snail's pace through the water. I was +swimming entirely beneath the surface, but Xodar was compelled to rise +often to let the youth breathe, so it was a wonder that we were not +discovered long before we were. +</P> + +<P> +In fact we reached the boat's side and were all aboard before the watch +upon the battleship, aroused by the shots, detected us. Then an alarm +gun bellowed from a ship's bow, its deep boom reverberating in +deafening tones beneath the rocky dome of Omean. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly the sleeping thousands were awake. The decks of a thousand +monster craft teemed with fighting-men, for an alarm on Omean was a +thing of rare occurrence. +</P> + +<P> +We cast away before the sound of the first gun had died, and another +second saw us rising swiftly from the surface of the sea. I lay at +full length along the deck with the levers and buttons of control +before me. Xodar and the boy were stretched directly behind me, prone +also that we might offer as little resistance to the air as possible. +</P> + +<P> +"Rise high," whispered Xodar. "They dare not fire their heavy guns +toward the dome—the fragments of the shells would drop back among +their own craft. If we are high enough our keel plates will protect us +from rifle fire." +</P> + +<P> +I did as he bade. Below us we could see the men leaping into the water +by hundreds, and striking out for the small cruisers and one-man fliers +that lay moored about the big ships. The larger craft were getting +under way, following us rapidly, but not rising from the water. +</P> + +<P> +"A little to your right," cried Xodar, for there are no points of +compass upon Omean where every direction is due north. +</P> + +<P> +The pandemonium that had broken out below us was deafening. Rifles +cracked, officers shouted orders, men yelled directions to one another +from the water and from the decks of myriad boats, while through all +ran the purr of countless propellers cutting water and air. +</P> + +<P> +I had not dared pull my speed lever to the highest for fear of +overrunning the mouth of the shaft that passed from Omean's dome to the +world above, but even so we were hitting a clip that I doubt has ever +been equalled on the windless sea. +</P> + +<P> +The smaller fliers were commencing to rise toward us when Xodar +shouted: "The shaft! The shaft! Dead ahead," and I saw the opening, +black and yawning in the glowing dome of this underworld. +</P> + +<P> +A ten-man cruiser was rising directly in front to cut off our escape. +It was the only vessel that stood in our way, but at the rate that it +was traveling it would come between us and the shaft in plenty of time +to thwart our plans. +</P> + +<P> +It was rising at an angle of about forty-five degrees dead ahead of us, +with the evident intention of combing us with grappling hooks from +above as it skimmed low over our deck. +</P> + +<P> +There was but one forlorn hope for us, and I took it. It was useless +to try to pass over her, for that would have allowed her to force us +against the rocky dome above, and we were already too near that as it +was. To have attempted to dive below her would have put us entirely at +her mercy, and precisely where she wanted us. On either side a hundred +other menacing craft were hastening toward us. The alternative was +filled with risk—in fact it was all risk, with but a slender chance of +success. +</P> + +<P> +As we neared the cruiser I rose as though to pass above her, so that +she would do just what she did do, rise at a steeper angle to force me +still higher. Then as we were almost upon her I yelled to my +companions to hold tight, and throwing the little vessel into her +highest speed I deflected her bows at the same instant until we were +running horizontally and at terrific velocity straight for the +cruiser's keel. +</P> + +<P> +Her commander may have seen my intentions then, but it was too late. +Almost at the instant of impact I turned my bows upward, and then with +a shattering jolt we were in collision. What I had hoped for happened. +The cruiser, already tilted at a perilous angle, was carried completely +over backward by the impact of my smaller vessel. Her crew fell +twisting and screaming through the air to the water far below, while +the cruiser, her propellers still madly churning, dived swiftly +headforemost after them to the bottom of the Sea of Omean. +</P> + +<P> +The collision crushed our steel bows, and notwithstanding every effort +on our part came near to hurling us from the deck. As it was we landed +in a wildly clutching heap at the very extremity of the flier, where +Xodar and I succeeded in grasping the hand-rail, but the boy would have +plunged overboard had I not fortunately grasped his ankle as he was +already partially over. +</P> + +<P> +Unguided, our vessel careened wildly in its mad flight, rising ever +nearer the rocks above. It took but an instant, however, for me to +regain the levers, and with the roof barely fifty feet above I turned +her nose once more into the horizontal plane and headed her again for +the black mouth of the shaft. +</P> + +<P> +The collision had retarded our progress and now a hundred swift scouts +were close upon us. Xodar had told me that ascending the shaft by +virtue of our repulsive rays alone would give our enemies their best +chance to overtake us, since our propellers would be idle and in rising +we would be outclassed by many of our pursuers. The swifter craft are +seldom equipped with large buoyancy tanks, since the added bulk of them +tends to reduce a vessel's speed. +</P> + +<P> +As many boats were now quite close to us it was inevitable that we +would be quickly overhauled in the shaft, and captured or killed in +short order. +</P> + +<P> +To me there always seems a way to gain the opposite side of an +obstacle. If one cannot pass over it, or below it, or around it, why +then there is but a single alternative left, and that is to pass +through it. I could not get around the fact that many of these other +boats could rise faster than ours by the fact of their greater +buoyancy, but I was none the less determined to reach the outer world +far in advance of them or die a death of my own choosing in event of +failure. +</P> + +<P> +"Reverse?" screamed Xodar, behind me. "For the love of your first +ancestor, reverse. We are at the shaft." +</P> + +<P> +"Hold tight!" I screamed in reply. "Grasp the boy and hold tight—we +are going straight up the shaft." +</P> + +<P> +The words were scarce out of my mouth as we swept beneath the +pitch-black opening. I threw the bow hard up, dragged the speed lever +to its last notch, and clutching a stanchion with one hand and the +steering-wheel with the other hung on like grim death and consigned my +soul to its author. +</P> + +<P> +I heard a little exclamation of surprise from Xodar, followed by a grim +laugh. The boy laughed too and said something which I could not catch +for the whistling of the wind of our awful speed. +</P> + +<P> +I looked above my head, hoping to catch the gleam of stars by which I +could direct our course and hold the hurtling thing that bore us true +to the centre of the shaft. To have touched the side at the speed we +were making would doubtless have resulted in instant death for us all. +But not a star showed above—only utter and impenetrable darkness. +</P> + +<P> +Then I glanced below me, and there I saw a rapidly diminishing circle +of light—the mouth of the opening above the phosphorescent radiance of +Omean. By this I steered, endeavouring to keep the circle of light +below me ever perfect. At best it was but a slender cord that held us +from destruction, and I think that I steered that night more by +intuition and blind faith than by skill or reason. +</P> + +<P> +We were not long in the shaft, and possibly the very fact of our +enormous speed saved us, for evidently we started in the right +direction and so quickly were we out again that we had no time to alter +our course. Omean lies perhaps two miles below the surface crust of +Mars. Our speed must have approximated two hundred miles an hour, for +Martian fliers are swift, so that at most we were in the shaft not over +forty seconds. +</P> + +<P> +We must have been out of it for some seconds before I realised that we +had accomplished the impossible. Black darkness enshrouded all about +us. There were neither moons nor stars. Never before had I seen such +a thing upon Mars, and for the moment I was nonplussed. Then the +explanation came to me. It was summer at the south pole. The ice cap +was melting and those meteoric phenomena, clouds, unknown upon the +greater part of Barsoom, were shutting out the light of heaven from +this portion of the planet. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunate indeed it was for us, nor did it take me long to grasp the +opportunity for escape which this happy condition offered us. Keeping +the boat's nose at a stiff angle I raced her for the impenetrable +curtain which Nature had hung above this dying world to shut us out +from the sight of our pursuing enemies. +</P> + +<P> +We plunged through the cold damp fog without diminishing our speed, and +in a moment emerged into the glorious light of the two moons and the +million stars. I dropped into a horizontal course and headed due +north. Our enemies were a good half-hour behind us with no conception +of our direction. We had performed the miraculous and come through a +thousand dangers unscathed—we had escaped from the land of the First +Born. No other prisoners in all the ages of Barsoom had done this +thing, and now as I looked back upon it it did not seem to have been so +difficult after all. +</P> + +<P> +I said as much to Xodar, over my shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"It is very wonderful, nevertheless," he replied. "No one else could +have accomplished it but John Carter." +</P> + +<P> +At the sound of that name the boy jumped to his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"John Carter!" he cried. "John Carter! Why, man, John Carter, Prince +of Helium, has been dead for years. I am his son." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE EYES IN THE DARK +</H3> + +<P> +My son! I could not believe my ears. Slowly I rose and faced the +handsome youth. Now that I looked at him closely I commenced to see +why his face and personality had attracted me so strongly. There was +much of his mother's incomparable beauty in his clear-cut features, but +it was strongly masculine beauty, and his grey eyes and the expression +of them were mine. +</P> + +<P> +The boy stood facing me, half hope and half uncertainty in his look. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me of your mother," I said. "Tell me all you can of the years +that I have been robbed by a relentless fate of her dear companionship." +</P> + +<P> +With a cry of pleasure he sprang toward me and threw his arms about my +neck, and for a brief moment as I held my boy close to me the tears +welled to my eyes and I was like to have choked after the manner of +some maudlin fool—but I do not regret it, nor am I ashamed. A long +life has taught me that a man may seem weak where women and children +are concerned and yet be anything but a weakling in the sterner avenues +of life. +</P> + +<P> +"Your stature, your manner, the terrible ferocity of your +swordsmanship," said the boy, "are as my mother has described them to +me a thousand times—but even with such evidence I could scarce credit +the truth of what seemed so improbable to me, however much I desired it +to be true. Do you know what thing it was that convinced me more than +all the others?" +</P> + +<P> +"What, my boy?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Your first words to me—they were of my mother. None else but the man +who loved her as she has told me my father did would have thought first +of her." +</P> + +<P> +"For long years, my son, I can scarce recall a moment that the radiant +vision of your mother's face has not been ever before me. Tell me of +her." +</P> + +<P> +"Those who have known her longest say that she has not changed, unless +it be to grow more beautiful—were that possible. Only, when she +thinks I am not about to see her, her face grows very sad, and, oh, so +wistful. She thinks ever of you, my father, and all Helium mourns with +her and for her. Her grandfather's people love her. They loved you +also, and fairly worship your memory as the saviour of Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +"Each year that brings its anniversary of the day that saw you racing +across a near dead world to unlock the secret of that awful portal +behind which lay the mighty power of life for countless millions a +great festival is held in your honour; but there are tears mingled with +the thanksgiving—tears of real regret that the author of the happiness +is not with them to share the joy of living he died to give them. Upon +all Barsoom there is no greater name than John Carter." +</P> + +<P> +"And by what name has your mother called you, my boy?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"The people of Helium asked that I be named with my father's name, but +my mother said no, that you and she had chosen a name for me together, +and that your wish must be honoured before all others, so the name that +she called me is the one that you desired, a combination of hers and +yours—Carthoris." +</P> + +<P> +Xodar had been at the wheel as I talked with my son, and now he called +me. +</P> + +<P> +"She is dropping badly by the head, John Carter," he said. "So long as +we were rising at a stiff angle it was not noticeable, but now that I +am trying to keep a horizontal course it is different. The wound in +her bow has opened one of her forward ray tanks." +</P> + +<P> +It was true, and after I had examined the damage I found it a much +graver matter than I had anticipated. Not only was the forced angle at +which we were compelled to maintain the bow in order to keep a +horizontal course greatly impeding our speed, but at the rate that we +were losing our repulsive rays from the forward tanks it was but a +question of an hour or more when we would be floating stern up and +helpless. +</P> + +<P> +We had slightly reduced our speed with the dawning of a sense of +security, but now I took the helm once more and pulled the noble little +engine wide open, so that again we raced north at terrific velocity. +In the meantime Carthoris and Xodar with tools in hand were puttering +with the great rent in the bow in a hopeless endeavour to stem the tide +of escaping rays. +</P> + +<P> +It was still dark when we passed the northern boundary of the ice cap +and the area of clouds. Below us lay a typical Martian landscape. +Rolling ochre sea bottom of long dead seas, low surrounding hills, with +here and there the grim and silent cities of the dead past; great piles +of mighty architecture tenanted only by age-old memories of a once +powerful race, and by the great white apes of Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +It was becoming more and more difficult to maintain our little vessel +in a horizontal position. Lower and lower sagged the bow until it +became necessary to stop the engine to prevent our flight terminating +in a swift dive to the ground. +</P> + +<P> +As the sun rose and the light of a new day swept away the darkness of +night our craft gave a final spasmodic plunge, turned half upon her +side, and then with deck tilting at a sickening angle swung in a slow +circle, her bow dropping further below her stern each moment. +</P> + +<P> +To hand-rail and stanchion we clung, and finally as we saw the end +approaching, snapped the buckles of our harness to the rings at her +sides. In another moment the deck reared at an angle of ninety degrees +and we hung in our leather with feet dangling a thousand yards above +the ground. +</P> + +<P> +I was swinging quite close to the controlling devices, so I reached out +to the lever that directed the rays of repulsion. The boat responded +to the touch, and very gently we began to sink toward the ground. +</P> + +<P> +It was fully half an hour before we touched. Directly north of us rose +a rather lofty range of hills, toward which we decided to make our way, +since they afforded greater opportunity for concealment from the +pursuers we were confident might stumble in this direction. +</P> + +<P> +An hour later found us in the time-rounded gullies of the hills, amid +the beautiful flowering plants that abound in the arid waste places of +Barsoom. There we found numbers of huge milk-giving shrubs—that +strange plant which serves in great part as food and drink for the wild +hordes of green men. It was indeed a boon to us, for we all were +nearly famished. +</P> + +<P> +Beneath a cluster of these which afforded perfect concealment from +wandering air scouts, we lay down to sleep—for me the first time in +many hours. This was the beginning of my fifth day upon Barsoom since +I had found myself suddenly translated from my cottage on the Hudson to +Dor, the valley beautiful, the valley hideous. In all this time I had +slept but twice, though once the clock around within the storehouse of +the therns. +</P> + +<P> +It was mid-afternoon when I was awakened by some one seizing my hand +and covering it with kisses. With a start I opened my eyes to look +into the beautiful face of Thuvia. +</P> + +<P> +"My Prince! My Prince!" she cried, in an ecstasy of happiness. "'Tis +you whom I had mourned as dead. My ancestors have been good to me; I +have not lived in vain." +</P> + +<P> +The girl's voice awoke Xodar and Carthoris. The boy gazed upon the +woman in surprise, but she did not seem to realize the presence of +another than I. She would have thrown her arms about my neck and +smothered me with caresses, had I not gently but firmly disengaged +myself. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, come, Thuvia," I said soothingly; "you are overwrought by the +danger and hardships you have passed through. You forget yourself, as +you forget that I am the husband of the Princess of Helium." +</P> + +<P> +"I forget nothing, my Prince," she replied. "You have spoken no word +of love to me, nor do I expect that you ever shall; but nothing can +prevent me loving you. I would not take the place of Dejah Thoris. My +greatest ambition is to serve you, my Prince, for ever as your slave. +No greater boon could I ask, no greater honour could I crave, no +greater happiness could I hope." +</P> + +<P> +As I have before said, I am no ladies' man, and I must admit that I +seldom have felt so uncomfortable and embarrassed as I did that moment. +While I was quite familiar with the Martian custom which allows female +slaves to Martian men, whose high and chivalrous honour is always ample +protection for every woman in his household, yet I had never myself +chosen other than men as my body servants. +</P> + +<P> +"And I ever return to Helium, Thuvia," I said, "you shall go with me, +but as an honoured equal, and not as a slave. There you shall find +plenty of handsome young nobles who would face Issus herself to win a +smile from you, and we shall have you married in short order to one of +the best of them. Forget your foolish gratitude-begotten infatuation, +which your innocence has mistaken for love. I like your friendship +better, Thuvia." +</P> + +<P> +"You are my master; it shall be as you say," she replied simply, but +there was a note of sadness in her voice. +</P> + +<P> +"How came you here, Thuvia?" I asked. "And where is Tars Tarkas?" +</P> + +<P> +"The great Thark, I fear, is dead," she replied sadly. "He was a +mighty fighter, but a multitude of green warriors of another horde than +his overwhelmed him. The last that I saw of him they were bearing him, +wounded and bleeding, to the deserted city from which they had sallied +to attack us." +</P> + +<P> +"You are not sure that he is dead, then?" I asked. "And where is this +city of which you speak?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is just beyond this range of hills. The vessel in which you so +nobly resigned a place that we might find escape defied our small skill +in navigation, with the result that we drifted aimlessly about for two +days. Then we decided to abandon the craft and attempt to make our way +on foot to the nearest waterway. Yesterday we crossed these hills and +came upon the dead city beyond. We had passed within its streets and +were walking toward the central portion, when at an intersecting avenue +we saw a body of green warriors approaching. +</P> + +<P> +"Tars Tarkas was in advance, and they saw him, but me they did not see. +The Thark sprang back to my side and forced me into an adjacent +doorway, where he told me to remain in hiding until I could escape, +making my way to Helium if possible. +</P> + +<P> +"'There will be no escape for me now,' he said, 'for these be the +Warhoon of the South. When they have seen my metal it will be to the +death.' +</P> + +<P> +"Then he stepped out to meet them. Ah, my Prince, such fighting! For +an hour they swarmed about him, until the Warhoon dead formed a hill +where he had stood; but at last they overwhelmed him, those behind +pushing the foremost upon him until there remained no space to swing +his great sword. Then he stumbled and went down and they rolled over +him like a huge wave. When they carried him away toward the heart of +the city, he was dead, I think, for I did not see him move." +</P> + +<P> +"Before we go farther we must be sure," I said. "I cannot leave Tars +Tarkas alive among the Warhoons. To-night I shall enter the city and +make sure." +</P> + +<P> +"And I shall go with you," spoke Carthoris. +</P> + +<P> +"And I," said Xodar. +</P> + +<P> +"Neither one of you shall go," I replied. "It is work that requires +stealth and strategy, not force. One man alone may succeed where more +would invite disaster. I shall go alone. If I need your help, I will +return for you." +</P> + +<P> +They did not like it, but both were good soldiers, and it had been +agreed that I should command. The sun already was low, so that I did +not have long to wait before the sudden darkness of Barsoom engulfed us. +</P> + +<P> +With a parting word of instructions to Carthoris and Xodar, in case I +should not return, I bade them all farewell and set forth at a rapid +dogtrot toward the city. +</P> + +<P> +As I emerged from the hills the nearer moon was winging its wild flight +through the heavens, its bright beams turning to burnished silver the +barbaric splendour of the ancient metropolis. The city had been built +upon the gently rolling foothills that in the dim and distant past had +sloped down to meet the sea. It was due to this fact that I had no +difficulty in entering the streets unobserved. +</P> + +<P> +The green hordes that use these deserted cities seldom occupy more than +a few squares about the central plaza, and as they come and go always +across the dead sea bottoms that the cities face, it is usually a +matter of comparative ease to enter from the hillside. +</P> + +<P> +Once within the streets, I kept close in the dense shadows of the +walls. At intersections I halted a moment to make sure that none was +in sight before I sprang quickly to the shadows of the opposite side. +Thus I made the journey to the vicinity of the plaza without detection. +As I approached the purlieus of the inhabited portion of the city I was +made aware of the proximity of the warriors' quarters by the squealing +and grunting of the thoats and zitidars corralled within the hollow +courtyards formed by the buildings surrounding each square. +</P> + +<P> +These old familiar sounds that are so distinctive of green Martian life +sent a thrill of pleasure surging through me. It was as one might feel +on coming home after a long absence. It was amid such sounds that I +had first courted the incomparable Dejah Thoris in the age-old marble +halls of the dead city of Korad. +</P> + +<P> +As I stood in the shadows at the far corner of the first square which +housed members of the horde, I saw warriors emerging from several of +the buildings. They all went in the same direction, toward a great +building which stood in the centre of the plaza. My knowledge of green +Martian customs convinced me that this was either the quarters of the +principal chieftain or contained the audience chamber wherein the +Jeddak met his jeds and lesser chieftains. In either event, it was +evident that something was afoot which might have a bearing on the +recent capture of Tars Tarkas. +</P> + +<P> +To reach this building, which I now felt it imperative that I do, I +must needs traverse the entire length of one square and cross a broad +avenue and a portion of the plaza. From the noises of the animals +which came from every courtyard about me, I knew that there were many +people in the surrounding buildings—probably several communities of +the great horde of the Warhoons of the South. +</P> + +<P> +To pass undetected among all these people was in itself a difficult +task, but if I was to find and rescue the great Thark I must expect +even more formidable obstacles before success could be mine. I had +entered the city from the south and now stood on the corner of the +avenue through which I had passed and the first intersecting avenue +south of the plaza. The buildings upon the south side of this square +did not appear to be inhabited, as I could see no lights, and so I +decided to gain the inner courtyard through one of them. +</P> + +<P> +Nothing occurred to interrupt my progress through the deserted pile I +chose, and I came into the inner court close to the rear walls of the +east buildings without detection. Within the court a great herd of +thoats and zitidars moved restlessly about, cropping the moss-like +ochre vegetation which overgrows practically the entire uncultivated +area of Mars. What breeze there was came from the north-west, so there +was little danger that the beasts would scent me. Had they, their +squealing and grunting would have grown to such a volume as to attract +the attention of the warriors within the buildings. +</P> + +<P> +Close to the east wall, beneath the overhanging balconies of the second +floors, I crept in dense shadows the full length of the courtyard, +until I came to the buildings at the north end. These were lighted for +about three floors up, but above the third floor all was dark. +</P> + +<P> +To pass through the lighted rooms was, of course, out of the question, +since they swarmed with green Martian men and women. My only path lay +through the upper floors, and to gain these it was necessary to scale +the face of the wall. The reaching of the balcony of the second floor +was a matter of easy accomplishment—an agile leap gave my hands a +grasp upon the stone hand-rail above. In another instant I had drawn +myself up on the balcony. +</P> + +<P> +Here through the open windows I saw the green folk squatting upon their +sleeping silks and furs, grunting an occasional monosyllable, which, in +connection with their wondrous telepathic powers, is ample for their +conversational requirements. As I drew closer to listen to their words +a warrior entered the room from the hall beyond. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, Tan Gama," he cried, "we are to take the Thark before Kab Kadja. +Bring another with you." +</P> + +<P> +The warrior addressed arose and, beckoning to a fellow squatting near, +the three turned and left the apartment. +</P> + +<P> +If I could but follow them the chance might come to free Tars Tarkas at +once. At least I would learn the location of his prison. +</P> + +<P> +At my right was a door leading from the balcony into the building. It +was at the end of an unlighted hall, and on the impulse of the moment I +stepped within. The hall was broad and led straight through to the +front of the building. On either side were the doorways of the various +apartments which lined it. +</P> + +<P> +I had no more than entered the corridor than I saw the three warriors +at the other end—those whom I had just seen leaving the apartment. +Then a turn to the right took them from my sight again. Quickly I +hastened along the hallway in pursuit. My gait was reckless, but I +felt that Fate had been kind indeed to throw such an opportunity within +my grasp, and I could not afford to allow it to elude me now. +</P> + +<P> +At the far end of the corridor I found a spiral stairway leading to the +floors above and below. The three had evidently left the floor by this +avenue. That they had gone down and not up I was sure from my +knowledge of these ancient buildings and the methods of the Warhoons. +</P> + +<P> +I myself had once been a prisoner of the cruel hordes of northern +Warhoon, and the memory of the underground dungeon in which I lay still +is vivid in my memory. And so I felt certain that Tars Tarkas lay in +the dark pits beneath some nearby building, and that in that direction +I should find the trail of the three warriors leading to his cell. +</P> + +<P> +Nor was I wrong. At the bottom of the runway, or rather at the landing +on the floor below, I saw that the shaft descended into the pits +beneath, and as I glanced down the flickering light of a torch revealed +the presence of the three I was trailing. +</P> + +<P> +Down they went toward the pits beneath the structure, and at a safe +distance behind I followed the flicker of their torch. The way led +through a maze of tortuous corridors, unlighted save for the wavering +light they carried. We had gone perhaps a hundred yards when the party +turned abruptly through a doorway at their right. I hastened on as +rapidly as I dared through the darkness until I reached the point at +which they had left the corridor. There, through an open door, I saw +them removing the chains that secured the great Thark, Tars Tarkas, to +the wall. +</P> + +<P> +Hustling him roughly between them, they came immediately from the +chamber, so quickly in fact that I was near to being apprehended. But +I managed to run along the corridor in the direction I had been going +in my pursuit of them far enough to be without the radius of their +meagre light as they emerged from the cell. +</P> + +<P> +I had naturally assumed that they would return with Tars Tarkas the +same way that they had come, which would have carried them away from +me; but, to my chagrin, they wheeled directly in my direction as they +left the room. There was nothing for me but to hasten on in advance +and keep out of the light of their torch. I dared not attempt to halt +in the darkness of any of the many intersecting corridors, for I knew +nothing of the direction they might take. Chance was as likely as not +to carry me into the very corridor they might choose to enter. +</P> + +<P> +The sensation of moving rapidly through these dark passages was far +from reassuring. I knew not at what moment I might plunge headlong +into some terrible pit or meet with some of the ghoulish creatures that +inhabit these lower worlds beneath the dead cities of dying Mars. +There filtered to me a faint radiance from the torch of the men +behind—just enough to permit me to trace the direction of the winding +passageways directly before me, and so keep me from dashing myself +against the walls at the turns. +</P> + +<P> +Presently I came to a place where five corridors diverged from a common +point. I had hastened along one of them for some little distance when +suddenly the faint light of the torch disappeared from behind me. I +paused to listen for sounds of the party behind me, but the silence was +as utter as the silence of the tomb. +</P> + +<P> +Quickly I realized that the warriors had taken one of the other +corridors with their prisoner, and so I hastened back with a feeling of +considerable relief to take up a much safer and more desirable position +behind them. It was much slower work returning, however, than it had +been coming, for now the darkness was as utter as the silence. +</P> + +<P> +It was necessary to feel every foot of the way back with my hand +against the side wall, that I might not pass the spot where the five +roads radiated. After what seemed an eternity to me, I reached the +place and recognized it by groping across the entrances to the several +corridors until I had counted five of them. In not one, however, +showed the faintest sign of light. +</P> + +<P> +I listened intently, but the naked feet of the green men sent back no +guiding echoes, though presently I thought I detected the clank of side +arms in the far distance of the middle corridor. Up this, then, I +hastened, searching for the light, and stopping to listen occasionally +for a repetition of the sound; but soon I was forced to admit that I +must have been following a blind lead, as only darkness and silence +rewarded my efforts. +</P> + +<P> +Again I retraced my steps toward the parting of the ways, when to my +surprise I came upon the entrance to three diverging corridors, any one +of which I might have traversed in my hasty dash after the false clue I +had been following. Here was a pretty fix, indeed! Once back at the +point where the five passageways met, I might wait with some assurance +for the return of the warriors with Tars Tarkas. My knowledge of their +customs lent colour to the belief that he was but being escorted to the +audience chamber to have sentence passed upon him. I had not the +slightest doubt but that they would preserve so doughty a warrior as +the great Thark for the rare sport he would furnish at the Great Games. +</P> + +<P> +But unless I could find my way back to that point the chances were most +excellent that I would wander for days through the awful blackness, +until, overcome by thirst and hunger, I lay down to die, or—What was +that! +</P> + +<P> +A faint shuffling sounded behind me, and as I cast a hasty glance over +my shoulder my blood froze in my veins for the thing I saw there. It +was not so much fear of the present danger as it was the horrifying +memories it recalled of that time I near went mad over the corpse of +the man I had killed in the dungeons of the Warhoons, when blazing eyes +came out of the dark recesses and dragged the thing that had been a man +from my clutches and I heard it scraping over the stone of my prison as +they bore it away to their terrible feast. +</P> + +<P> +And now in these black pits of the other Warhoons I looked into those +same fiery eyes, blazing at me through the terrible darkness, revealing +no sign of the beast behind them. I think that the most fearsome +attribute of these awesome creatures is their silence and the fact that +one never sees them—nothing but those baleful eyes glaring +unblinkingly out of the dark void behind. +</P> + +<P> +Grasping my long-sword tightly in my hand, I backed slowly along the +corridor away from the thing that watched me, but ever as I retreated +the eyes advanced, nor was there any sound, not even the sound of +breathing, except the occasional shuffling sound as of the dragging of +a dead limb, that had first attracted my attention. +</P> + +<P> +On and on I went, but I could not escape my sinister pursuer. Suddenly +I heard the shuffling noise at my right, and, looking, saw another pair +of eyes, evidently approaching from an intersecting corridor. As I +started to renew my slow retreat I heard the noise repeated behind me, +and then before I could turn I heard it again at my left. +</P> + +<P> +The things were all about me. They had me surrounded at the +intersection of two corridors. Retreat was cut off in all directions, +unless I chose to charge one of the beasts. Even then I had no doubt +but that the others would hurl themselves upon my back. I could not +even guess the size or nature of the weird creatures. That they were +of goodly proportions I guessed from the fact that the eyes were on a +level with my own. +</P> + +<P> +Why is it that darkness so magnifies our dangers? By day I would have +charged the great banth itself, had I thought it necessary, but hemmed +in by the darkness of these silent pits I hesitated before a pair of +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Soon I saw that the matter shortly would be taken entirely from my +hands, for the eyes at my right were moving slowly nearer me, as were +those at my left and those behind and before me. Gradually they were +closing in upon me—but still that awful stealthy silence! +</P> + +<P> +For what seemed hours the eyes approached gradually closer and closer, +until I felt that I should go mad for the horror of it. I had been +constantly turning this way and that to prevent any sudden rush from +behind, until I was fairly worn out. At length I could endure it no +longer, and, taking a fresh grasp upon my long-sword, I turned suddenly +and charged down upon one of my tormentors. +</P> + +<P> +As I was almost upon it the thing retreated before me, but a sound from +behind caused me to wheel in time to see three pairs of eyes rushing at +me from the rear. With a cry of rage I turned to meet the cowardly +beasts, but as I advanced they retreated as had their fellow. Another +glance over my shoulder discovered the first eyes sneaking on me again. +And again I charged, only to see the eyes retreat before me and hear +the muffled rush of the three at my back. +</P> + +<P> +Thus we continued, the eyes always a little closer in the end than they +had been before, until I thought that I should go mad with the terrible +strain of the ordeal. That they were waiting to spring upon my back +seemed evident, and that it would not be long before they succeeded was +equally apparent, for I could not endure the wear of this repeated +charge and countercharge indefinitely. In fact, I could feel myself +weakening from the mental and physical strain I had been undergoing. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment I caught another glimpse from the corner of my eye of +the single pair of eyes at my back making a sudden rush upon me. I +turned to meet the charge; there was a quick rush of the three from the +other direction; but I determined to pursue the single pair until I +should have at least settled my account with one of the beasts and thus +be relieved of the strain of meeting attacks from both directions. +</P> + +<P> +There was no sound in the corridor, only that of my own breathing, yet +I knew that those three uncanny creatures were almost upon me. The +eyes in front were not retreating so rapidly now; I was almost within +sword reach of them. I raised my sword arm to deal the blow that +should free me, and then I felt a heavy body upon my back. A cold, +moist, slimy something fastened itself upon my throat. I stumbled and +went down. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FLIGHT AND PURSUIT +</H3> + +<P> +I could not have been unconscious more than a few seconds, and yet I +know that I was unconscious, for the next thing I realized was that a +growing radiance was illuminating the corridor about me and the eyes +were gone. +</P> + +<P> +I was unharmed except for a slight bruise upon my forehead where it had +struck the stone flagging as I fell. +</P> + +<P> +I sprang to my feet to ascertain the cause of the light. It came from +a torch in the hand of one of a party of four green warriors, who were +coming rapidly down the corridor toward me. They had not yet seen me, +and so I lost no time in slipping into the first intersecting corridor +that I could find. This time, however, I did not advance so far away +from the main corridor as on the other occasion that had resulted in my +losing Tars Tarkas and his guards. +</P> + +<P> +The party came rapidly toward the opening of the passageway in which I +crouched against the wall. As they passed by I breathed a sigh of +relief. I had not been discovered, and, best of all, the party was the +same that I had followed into the pits. It consisted of Tars Tarkas +and his three guards. +</P> + +<P> +I fell in behind them and soon we were at the cell in which the great +Thark had been chained. Two of the warriors remained without while the +man with the keys entered with the Thark to fasten his irons upon him +once more. The two outside started to stroll slowly in the direction +of the spiral runway which led to the floors above, and in a moment +were lost to view beyond a turn in the corridor. +</P> + +<P> +The torch had been stuck in a socket beside the door, so that its rays +illuminated both the corridor and the cell at the same time. As I saw +the two warriors disappear I approached the entrance to the cell, with +a well-defined plan already formulated. +</P> + +<P> +While I disliked the thought of carrying out the thing that I had +decided upon, there seemed no alternative if Tars Tarkas and I were to +go back together to my little camp in the hills. +</P> + +<P> +Keeping near the wall, I came quite close to the door to Tars Tarkas' +cell, and there I stood with my longsword above my head, grasped with +both hands, that I might bring it down in one quick cut upon the skull +of the jailer as he emerged. +</P> + +<P> +I dislike to dwell upon what followed after I heard the footsteps of +the man as he approached the doorway. It is enough that within another +minute or two, Tars Tarkas, wearing the metal of a Warhoon chief, was +hurrying down the corridor toward the spiral runway, bearing the +Warhoon's torch to light his way. A dozen paces behind him followed +John Carter, Prince of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +The two companions of the man who lay now beside the door of the cell +that had been Tars Tarkas' had just started to ascend the runway as the +Thark came in view. +</P> + +<P> +"Why so long, Tan Gama?" cried one of the men. +</P> + +<P> +"I had trouble with a lock," replied Tars Tarkas. "And now I find that +I have left my short-sword in the Thark's cell. Go you on, I'll return +and fetch it." +</P> + +<P> +"As you will, Tan Gama," replied he who had before spoken. "We shall +see you above directly." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Tars Tarkas, and turned as though to retrace his steps +to the cell, but he only waited until the two had disappeared at the +floor above. Then I joined him, we extinguished the torch, and +together we crept toward the spiral incline that led to the upper +floors of the building. +</P> + +<P> +At the first floor we found that the hallway ran but halfway through, +necessitating the crossing of a rear room full of green folk, ere we +could reach the inner courtyard, so there was but one thing left for us +to do, and that was to gain the second floor and the hallway through +which I had traversed the length of the building. +</P> + +<P> +Cautiously we ascended. We could hear the sounds of conversation +coming from the room above, but the hall still was unlighted, nor was +any one in sight as we gained the top of the runway. Together we +threaded the long hall and reached the balcony overlooking the +courtyard, without being detected. +</P> + +<P> +At our right was the window letting into the room in which I had seen +Tan Gama and the other warriors as they started to Tars Tarkas' cell +earlier in the evening. His companions had returned here, and we now +overheard a portion of their conversation. +</P> + +<P> +"What can be detaining Tan Gama?" asked one. +</P> + +<P> +"He certainly could not be all this time fetching his shortsword from +the Thark's cell," spoke another. +</P> + +<P> +"His short-sword?" asked a woman. "What mean you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Tan Gama left his short-sword in the Thark's cell," explained the +first speaker, "and left us at the runway, to return and get it." +</P> + +<P> +"Tan Gama wore no short-sword this night," said the woman. "It was +broken in to-day's battle with the Thark, and Tan Gama gave it to me to +repair. See, I have it here," and as she spoke she drew Tan Gama's +short-sword from beneath her sleeping silks and furs. +</P> + +<P> +The warriors sprang to their feet. +</P> + +<P> +"There is something amiss here," cried one. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis even what I myself thought when Tan Gama left us at the runway," +said another. "Methought then that his voice sounded strangely." +</P> + +<P> +"Come! let us hasten to the pits." +</P> + +<P> +We waited to hear no more. Slinging my harness into a long single +strap, I lowered Tars Tarkas to the courtyard beneath, and an instant +later dropped to his side. +</P> + +<P> +We had spoken scarcely a dozen words since I had felled Tan Gama at the +cell door and seen in the torch's light the expression of utter +bewilderment upon the great Thark's face. +</P> + +<P> +"By this time," he had said, "I should have learned to wonder at +nothing which John Carter accomplishes." That was all. He did not +need to tell me that he appreciated the friendship which had prompted +me to risk my life to rescue him, nor did he need to say that he was +glad to see me. +</P> + +<P> +This fierce green warrior had been the first to greet me that day, now +twenty years gone, which had witnessed my first advent upon Mars. He +had met me with levelled spear and cruel hatred in his heart as he +charged down upon me, bending low at the side of his mighty thoat as I +stood beside the incubator of his horde upon the dead sea bottom beyond +Korad. And now among the inhabitants of two worlds I counted none a +better friend than Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of the Tharks. +</P> + +<P> +As we reached the courtyard we stood in the shadows beneath the balcony +for a moment to discuss our plans. +</P> + +<P> +"There be five now in the party, Tars Tarkas," I said; "Thuvia, Xodar, +Carthoris, and ourselves. We shall need five thoats to bear us." +</P> + +<P> +"Carthoris!" he cried. "Your son?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. I found him in the prison of Shador, on the Sea of Omean, in the +land of the First Born." +</P> + +<P> +"I know not any of these places, John Carter. Be they upon Barsoom?" +</P> + +<P> +"Upon and below, my friend; but wait until we shall have made good our +escape, and you shall hear the strangest narrative that ever a +Barsoomian of the outer world gave ear to. Now we must steal our +thoats and be well away to the north before these fellows discover how +we have tricked them." +</P> + +<P> +In safety we reached the great gates at the far end of the courtyard, +through which it was necessary to take our thoats to the avenue beyond. +It is no easy matter to handle five of these great, fierce beasts, +which by nature are as wild and ferocious as their masters and held in +subjection by cruelty and brute force alone. +</P> + +<P> +As we approached them they sniffed our unfamiliar scent and with +squeals of rage circled about us. Their long, massive necks upreared +raised their great, gaping mouths high above our heads. They are +fearsome appearing brutes at best, but when they are aroused they are +fully as dangerous as they look. The thoat stands a good ten feet at +the shoulder. His hide is sleek and hairless, and of a dark slate +colour on back and sides, shading down his eight legs to a vivid yellow +at the huge, padded, nailless feet; the belly is pure white. A broad, +flat tail, larger at the tip than at the root, completes the picture of +this ferocious green Martian mount—a fit war steed for these warlike +people. +</P> + +<P> +As the thoats are guided by telepathic means alone, there is no need +for rein or bridle, and so our object now was to find two that would +obey our unspoken commands. As they charged about us we succeeded in +mastering them sufficiently to prevent any concerted attack upon us, +but the din of their squealing was certain to bring investigating +warriors into the courtyard were it to continue much longer. +</P> + +<P> +At length I was successful in reaching the side of one great brute, and +ere he knew what I was about I was firmly seated astride his glossy +back. A moment later Tars Tarkas had caught and mounted another, and +then between us we herded three or four more toward the great gates. +</P> + +<P> +Tars Tarkas rode ahead and, leaning down to the latch, threw the +barriers open, while I held the loose thoats from breaking back to the +herd. Then together we rode through into the avenue with our stolen +mounts and, without waiting to close the gates, hurried off toward the +southern boundary of the city. +</P> + +<P> +Thus far our escape had been little short of marvellous, nor did our +good fortune desert us, for we passed the outer purlieus of the dead +city and came to our camp without hearing even the faintest sound of +pursuit. +</P> + +<P> +Here a low whistle, the prearranged signal, apprised the balance of our +party that I was returning, and we were met by the three with every +manifestation of enthusiastic rejoicing. +</P> + +<P> +But little time was wasted in narration of our adventure. Tars Tarkas +and Carthoris exchanged the dignified and formal greetings common upon +Barsoom, but I could tell intuitively that the Thark loved my boy and +that Carthoris reciprocated his affection. +</P> + +<P> +Xodar and the green Jeddak were formally presented to each other. Then +Thuvia was lifted to the least fractious thoat, Xodar and Carthoris +mounted two others, and we set out at a rapid pace toward the east. At +the far extremity of the city we circled toward the north, and under +the glorious rays of the two moons we sped noiselessly across the dead +sea bottom, away from the Warhoons and the First Born, but to what new +dangers and adventures we knew not. +</P> + +<P> +Toward noon of the following day we halted to rest our mounts and +ourselves. The beasts we hobbled, that they might move slowly about +cropping the ochre moss-like vegetation which constitutes both food and +drink for them on the march. Thuvia volunteered to remain on watch +while the balance of the party slept for an hour. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed to me that I had but closed my eyes when I felt her hand upon +my shoulder and heard her soft voice warning me of a new danger. +</P> + +<P> +"Arise, O Prince," she whispered. "There be that behind us which has +the appearance of a great body of pursuers." +</P> + +<P> +The girl stood pointing in the direction from whence we had come, and +as I arose and looked, I, too, thought that I could detect a thin dark +line on the far horizon. I awoke the others. Tars Tarkas, whose giant +stature towered high above the rest of us, could see the farthest. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a great body of mounted men," he said, "and they are travelling +at high speed." +</P> + +<P> +There was no time to be lost. We sprang to our hobbled thoats, freed +them, and mounted. Then we turned our faces once more toward the north +and took our flight again at the highest speed of our slowest beast. +</P> + +<P> +For the balance of the day and all the following night we raced across +that ochre wilderness with the pursuers at our back ever gaining upon +us. Slowly but surely they were lessening the distance between us. +Just before dark they had been close enough for us to plainly +distinguish that they were green Martians, and all during the long +night we distinctly heard the clanking of their accoutrements behind us. +</P> + +<P> +As the sun rose on the second day of our flight it disclosed the +pursuing horde not a half-mile in our rear. As they saw us a fiendish +shout of triumph rose from their ranks. +</P> + +<P> +Several miles in advance lay a range of hills—the farther shore of the +dead sea we had been crossing. Could we but reach these hills our +chances of escape would be greatly enhanced, but Thuvia's mount, +although carrying the lightest burden, already was showing signs of +exhaustion. I was riding beside her when suddenly her animal staggered +and lurched against mine. I saw that he was going down, but ere he +fell I snatched the girl from his back and swung her to a place upon my +own thoat, behind me, where she clung with her arms about me. +</P> + +<P> +This double burden soon proved too much for my already overtaxed beast, +and thus our speed was terribly diminished, for the others would +proceed no faster than the slowest of us could go. In that little +party there was not one who would desert another; yet we were of +different countries, different colours, different races, different +religions—and one of us was of a different world. +</P> + +<P> +We were quite close to the hills, but the Warhoons were gaining so +rapidly that we had given up all hope of reaching them in time. Thuvia +and I were in the rear, for our beast was lagging more and more. +Suddenly I felt the girl's warm lips press a kiss upon my shoulder. +"For thy sake, O my Prince," she murmured. Then her arms slipped from +about my waist and she was gone. +</P> + +<P> +I turned and saw that she had deliberately slipped to the ground in the +very path of the cruel demons who pursued us, thinking that by +lightening the burden of my mount it might thus be enabled to bear me +to the safety of the hills. Poor child! She should have known John +Carter better than that. +</P> + +<P> +Turning my thoat, I urged him after her, hoping to reach her side and +bear her on again in our hopeless flight. Carthoris must have glanced +behind him at about the same time and taken in the situation, for by +the time I had reached Thuvia's side he was there also, and, springing +from his mount, he threw her upon its back and, turning the animal's +head toward the hills, gave the beast a sharp crack across the rump +with the flat of his sword. Then he attempted to do the same with mine. +</P> + +<P> +The brave boy's act of chivalrous self-sacrifice filled me with pride, +nor did I care that it had wrested from us our last frail chance for +escape. The Warhoons were now close upon us. Tars Tarkas and Xodar +had discovered our absence and were charging rapidly to our support. +Everything pointed toward a splendid ending of my second journey to +Barsoom. I hated to go out without having seen my divine Princess, and +held her in my arms once again; but if it were not writ upon the book +of Fate that such was to be, then would I take the most that was coming +to me, and in these last few moments that were to be vouchsafed me +before I passed over into that unguessed future I could at least give +such an account of myself in my chosen vocation as would leave the +Warhoons of the South food for discourse for the next twenty +generations. +</P> + +<P> +As Carthoris was not mounted, I slipped from the back of my own mount +and took my place at his side to meet the charge of the howling devils +bearing down upon us. A moment later Tars Tarkas and Xodar ranged +themselves on either hand, turning their thoats loose that we might all +be on an equal footing. +</P> + +<P> +The Warhoons were perhaps a hundred yards from us when a loud explosion +sounded from above and behind us, and almost at the same instant a +shell burst in their advancing ranks. At once all was confusion. A +hundred warriors toppled to the ground. Riderless thoats plunged +hither and thither among the dead and dying. Dismounted warriors were +trampled underfoot in the stampede which followed. All semblance of +order had left the ranks of the green men, and as they looked far above +our heads to trace the origin of this unexpected attack, disorder +turned to retreat and retreat to a wild panic. In another moment they +were racing as madly away from us as they had before been charging down +upon us. +</P> + +<P> +We turned to look in the direction from whence the first report had +come, and there we saw, just clearing the tops of the nearer hills, a +great battleship swinging majestically through the air. Her bow gun +spoke again even as we looked, and another shell burst among the +fleeing Warhoons. +</P> + +<P> +As she drew nearer I could not repress a wild cry of elation, for upon +her bows I saw the device of Helium. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +UNDER ARREST +</H3> + +<P> +As Carthoris, Xodar, Tars Tarkas, and I stood gazing at the magnificent +vessel which meant so much to all of us, we saw a second and then a +third top the summit of the hills and glide gracefully after their +sister. +</P> + +<P> +Now a score of one-man air scouts were launching from the upper decks +of the nearer vessel, and in a moment more were speeding in long, swift +dives to the ground about us. +</P> + +<P> +In another instant we were surrounded by armed sailors, and an officer +had stepped forward to address us, when his eyes fell upon Carthoris. +With an exclamation of surprised pleasure he sprang forward, and, +placing his hands upon the boy's shoulder, called him by name. +</P> + +<P> +"Carthoris, my Prince," he cried, "Kaor! Kaor! Hor Vastus greets the +son of Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, and of her husband, John +Carter. Where have you been, O my Prince? All Helium has been plunged +in sorrow. Terrible have been the calamities that have befallen your +great-grandsire's mighty nation since the fatal day that saw you leave +our midst." +</P> + +<P> +"Grieve not, my good Hor Vastus," cried Carthoris, "since I bring not +back myself alone to cheer my mother's heart and the hearts of my +beloved people, but also one whom all Barsoom loved best—her greatest +warrior and her saviour—John Carter, Prince of Helium!" +</P> + +<P> +Hor Vastus turned in the direction indicated by Carthoris, and as his +eyes fell upon me he was like to have collapsed from sheer surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"John Carter!" he exclaimed, and then a sudden troubled look came into +his eyes. "My Prince," he started, "where hast thou—" and then he +stopped, but I knew the question that his lips dared not frame. The +loyal fellow would not be the one to force from mine a confession of +the terrible truth that I had returned from the bosom of the Iss, the +River of Mystery, back from the shore of the Lost Sea of Korus, and the +Valley Dor. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, my Prince," he continued, as though no thought had interrupted his +greeting, "that you are back is sufficient, and let Hor Vastus' sword +have the high honour of being first at thy feet." With these words the +noble fellow unbuckled his scabbard and flung his sword upon the ground +before me. +</P> + +<P> +Could you know the customs and the character of red Martians you would +appreciate the depth of meaning that that simple act conveyed to me and +to all about us who witnessed it. The thing was equivalent to saying, +"My sword, my body, my life, my soul are yours to do with as you wish. +Until death and after death I look to you alone for authority for my +every act. Be you right or wrong, your word shall be my only truth. +Whoso raises his hand against you must answer to my sword." +</P> + +<P> +It is the oath of fealty that men occasionally pay to a Jeddak whose +high character and chivalrous acts have inspired the enthusiastic love +of his followers. Never had I known this high tribute paid to a lesser +mortal. There was but one response possible. I stooped and lifted the +sword from the ground, raised the hilt to my lips, and then, stepping +to Hor Vastus, I buckled the weapon upon him with my own hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Hor Vastus," I said, placing my hand upon his shoulder, "you know best +the promptings of your own heart. That I shall need your sword I have +little doubt, but accept from John Carter upon his sacred honour the +assurance that he will never call upon you to draw this sword other +than in the cause of truth, justice, and righteousness." +</P> + +<P> +"That I knew, my Prince," he replied, "ere ever I threw my beloved +blade at thy feet." +</P> + +<P> +As we spoke other fliers came and went between the ground and the +battleship, and presently a larger boat was launched from above, one +capable of carrying a dozen persons, perhaps, and dropped lightly near +us. As she touched, an officer sprang from her deck to the ground, +and, advancing to Hor Vastus, saluted. +</P> + +<P> +"Kantos Kan desires that this party whom we have rescued be brought +immediately to the deck of the <I>Xavarian</I>," he said. +</P> + +<P> +As we approached the little craft I looked about for the members of my +party and for the first time noticed that Thuvia was not among them. +Questioning elicited the fact that none had seen her since Carthoris +had sent her thoat galloping madly toward the hills, in the hope of +carrying her out of harm's way. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately Hor Vastus dispatched a dozen air scouts in as many +directions to search for her. It could not be possible that she had +gone far since we had last seen her. We others stepped to the deck of +the craft that had been sent to fetch us, and a moment later were upon +the <I>Xavarian</I>. +</P> + +<P> +The first man to greet me was Kantos Kan himself. My old friend had +won to the highest place in the navy of Helium, but he was still to me +the same brave comrade who had shared with me the privations of a +Warhoon dungeon, the terrible atrocities of the Great Games, and later +the dangers of our search for Dejah Thoris within the hostile city of +Zodanga. +</P> + +<P> +Then I had been an unknown wanderer upon a strange planet, and he a +simple padwar in the navy of Helium. To-day he commanded all Helium's +great terrors of the skies, and I was a Prince of the House of Tardos +Mors, Jeddak of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +He did not ask me where I had been. Like Hor Vastus, he too dreaded +the truth and would not be the one to wrest a statement from me. That +it must come some time he well knew, but until it came he seemed +satisfied to but know that I was with him once more. He greeted +Carthoris and Tars Tarkas with the keenest delight, but he asked +neither where he had been. He could scarcely keep his hands off the +boy. +</P> + +<P> +"You do not know, John Carter," he said to me, "how we of Helium love +this son of yours. It is as though all the great love we bore his +noble father and his poor mother had been centred in him. When it +became known that he was lost, ten million people wept." +</P> + +<P> +"What mean you, Kantos Kan," I whispered, "by 'his poor mother'?" for +the words had seemed to carry a sinister meaning which I could not +fathom. +</P> + +<P> +He drew me to one side. +</P> + +<P> +"For a year," he said, "Ever since Carthoris disappeared, Dejah Thoris +has grieved and mourned for her lost boy. The blow of years ago, when +you did not return from the atmosphere plant, was lessened to some +extent by the duties of motherhood, for your son broke his white shell +that very night." +</P> + +<P> +"That she suffered terribly then, all Helium knew, for did not all +Helium suffer with her the loss of her lord! But with the boy gone +there was nothing left, and after expedition upon expedition returned +with the same hopeless tale of no clue as to his whereabouts, our +beloved Princess drooped lower and lower, until all who saw her felt +that it could be but a matter of days ere she went to join her loved +ones within the precincts of the Valley Dor. +</P> + +<P> +"As a last resort, Mors Kajak, her father, and Tardos Mors, her +grandfather, took command of two mighty expeditions, and a month ago +sailed away to explore every inch of ground in the northern hemisphere +of Barsoom. For two weeks no word has come back from them, but rumours +were rife that they had met with a terrible disaster and that all were +dead. +</P> + +<P> +"About this time Zat Arrras renewed his importunities for her hand in +marriage. He has been for ever after her since you disappeared. She +hated him and feared him, but with both her father and grandfather +gone, Zat Arrras was very powerful, for he is still Jed of Zodanga, to +which position, you will remember, Tardos Mors appointed him after you +had refused the honour. +</P> + +<P> +"He had a secret audience with her six days ago. What took place none +knows, but the next day Dejah Thoris had disappeared, and with her had +gone a dozen of her household guard and body servants, including Sola +the green woman—Tars Tarkas' daughter, you recall. No word left they +of their intentions, but it is always thus with those who go upon the +voluntary pilgrimage from which none returns. We cannot think aught +than that Dejah Thoris has sought the icy bosom of Iss, and that her +devoted servants have chosen to accompany her. +</P> + +<P> +"Zat Arrras was at Helium when she disappeared. He commands this fleet +which has been searching for her since. No trace of her have we found, +and I fear that it be a futile quest." +</P> + +<P> +While we talked, Hor Vastus' fliers were returning to the <I>Xavarian</I>. +Not one, however, had discovered a trace of Thuvia. I was much +depressed over the news of Dejah Thoris' disappearance, and now there +was added the further burden of apprehension concerning the fate of +this girl whom I believed to be the daughter of some proud Barsoomian +house, and it had been my intention to make every effort to return her +to her people. +</P> + +<P> +I was about to ask Kantos Kan to prosecute a further search for her +when a flier from the flagship of the fleet arrived at the <I>Xavarian</I> +with an officer bearing a message to Kantos Kan from Arrras. +</P> + +<P> +My friend read the dispatch and then turned to me. +</P> + +<P> +"Zat Arrras commands me to bring our 'prisoners' before him. There is +naught else to do. He is supreme in Helium, yet it would be far more +in keeping with chivalry and good taste were he to come hither and +greet the saviour of Barsoom with the honours that are his due." +</P> + +<P> +"You know full well, my friend," I said, smiling, "that Zat Arrras has +good cause to hate me. Nothing would please him better than to +humiliate me and then to kill me. Now that he has so excellent an +excuse, let us go and see if he has the courage to take advantage of +it." +</P> + +<P> +Summoning Carthoris, Tars Tarkas, and Xodar, we entered the small flier +with Kantos Kan and Zat Arrras' officer, and in a moment were stepping +to the deck of Zat Arrras' flagship. +</P> + +<P> +As we approached the Jed of Zodanga no sign of greeting or recognition +crossed his face; not even to Carthoris did he vouchsafe a friendly +word. His attitude was cold, haughty, and uncompromising. +</P> + +<P> +"Kaor, Zat Arrras," I said in greeting, but he did not respond. +</P> + +<P> +"Why were these prisoners not disarmed?" he asked to Kantos Kan. +</P> + +<P> +"They are not prisoners, Zat Arrras," replied the officer. +</P> + +<P> +"Two of them are of Helium's noblest family. Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of +Thark, is Tardos Mors' best beloved ally. The other is a friend and +companion of the Prince of Helium—that is enough for me to know." +</P> + +<P> +"It is not enough for me, however," retorted Zat Arrras. "More must I +hear from those who have taken the pilgrimage than their names. Where +have you been, John Carter?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have just come from the Valley Dor and the Land of the First Born, +Zat Arrras," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" he exclaimed in evident pleasure, "you do not deny it, then? You +have returned from the bosom of Iss?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have come back from a land of false hope, from a valley of torture +and death; with my companions I have escaped from the hideous clutches +of lying fiends. I have come back to the Barsoom that I saved from a +painless death to again save her, but this time from death in its most +frightful form." +</P> + +<P> +"Cease, blasphemer!" cried Zat Arrras. "Hope not to save thy cowardly +carcass by inventing horrid lies to—" But he got no further. One does +not call John Carter "coward" and "liar" thus lightly, and Zat Arrras +should have known it. Before a hand could be raised to stop me, I was +at his side and one hand grasped his throat. +</P> + +<P> +"Come I from heaven or hell, Zat Arrras, you will find me still the same +John Carter that I have always been; nor did ever man call me such +names and live—without apologizing." And with that I commenced to bend +him back across my knee and tighten my grip upon his throat. +</P> + +<P> +"Seize him!" cried Zat Arrras, and a dozen officers sprang forward to +assist him. +</P> + +<P> +Kantos Kan came close and whispered to me. +</P> + +<P> +"Desist, I beg of you. It will but involve us all, for I cannot see +these men lay hands upon you without aiding you. My officers and men +will join me and we shall have a mutiny then that may lead to the +revolution. For the sake of Tardos Mors and Helium, desist." +</P> + +<P> +At his words I released Zat Arrras and, turning my back upon him, walked +toward the ship's rail. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, Kantos Kan," I said, "the Prince of Helium would return to the +<I>Xavarian</I>." +</P> + +<P> +None interfered. Zat Arrras stood white and trembling amidst his +officers. Some there were who looked upon him with scorn and drew +toward me, while one, a man long in the service and confidence of +Tardos Mors, spoke to me in a low tone as I passed him. +</P> + +<P> +"You may count my metal among your fighting-men, John Carter," he said. +</P> + +<P> +I thanked him and passed on. In silence we embarked, and shortly after +stepped once more upon the deck of the <I>Xavarian</I>. Fifteen minutes later +we received orders from the flagship to proceed toward Helium. +</P> + +<P> +Our journey thither was uneventful. Carthoris and I were wrapped in +the gloomiest of thoughts. Kantos Kan was sombre in contemplation of +the further calamity that might fall upon Helium should Zat Arrras +attempt to follow the age-old precedent that allotted a terrible death +to fugitives from the Valley Dor. Tars Tarkas grieved for the loss of +his daughter. Xodar alone was care-free—a fugitive and outlaw, he +could be no worse off in Helium than elsewhere. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us hope that we may at least go out with good red blood upon our +blades," he said. It was a simple wish and one most likely to be +gratified. +</P> + +<P> +Among the officers of the <I>Xavarian</I> I thought I could discern division +into factions ere we had reached Helium. There were those who gathered +about Carthoris and myself whenever the opportunity presented, while +about an equal number held aloof from us. They offered us only the +most courteous treatment, but were evidently bound by their +superstitious belief in the doctrine of Dor and Iss and Korus. I could +not blame them, for I knew how strong a hold a creed, however +ridiculous it may be, may gain upon an otherwise intelligent people. +</P> + +<P> +By returning from Dor we had committed a sacrilege; by recounting our +adventures there, and stating the facts as they existed we had outraged +the religion of their fathers. We were blasphemers—lying heretics. +Even those who still clung to us from personal love and loyalty I think +did so in the face of the fact that at heart they questioned our +veracity—it is very hard to accept a new religion for an old, no +matter how alluring the promises of the new may be; but to reject the +old as a tissue of falsehoods without being offered anything in its +stead is indeed a most difficult thing to ask of any people. +</P> + +<P> +Kantos Kan would not talk of our experiences among the therns and the +First Born. +</P> + +<P> +"It is enough," he said, "that I jeopardize my life here and hereafter +by countenancing you at all—do not ask me to add still further to my +sins by listening to what I have always been taught was the rankest +heresy." +</P> + +<P> +I knew that sooner or later the time must come when our friends and +enemies would be forced to declare themselves openly. When we reached +Helium there must be an accounting, and if Tardos Mors had not returned +I feared that the enmity of Zat Arrras might weigh heavily against us, +for he represented the government of Helium. To take sides against him +were equivalent to treason. The majority of the troops would doubtless +follow the lead of their officers, and I knew that many of the highest +and most powerful men of both land and air forces would cleave to John +Carter in the face of god, man, or devil. +</P> + +<P> +On the other hand, the majority of the populace unquestionably would +demand that we pay the penalty of our sacrilege. The outlook seemed +dark from whatever angle I viewed it, but my mind was so torn with +anguish at the thought of Dejah Thoris that I realize now that I gave +the terrible question of Helium's plight but scant attention at that +time. +</P> + +<P> +There was always before me, day and night, a horrible nightmare of the +frightful scenes through which I knew my Princess might even then be +passing—the horrid plant men—the ferocious white apes. At times I +would cover my face with my hands in a vain effort to shut out the +fearful thing from my mind. +</P> + +<P> +It was in the forenoon that we arrived above the mile-high scarlet +tower which marks greater Helium from her twin city. As we descended +in great circles toward the navy docks a mighty multitude could be seen +surging in the streets beneath. Helium had been notified by +radio-aerogram of our approach. +</P> + +<P> +From the deck of the <I>Xavarian</I> we four, Carthoris, Tars Tarkas, Xodar, +and I, were transferred to a lesser flier to be transported to quarters +within the Temple of Reward. It is here that Martian justice is meted +to benefactor and malefactor. Here the hero is decorated. Here the +felon is condemned. We were taken into the temple from the landing +stage upon the roof, so that we did not pass among the people at all, +as is customary. Always before I had seen prisoners of note, or +returned wanderers of eminence, paraded from the Gate of Jeddaks to the +Temple of Reward up the broad Avenue of Ancestors through dense crowds +of jeering or cheering citizens. +</P> + +<P> +I knew that Zat Arrras dared not trust the people near to us, for he +feared that their love for Carthoris and myself might break into a +demonstration which would wipe out their superstitious horror of the +crime we were to be charged with. What his plans were I could only +guess, but that they were sinister was evidenced by the fact that only +his most trusted servitors accompanied us upon the flier to the Temple +of Reward. +</P> + +<P> +We were lodged in a room upon the south side of the temple, overlooking +the Avenue of Ancestors down which we could see the full length to the +Gate of Jeddaks, five miles away. The people in the temple plaza and +in the streets for a distance of a full mile were standing as close +packed as it was possible for them to get. They were very +orderly—there were neither scoffs nor plaudits, and when they saw us +at the window above them there were many who buried their faces in +their arms and wept. +</P> + +<P> +Late in the afternoon a messenger arrived from Zat Arrras to inform us +that we would be tried by an impartial body of nobles in the great hall +of the temple at the 1st zode* on the following day, or about 8:40 A.M. +Earth time. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +*Wherever Captain Carter has used Martian measurements of time, +distance, weight, and the like I have translated them into as nearly +their equivalent in earthly values as is possible. His notes contain +many Martian tables, and a great volume of scientific data, but since +the International Astronomic Society is at present engaged in +classifying, investigating, and verifying this vast fund of remarkable +and valuable information, I have felt that it will add nothing to the +interest of Captain Carter's story or to the sum total of human +knowledge to maintain a strict adherence to the original manuscript in +these matters, while it might readily confuse the reader and detract +from the interest of the history. For those who may be interested, +however, I will explain that the Martian day is a trifle over 24 hours +37 minutes duration (Earth time). This the Martians divide into ten +equal parts, commencing the day at about 6 A.M. Earth time. The zodes +are divided into fifty shorter periods, each of which in turn is +composed of 200 brief periods of time, about equivalent to the earthly +second. The Barsoomian Table of Time as here given is but a part of +the full table appearing in Captain Carter's notes. +</P> + +<PRE> + TABLE + + 200 tals . . . . . . . . . 1 xat + 50 xats . . . . . . . . . 1 zode + 10 zodes . . . . . . . . 1 revolution of Mars upon its axis. +</PRE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE DEATH SENTENCE +</H3> + +<P> +A few moments before the appointed time on the following morning a +strong guard of Zat Arrras' officers appeared at our quarters to conduct +us to the great hall of the temple. +</P> + +<P> +In twos we entered the chamber and marched down the broad Aisle of +Hope, as it is called, to the platform in the centre of the hall. +Before and behind us marched armed guards, while three solid ranks of +Zodangan soldiery lined either side of the aisle from the entrance to +the rostrum. +</P> + +<P> +As we reached the raised enclosure I saw our judges. As is the custom +upon Barsoom there were thirty-one, supposedly selected by lot from men +of the noble class, for nobles were on trial. But to my amazement I +saw no single friendly face among them. Practically all were +Zodangans, and it was I to whom Zodanga owed her defeat at the hands of +the green hordes and her subsequent vassalage to Helium. There could +be little justice here for John Carter, or his son, or for the great +Thark who had commanded the savage tribesmen who overran Zodanga's +broad avenues, looting, burning, and murdering. +</P> + +<P> +About us the vast circular coliseum was packed to its full capacity. +All classes were represented—all ages, and both sexes. As we entered +the hall the hum of subdued conversation ceased until as we halted upon +the platform, or Throne of Righteousness, the silence of death +enveloped the ten thousand spectators. +</P> + +<P> +The judges were seated in a great circle about the periphery of the +circular platform. We were assigned seats with our backs toward a +small platform in the exact centre of the larger one. This placed us +facing the judges and the audience. Upon the smaller platform each +would take his place while his case was being heard. +</P> + +<P> +Zat Arrras himself sat in the golden chair of the presiding magistrate. +As we were seated and our guards retired to the foot of the stairway +leading to the platform, he arose and called my name. +</P> + +<P> +"John Carter," he cried, "take your place upon the Pedestal of Truth to +be judged impartially according to your acts and here to know the +reward you have earned thereby." Then turning to and fro toward the +audience he narrated the acts upon the value of which my reward was to +be determined. +</P> + +<P> +"Know you, O judges and people of Helium," he said, "that John Carter, +one time Prince of Helium, has returned by his own statement from the +Valley Dor and even from the Temple of Issus itself. That, in the +presence of many men of Helium he has blasphemed against the Sacred +Iss, and against the Valley Dor, and the Lost Sea of Korus, and the +Holy Therns themselves, and even against Issus, Goddess of Death, and +of Life Eternal. And know you further by witness of thine own eyes +that see him here now upon the Pedestal of Truth that he has indeed +returned from these sacred precincts in the face of our ancient +customs, and in violation of the sanctity of our ancient religion. +</P> + +<P> +"He who be once dead may not live again. He who attempts it must be +made dead for ever. Judges, your duty lies plain before you—here can +be no testimony in contravention of truth. What reward shall be meted +to John Carter in accordance with the acts he has committed?" +</P> + +<P> +"Death!" shouted one of the judges. +</P> + +<P> +And then a man sprang to his feet in the audience, and raising his hand +on high, cried: "Justice! Justice! Justice!" It was Kantos Kan, and +as all eyes turned toward him he leaped past the Zodangan soldiery and +sprang upon the platform. +</P> + +<P> +"What manner of justice be this?" he cried to Zat Arrras. "The +defendant has not been heard, nor has he had an opportunity to call +others in his behalf. In the name of the people of Helium I demand +fair and impartial treatment for the Prince of Helium." +</P> + +<P> +A great cry arose from the audience then: "Justice! Justice! +Justice!" and Zat Arrras dared not deny them. +</P> + +<P> +"Speak, then," he snarled, turning to me; "but blaspheme not against +the things that are sacred upon Barsoom." +</P> + +<P> +"Men of Helium," I cried, turning to the spectators, and speaking over +the heads of my judges, "how can John Carter expect justice from the +men of Zodanga? He cannot nor does he ask it. It is to the men of +Helium that he states his case; nor does he appeal for mercy to any. +It is not in his own cause that he speaks now—it is in thine. In the +cause of your wives and daughters, and of wives and daughters yet +unborn. It is to save them from the unthinkably atrocious indignities +that I have seen heaped upon the fair women of Barsoom in the place men +call the Temple of Issus. It is to save them from the sucking embrace +of the plant men, from the fangs of the great white apes of Dor, from +the cruel lust of the Holy Therns, from all that the cold, dead Iss +carries them to from homes of love and life and happiness. +</P> + +<P> +"Sits there no man here who does not know the history of John Carter. +How he came among you from another world and rose from a prisoner among +the green men, through torture and persecution, to a place high among +the highest of Barsoom. Nor ever did you know John Carter to lie in +his own behalf, or to say aught that might harm the people of Barsoom, +or to speak lightly of the strange religion which he respected without +understanding. +</P> + +<P> +"There be no man here, or elsewhere upon Barsoom to-day who does not +owe his life directly to a single act of mine, in which I sacrificed +myself and the happiness of my Princess that you might live. And so, +men of Helium, I think that I have the right to demand that I be heard, +that I be believed, and that you let me serve you and save you from the +false hereafter of Dor and Issus as I saved you from the real death +that other day. +</P> + +<P> +"It is to you of Helium that I speak now. When I am done let the men +of Zodanga have their will with me. Zat Arrras has taken my sword from +me, so the men of Zodanga no longer fear me. Will you listen?" +</P> + +<P> +"Speak, John Carter, Prince of Helium," cried a great noble from the +audience, and the multitude echoed his permission, until the building +rocked with the noise of their demonstration. +</P> + +<P> +Zat Arrras knew better than to interfere with such a sentiment as was +expressed that day in the Temple of Reward, and so for two hours I +talked with the people of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +But when I had finished, Zat Arrras arose and, turning to the judges, +said in a low tone: "My nobles, you have heard John Carter's plea; +every opportunity has been given him to prove his innocence if he be +not guilty; but instead he has but utilized the time in further +blasphemy. What, gentlemen, is your verdict?" +</P> + +<P> +"Death to the blasphemer!" cried one, springing to his feet, and in an +instant the entire thirty-one judges were on their feet with upraised +swords in token of the unanimity of their verdict. +</P> + +<P> +If the people did not hear Zat Arrras' charge, they certainly did hear +the verdict of the tribunal. A sullen murmur rose louder and louder +about the packed coliseum, and then Kantos Kan, who had not left the +platform since first he had taken his place near me, raised his hand +for silence. When he could be heard he spoke to the people in a cool +and level voice. +</P> + +<P> +"You have heard the fate that the men of Zodanga would mete to Helium's +noblest hero. It may be the duty of the men of Helium to accept the +verdict as final. Let each man act according to his own heart. Here +is the answer of Kantos Kan, head of the navy of Helium, to Zat Arrras +and his judges," and with that he unbuckled his scabbard and threw his +sword at my feet. +</P> + +<P> +In an instant soldiers and citizens, officers and nobles were crowding +past the soldiers of Zodanga and forcing their way to the Throne of +Righteousness. A hundred men surged up on the platform, and a hundred +blades rattled and clanked to the floor at my feet. Zat Arrras and his +officers were furious, but they were helpless. One by one I raised the +swords to my lips and buckled them again upon their owners. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," said Kantos Kan, "we will escort John Carter and his party to +his own palace," and they formed about us and started toward the stairs +leading to the Aisle of Hope. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop!" cried Zat Arrras. "Soldiers of Helium, let no prisoner leave +the Throne of Righteousness." +</P> + +<P> +The soldiery from Zodanga were the only organized body of Heliumetic +troops within the temple, so Zat Arrras was confident that his orders +would be obeyed, but I do not think that he looked for the opposition +that was raised the moment the soldiers advanced toward the throne. +</P> + +<P> +From every quarter of the coliseum swords flashed and men rushed +threateningly upon the Zodangans. Some one raised a cry: "Tardos Mors +is dead—a thousand years to John Carter, Jeddak of Helium." As I heard +that and saw the ugly attitude of the men of Helium toward the soldiers +of Zat Arrras, I knew that only a miracle could avert a clash that would +end in civil war. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold!" I cried, leaping to the Pedestal of Truth once more. "Let no +man move till I am done. A single sword thrust here to-day may plunge +Helium into a bitter and bloody war the results of which none can +foresee. It will turn brother against brother and father against son. +No man's life is worth that sacrifice. Rather would I submit to the +biased judgment of Zat Arrras than be the cause of civil strife in +Helium. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us each give in a point to the other, and let this entire matter +rest until Tardos Mors returns, or Mors Kajak, his son. If neither be +back at the end of a year a second trial may be held—the thing has a +precedent." And then turning to Zat Arrras, I said in a low voice: +"Unless you be a bigger fool than I take you to be, you will grasp the +chance I am offering you ere it is too late. Once that multitude of +swords below is drawn against your soldiery no man upon Barsoom—not +even Tardos Mors himself—can avert the consequences. What say you? +Speak quickly." +</P> + +<P> +The Jed of Zodangan Helium raised his voice to the angry sea beneath us. +</P> + +<P> +"Stay your hands, men of Helium," he shouted, his voice trembling with +rage. "The sentence of the court is passed, but the day of retribution +has not been set. I, Zat Arrras, Jed of Zodanga, appreciating the royal +connections of the prisoner and his past services to Helium and +Barsoom, grant a respite of one year, or until the return of Mors +Kajak, or Tardos Mors to Helium. Disperse quietly to your houses. Go." +</P> + +<P> +No one moved. Instead, they stood in tense silence with their eyes +fastened upon me, as though waiting for a signal to attack. +</P> + +<P> +"Clear the temple," commanded Zat Arrras, in a low tone to one of his +officers. +</P> + +<P> +Fearing the result of an attempt to carry out this order by force, I +stepped to the edge of the platform and, pointing toward the main +entrance, bid them pass out. As one man they turned at my request and +filed, silent and threatening, past the soldiers of Zat Arrras, Jed of +Zodanga, who stood scowling in impotent rage. +</P> + +<P> +Kantos Kan with the others who had sworn allegiance to me still stood +upon the Throne of Righteousness with me. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," said Kantos Kan to me, "we will escort you to your palace, my +Prince. Come, Carthoris and Xodar. Come, Tars Tarkas." And with a +haughty sneer for Zat Arrras upon his handsome lips, he turned and +strode to the throne steps and up the Aisle of Hope. We four and the +hundred loyal ones followed behind him, nor was a hand raised to stay +us, though glowering eyes followed our triumphal march through the +temple. +</P> + +<P> +In the avenues we found a press of people, but they opened a pathway +for us, and many were the swords that were flung at my feet as I passed +through the city of Helium toward my palace upon the outskirts. Here +my old slaves fell upon their knees and kissed my hands as I greeted +them. They cared not where I had been. It was enough that I had +returned to them. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, master," cried one, "if our divine Princess were but here this +would be a day indeed." +</P> + +<P> +Tears came to my eyes, so that I was forced to turn away that I might +hide my emotions. Carthoris wept openly as the slaves pressed about +him with expressions of affection, and words of sorrow for our common +loss. It was now that Tars Tarkas for the first time learned that his +daughter, Sola, had accompanied Dejah Thoris upon the last long +pilgrimage. I had not had the heart to tell him what Kantos Kan had +told me. With the stoicism of the green Martian he showed no sign of +suffering, yet I knew that his grief was as poignant as my own. In +marked contrast to his kind, he had in well-developed form the kindlier +human characteristics of love, friendship, and charity. +</P> + +<P> +It was a sad and sombre party that sat at the feast of welcome in the +great dining hall of the palace of the Prince of Helium that day. We +were over a hundred strong, not counting the members of my little +court, for Dejah Thoris and I had maintained a household consistent +with our royal rank. +</P> + +<P> +The board, according to red Martian custom, was triangular, for there +were three in our family. Carthoris and I presided in the centre of +our sides of the table—midway of the third side Dejah Thoris' +high-backed, carven chair stood vacant except for her gorgeous wedding +trappings and jewels which were draped upon it. Behind stood a slave +as in the days when his mistress had occupied her place at the board, +ready to do her bidding. It was the way upon Barsoom, so I endured the +anguish of it, though it wrung my heart to see that silent chair where +should have been my laughing and vivacious Princess keeping the great +hall ringing with her merry gaiety. +</P> + +<P> +At my right sat Kantos Kan, while to the right of Dejah Thoris' empty +place Tars Tarkas sat in a huge chair before a raised section of the +board which years ago I had had constructed to meet the requirements of +his mighty bulk. The place of honour at a Martian hoard is always at +the hostess's right, and this place was ever reserved by Dejah Thoris +for the great Thark upon the occasions that he was in Helium. +</P> + +<P> +Hor Vastus sat in the seat of honour upon Carthoris' side of the table. +There was little general conversation. It was a quiet and saddened +party. The loss of Dejah Thoris was still fresh in the minds of all, +and to this was added fear for the safety of Tardos Mors and Mors +Kajak, as well as doubt and uncertainty as to the fate of Helium, +should it prove true that she was permanently deprived of her great +Jeddak. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly our attention was attracted by the sound of distant shouting, +as of many people raising their voices at once, but whether in anger or +rejoicing, we could not tell. Nearer and nearer came the tumult. A +slave rushed into the dining hall to cry that a great concourse of +people was swarming through the palace gates. A second burst upon the +heels of the first alternately laughing and shrieking as a madman. +</P> + +<P> +"Dejah Thoris is found!" he cried. "A messenger from Dejah Thoris!" +</P> + +<P> +I waited to hear no more. The great windows of the dining hall +overlooked the avenue leading to the main gates—they were upon the +opposite side of the hall from me with the table intervening. I did +not waste time in circling the great board—with a single leap I +cleared table and diners and sprang upon the balcony beyond. Thirty +feet below lay the scarlet sward of the lawn and beyond were many +people crowding about a great thoat which bore a rider headed toward +the palace. I vaulted to the ground below and ran swiftly toward the +advancing party. +</P> + +<P> +As I came near to them I saw that the figure on the thoat was Sola. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is the Princess of Helium?" I cried. +</P> + +<P> +The green girl slid from her mighty mount and ran toward me. +</P> + +<P> +"O my Prince! My Prince!" she cried. "She is gone for ever. Even now +she may be a captive upon the lesser moon. The black pirates of +Barsoom have stolen her." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SOLA'S STORY +</H3> + +<P> +Once within the palace, I drew Sola to the dining hall, and, when she +had greeted her father after the formal manner of the green men, she +told the story of the pilgrimage and capture of Dejah Thoris. +</P> + +<P> +"Seven days ago, after her audience with Zat Arrras, Dejah Thoris +attempted to slip from the palace in the dead of night. Although I had +not heard the outcome of her interview with Zat Arrras I knew that +something had occurred then to cause her the keenest mental agony, and +when I discovered her creeping from the palace I did not need to be +told her destination. +</P> + +<P> +"Hastily arousing a dozen of her most faithful guards, I explained my +fears to them, and as one they enlisted with me to follow our beloved +Princess in her wanderings, even to the Sacred Iss and the Valley Dor. +We came upon her but a short distance from the palace. With her was +faithful Woola the hound, but none other. When we overtook her she +feigned anger, and ordered us back to the palace, but for once we +disobeyed her, and when she found that we would not let her go upon the +last long pilgrimage alone, she wept and embraced us, and together we +went out into the night toward the south. +</P> + +<P> +"The following day we came upon a herd of small thoats, and thereafter +we were mounted and made good time. We travelled very fast and very +far due south until the morning of the fifth day we sighted a great +fleet of battleships sailing north. They saw us before we could seek +shelter, and soon we were surrounded by a horde of black men. The +Princess's guard fought nobly to the end, but they were soon overcome +and slain. Only Dejah Thoris and I were spared. +</P> + +<P> +"When she realized that she was in the clutches of the black pirates, +she attempted to take her own life, but one of the blacks tore her +dagger from her, and then they bound us both so that we could not use +our hands. +</P> + +<P> +"The fleet continued north after capturing us. There were about twenty +large battleships in all, besides a number of small swift cruisers. +That evening one of the smaller cruisers that had been far in advance +of the fleet returned with a prisoner—a young red woman whom they had +picked up in a range of hills under the very noses, they said, of a +fleet of three red Martian battleships. +</P> + +<P> +"From scraps of conversation which we overheard it was evident that the +black pirates were searching for a party of fugitives that had escaped +them several days prior. That they considered the capture of the young +woman important was evident from the long and earnest interview the +commander of the fleet held with her when she was brought to him. +Later she was bound and placed in the compartment with Dejah Thoris and +myself. +</P> + +<P> +"The new captive was a very beautiful girl. She told Dejah Thoris that +many years ago she had taken the voluntary pilgrimage from the court of +her father, the Jeddak of Ptarth. She was Thuvia, the Princess of +Ptarth. And then she asked Dejah Thoris who she might be, and when she +heard she fell upon her knees and kissed Dejah Thoris' fettered hands, +and told her that that very morning she had been with John Carter, +Prince of Helium, and Carthoris, her son. +</P> + +<P> +"Dejah Thoris could not believe her at first, but finally when the girl +had narrated all the strange adventures that had befallen her since she +had met John Carter, and told her of the things John Carter, and +Carthoris, and Xodar had narrated of their adventures in the Land of +the First Born, Dejah Thoris knew that it could be none other than the +Prince of Helium; 'For who,' she said, 'upon all Barsoom other than +John Carter could have done the deeds you tell of.' And when Thuvia +told Dejah Thoris of her love for John Carter, and his loyalty and +devotion to the Princess of his choice, Dejah Thoris broke down and +wept—cursing Zat Arrras and the cruel fate that had driven her from +Helium but a few brief days before the return of her beloved lord. +</P> + +<P> +"'I do not blame you for loving him, Thuvia,' she said; 'and that your +affection for him is pure and sincere I can well believe from the +candour of your avowal of it to me.' +</P> + +<P> +"The fleet continued north nearly to Helium, but last night they +evidently realized that John Carter had indeed escaped them and so they +turned toward the south once more. Shortly thereafter a guard entered +our compartment and dragged me to the deck. +</P> + +<P> +"'There is no place in the Land of the First Born for a green one,' he +said, and with that he gave me a terrific shove that carried me +toppling from the deck of the battleship. Evidently this seemed to him +the easiest way of ridding the vessel of my presence and killing me at +the same time. +</P> + +<P> +"But a kind fate intervened, and by a miracle I escaped with but slight +bruises. The ship was moving slowly at the time, and as I lunged +overboard into the darkness beneath I shuddered at the awful plunge I +thought awaited me, for all day the fleet had sailed thousands of feet +above the ground; but to my utter surprise I struck upon a soft mass of +vegetation not twenty feet from the deck of the ship. In fact, the +keel of the vessel must have been grazing the surface of the ground at +the time. +</P> + +<P> +"I lay all night where I had fallen and the next morning brought an +explanation of the fortunate coincidence that had saved me from a +terrible death. As the sun rose I saw a vast panorama of sea bottom +and distant hills lying far below me. I was upon the highest peak of a +lofty range. The fleet in the darkness of the preceding night had +barely grazed the crest of the hills, and in the brief span that they +hovered close to the surface the black guard had pitched me, as he +supposed, to my death. +</P> + +<P> +"A few miles west of me was a great waterway. When I reached it I +found to my delight that it belonged to Helium. Here a thoat was +procured for me—the rest you know." +</P> + +<P> +For many minutes none spoke. Dejah Thoris in the clutches of the First +Born! I shuddered at the thought, but of a sudden the old fire of +unconquerable self-confidence surged through me. I sprang to my feet, +and with back-thrown shoulders and upraised sword took a solemn vow to +reach, rescue, and revenge my Princess. +</P> + +<P> +A hundred swords leaped from a hundred scabbards, and a hundred +fighting-men sprang to the table-top and pledged me their lives and +fortunes to the expedition. Already my plans were formulated. I +thanked each loyal friend, and leaving Carthoris to entertain them, +withdrew to my own audience chamber with Kantos Kan, Tars Tarkas, +Xodar, and Hor Vastus. +</P> + +<P> +Here we discussed the details of our expedition until long after dark. +Xodar was positive that Issus would choose both Dejah Thoris and Thuvia +to serve her for a year. +</P> + +<P> +"For that length of time at least they will be comparatively safe," he +said, "and we will at least know where to look for them." +</P> + +<P> +In the matter of equipping a fleet to enter Omean the details were left +to Kantos Kan and Xodar. The former agreed to take such vessels as we +required into dock as rapidly as possible, where Xodar would direct +their equipment with water propellers. +</P> + +<P> +For many years the black had been in charge of the refitting of +captured battleships that they might navigate Omean, and so was +familiar with the construction of the propellers, housings, and the +auxiliary gearing required. +</P> + +<P> +It was estimated that it would require six months to complete our +preparations in view of the fact that the utmost secrecy must be +maintained to keep the project from the ears of Zat Arrras. Kantos Kan +was confident now that the man's ambitions were fully aroused and that +nothing short of the title of Jeddak of Helium would satisfy him. +</P> + +<P> +"I doubt," he said, "if he would even welcome Dejah Thoris' return, for +it would mean another nearer the throne than he. With you and +Carthoris out of the way there would be little to prevent him from +assuming the title of Jeddak, and you may rest assured that so long as +he is supreme here there is no safety for either of you." +</P> + +<P> +"There is a way," cried Hor Vastus, "to thwart him effectually and for +ever." +</P> + +<P> +"What?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +He smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall whisper it here, but some day I shall stand upon the dome of +the Temple of Reward and shout it to cheering multitudes below." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" asked Kantos Kan. +</P> + +<P> +"John Carter, Jeddak of Helium," said Hor Vastus in a low voice. +</P> + +<P> +The eyes of my companions lighted, and grim smiles of pleasure and +anticipation overspread their faces, as each eye turned toward me +questioningly. But I shook my head. +</P> + +<P> +"No, my friends," I said, smiling, "I thank you, but it cannot be. Not +yet, at least. When we know that Tardos Mors and Mors Kajak are gone +to return no more; if I be here, then I shall join you all to see that +the people of Helium are permitted to choose fairly their next Jeddak. +Whom they choose may count upon the loyalty of my sword, nor shall I +seek the honour for myself. Until then Tardos Mors is Jeddak of +Helium, and Zat Arrras is his representative." +</P> + +<P> +"As you will, John Carter," said Hor Vastus, "but—What was that?" he +whispered, pointing toward the window overlooking the gardens. +</P> + +<P> +The words were scarce out of his mouth ere he had sprung to the balcony +without. +</P> + +<P> +"There he goes!" he cried excitedly. "The guards! Below there! The +guards!" +</P> + +<P> +We were close behind him, and all saw the figure of a man run quickly +across a little piece of sward and disappear in the shrubbery beyond. +</P> + +<P> +"He was on the balcony when I first saw him," cried Hor Vastus. +"Quick! Let us follow him!" +</P> + +<P> +Together we ran to the gardens, but even though we scoured the grounds +with the entire guard for hours, no trace could we find of the night +marauder. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you make of it, Kantos Kan?" asked Tars Tarkas. +</P> + +<P> +"A spy sent by Zat Arrras," he replied. "It was ever his way." +</P> + +<P> +"He will have something interesting to report to his master then," +laughed Hor Vastus. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope he heard only our references to a new Jeddak," I said. "If he +overheard our plans to rescue Dejah Thoris, it will mean civil war, for +he will attempt to thwart us, and in that I will not be thwarted. +There would I turn against Tardos Mors himself, were it necessary. If +it throws all Helium into a bloody conflict, I shall go on with these +plans to save my Princess. Nothing shall stay me now short of death, +and should I die, my friends, will you take oath to prosecute the +search for her and bring her back in safety to her grandfather's court?" +</P> + +<P> +Upon the hilt of his sword each of them swore to do as I had asked. +</P> + +<P> +It was agreed that the battleships that were to be remodelled should be +ordered to Hastor, another Heliumetic city, far to the south-west. +Kantos Kan thought that the docks there, in addition to their regular +work, would accommodate at least six battleships at a time. As he was +commander-in-chief of the navy, it would be a simple matter for him to +order the vessels there as they could be handled, and thereafter keep +the remodelled fleet in remote parts of the empire until we should be +ready to assemble it for the dash upon Omean. +</P> + +<P> +It was late that night before our conference broke up, but each man +there had his particular duties outlined, and the details of the entire +plan had been mapped out. +</P> + +<P> +Kantos Kan and Xodar were to attend to the remodelling of the ships. +Tars Tarkas was to get into communication with Thark and learn the +sentiments of his people toward his return from Dor. If favourable, he +was to repair immediately to Thark and devote his time to the +assembling of a great horde of green warriors whom it was our plan to +send in transports directly to the Valley Dor and the Temple of Issus, +while the fleet entered Omean and destroyed the vessels of the First +Born. +</P> + +<P> +Upon Hor Vastus devolved the delicate mission of organising a secret +force of fighting-men sworn to follow John Carter wherever he might +lead. As we estimated that it would require over a million men to man +the thousand great battleships we intended to use on Omean and the +transports for the green men as well as the ships that were to convoy +the transports, it was no trifling job that Hor Vastus had before him. +</P> + +<P> +After they had left I bid Carthoris good-night, for I was very tired, +and going to my own apartments, bathed and lay down upon my sleeping +silks and furs for the first good night's sleep I had had an +opportunity to look forward to since I had returned to Barsoom. But +even now I was to be disappointed. +</P> + +<P> +How long I slept I do not know. When I awoke suddenly it was to find a +half-dozen powerful men upon me, a gag already in my mouth, and a +moment later my arms and legs securely bound. So quickly had they +worked and to such good purpose, that I was utterly beyond the power to +resist them by the time I was fully awake. +</P> + +<P> +Never a word spoke they, and the gag effectually prevented me speaking. +Silently they lifted me and bore me toward the door of my chamber. As +they passed the window through which the farther moon was casting its +brilliant beams, I saw that each of the party had his face swathed in +layers of silk—I could not recognize one of them. +</P> + +<P> +When they had come into the corridor with me, they turned toward a +secret panel in the wall which led to the passage that terminated in +the pits beneath the palace. That any knew of this panel outside my +own household, I was doubtful. Yet the leader of the band did not +hesitate a moment. He stepped directly to the panel, touched the +concealed button, and as the door swung open he stood aside while his +companions entered with me. Then he closed the panel behind him and +followed us. +</P> + +<P> +Down through the passageways to the pits we went. The leader rapped +upon it with the hilt of his sword—three quick, sharp blows, a pause, +then three more, another pause, and then two. A second later the wall +swung in, and I was pushed within a brilliantly lighted chamber in +which sat three richly trapped men. +</P> + +<P> +One of them turned toward me with a sardonic smile upon his thin, cruel +lips—it was Zat Arrras. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BLACK DESPAIR +</H3> + +<P> +"Ah," said Zat Arrras, "to what kindly circumstance am I indebted for +the pleasure of this unexpected visit from the Prince of Helium?" +</P> + +<P> +While he was speaking, one of my guards had removed the gag from my +mouth, but I made no reply to Zat Arrras: simply standing there in +silence with level gaze fixed upon the Jed of Zodanga. And I doubt not +that my expression was coloured by the contempt I felt for the man. +</P> + +<P> +The eyes of those within the chamber were fixed first upon me and then +upon Zat Arrras, until finally a flush of anger crept slowly over his +face. +</P> + +<P> +"You may go," he said to those who had brought me, and when only his +two companions and ourselves were left in the chamber, he spoke to me +again in a voice of ice—very slowly and deliberately, with many +pauses, as though he would choose his words cautiously. +</P> + +<P> +"John Carter," he said, "by the edict of custom, by the law of our +religion, and by the verdict of an impartial court, you are condemned +to die. The people cannot save you—I alone may accomplish that. You +are absolutely in my power to do with as I wish—I may kill you, or I +may free you, and should I elect to kill you, none would be the wiser. +</P> + +<P> +"Should you go free in Helium for a year, in accordance with the +conditions of your reprieve, there is little fear that the people would +ever insist upon the execution of the sentence imposed upon you. +</P> + +<P> +"You may go free within two minutes, upon one condition. Tardos Mors +will never return to Helium. Neither will Mors Kajak, nor Dejah +Thoris. Helium must select a new Jeddak within the year. Zat Arrras +would be Jeddak of Helium. Say that you will espouse my cause. This +is the price of your freedom. I am done." +</P> + +<P> +I knew it was within the scope of Zat Arrras' cruel heart to destroy me, +and if I were dead I could see little reason to doubt that he might +easily become Jeddak of Helium. Free, I could prosecute the search for +Dejah Thoris. Were I dead, my brave comrades might not be able to +carry out our plans. So, by refusing to accede to his request, it was +quite probable that not only would I not prevent him from becoming +Jeddak of Helium, but that I would be the means of sealing Dejah +Thoris' fate—of consigning her, through my refusal, to the horrors of +the arena of Issus. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment I was perplexed, but for a moment only. The proud +daughter of a thousand Jeddaks would choose death to a dishonorable +alliance such as this, nor could John Carter do less for Helium than +his Princess would do. +</P> + +<P> +Then I turned to Zat Arrras. +</P> + +<P> +"There can be no alliance," I said, "between a traitor to Helium and a +prince of the House of Tardos Mors. I do not believe, Zat Arrras, that +the great Jeddak is dead." +</P> + +<P> +Zat Arrras shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"It will not be long, John Carter," he said, "that your opinions will +be of interest even to yourself, so make the best of them while you +can. Zat Arrras will permit you in due time to reflect further upon the +magnanimous offer he has made you. Into the silence and darkness of +the pits you will enter upon your reflection this night with the +knowledge that should you fail within a reasonable time to agree to the +alternative which has been offered you, never shall you emerge from the +darkness and the silence again. Nor shall you know at what minute the +hand will reach out through the darkness and the silence with the keen +dagger that shall rob you of your last chance to win again the warmth +and the freedom and joyousness of the outer world." +</P> + +<P> +Zat Arrras clapped his hands as he ceased speaking. The guards returned. +</P> + +<P> +Zat Arrras waved his hand in my direction. +</P> + +<P> +"To the pits," he said. That was all. Four men accompanied me from +the chamber, and with a radium hand-light to illumine the way, escorted +me through seemingly interminable tunnels, down, ever down beneath the +city of Helium. +</P> + +<P> +At length they halted within a fair-sized chamber. There were rings +set in the rocky walls. To them chains were fastened, and at the ends +of many of the chains were human skeletons. One of these they kicked +aside, and, unlocking the huge padlock that had held a chain about what +had once been a human ankle, they snapped the iron band about my own +leg. Then they left me, taking the light with them. +</P> + +<P> +Utter darkness prevailed. For a few minutes I could hear the clanking +of accoutrements, but even this grew fainter and fainter, until at last +the silence was as complete as the darkness. I was alone with my +gruesome companions—with the bones of dead men whose fate was likely +but the index of my own. +</P> + +<P> +How long I stood listening in the darkness I do not know, but the +silence was unbroken, and at last I sunk to the hard floor of my +prison, where, leaning my head against the stony wall, I slept. +</P> + +<P> +It must have been several hours later that I awakened to find a young +man standing before me. In one hand he bore a light, in the other a +receptacle containing a gruel-like mixture—the common prison fare of +Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +"Zat Arrras sends you greetings," said the young man, "and commands me +to inform you that though he is fully advised of the plot to make you +Jeddak of Helium, he is, however, not inclined to withdraw the offer +which he has made you. To gain your freedom you have but to request me +to advise Zat Arrras that you accept the terms of his proposition." +</P> + +<P> +I but shook my head. The youth said no more, and, after placing the +food upon the floor at my side, returned up the corridor, taking the +light with him. +</P> + +<P> +Twice a day for many days this youth came to my cell with food, and +ever the same greetings from Zat Arrras. For a long time I tried to +engage him in conversation upon other matters, but he would not talk, +and so, at length, I desisted. +</P> + +<P> +For months I sought to devise methods to inform Carthoris of my +whereabouts. For months I scraped and scraped upon a single link of +the massive chain which held me, hoping eventually to wear it through, +that I might follow the youth back through the winding tunnels to a +point where I could make a break for liberty. +</P> + +<P> +I was beside myself with anxiety for knowledge of the progress of the +expedition which was to rescue Dejah Thoris. I felt that Carthoris +would not let the matter drop, were he free to act, but in so far as I +knew, he also might be a prisoner in Zat Arrras' pits. +</P> + +<P> +That Zat Arrras' spy had overheard our conversation relative to the +selection of a new Jeddak, I knew, and scarcely a half-dozen minutes +prior we had discussed the details of the plan to rescue Dejah Thoris. +The chances were that that matter, too, was well known to him. +Carthoris, Kantos Kan, Tars Tarkas, Hor Vastus, and Xodar might even +now be the victims of Zat Arrras' assassins, or else his prisoners. +</P> + +<P> +I determined to make at least one more effort to learn something, and +to this end I adopted strategy when next the youth came to my cell. I +had noticed that he was a handsome fellow, about the size and age of +Carthoris. And I had also noticed that his shabby trappings but illy +comported with his dignified and noble bearing. +</P> + +<P> +It was with these observations as a basis that I opened my negotiations +with him upon his next subsequent visit. +</P> + +<P> +"You have been very kind to me during my imprisonment here," I said to +him, "and as I feel that I have at best but a very short time to live, +I wish, ere it is too late, to furnish substantial testimony of my +appreciation of all that you have done to render my imprisonment +bearable. +</P> + +<P> +"Promptly you have brought my food each day, seeing that it was pure +and of sufficient quantity. Never by word or deed have you attempted +to take advantage of my defenceless condition to insult or torture me. +You have been uniformly courteous and considerate—it is this more than +any other thing which prompts my feeling of gratitude and my desire to +give you some slight token of it. +</P> + +<P> +"In the guard-room of my palace are many fine trappings. Go thou there +and select the harness which most pleases you—it shall be yours. All +I ask is that you wear it, that I may know that my wish has been +realized. Tell me that you will do it." +</P> + +<P> +The boy's eyes had lighted with pleasure as I spoke, and I saw him +glance from his rusty trappings to the magnificence of my own. For a +moment he stood in thought before he spoke, and for that moment my +heart fairly ceased beating—so much for me there was which hung upon +the substance of his answer. +</P> + +<P> +"And I went to the palace of the Prince of Helium with any such demand, +they would laugh at me and, into the bargain, would more than likely +throw me headforemost into the avenue. No, it cannot be, though I +thank you for the offer. Why, if Zat Arrras even dreamed that I +contemplated such a thing he would have my heart cut out of me." +</P> + +<P> +"There can be no harm in it, my boy," I urged. "By night you may go to +my palace with a note from me to Carthoris, my son. You may read the +note before you deliver it, that you may know that it contains nothing +harmful to Zat Arrras. My son will be discreet, and so none but us +three need know. It is very simple, and such a harmless act that it +could be condemned by no one." +</P> + +<P> +Again he stood silently in deep thought. +</P> + +<P> +"And there is a jewelled short-sword which I took from the body of a +northern Jeddak. When you get the harness, see that Carthoris gives +you that also. With it and the harness which you may select there will +be no more handsomely accoutred warrior in all Zodanga. +</P> + +<P> +"Bring writing materials when you come next to my cell, and within a +few hours we shall see you garbed in a style befitting your birth and +carriage." +</P> + +<P> +Still in thought, and without speaking, he turned and left me. I could +not guess what his decision might be, and for hours I sat fretting over +the outcome of the matter. +</P> + +<P> +If he accepted a message to Carthoris it would mean to me that +Carthoris still lived and was free. If the youth returned wearing the +harness and the sword, I would know that Carthoris had received my note +and that he knew that I still lived. That the bearer of the note was a +Zodangan would be sufficient to explain to Carthoris that I was a +prisoner of Zat Arrras. +</P> + +<P> +It was with feelings of excited expectancy which I could scarce hide +that I heard the youth's approach upon the occasion of his next regular +visit. I did not speak beyond my accustomed greeting of him. As he +placed the food upon the floor by my side he also deposited writing +materials at the same time. +</P> + +<P> +My heart fairly bounded for joy. I had won my point. For a moment I +looked at the materials in feigned surprise, but soon I permitted an +expression of dawning comprehension to come into my face, and then, +picking them up, I penned a brief order to Carthoris to deliver to +Parthak a harness of his selection and the short-sword which I +described. That was all. But it meant everything to me and to +Carthoris. +</P> + +<P> +I laid the note open upon the floor. Parthak picked it up and, without +a word, left me. +</P> + +<P> +As nearly as I could estimate, I had at this time been in the pits for +three hundred days. If anything was to be done to save Dejah Thoris it +must be done quickly, for, were she not already dead, her end must soon +come, since those whom Issus chose lived but a single year. +</P> + +<P> +The next time I heard approaching footsteps I could scarce await to see +if Parthak wore the harness and the sword, but judge, if you can, my +chagrin and disappointment when I saw that he who bore my food was not +Parthak. +</P> + +<P> +"What has become of Parthak?" I asked, but the fellow would not answer, +and as soon as he had deposited my food, turned and retraced his steps +to the world above. +</P> + +<P> +Days came and went, and still my new jailer continued his duties, nor +would he ever speak a word to me, either in reply to the simplest +question or of his own initiative. +</P> + +<P> +I could only speculate on the cause of Parthak's removal, but that it +was connected in some way directly with the note I had given him was +most apparent to me. After all my rejoicing, I was no better off than +before, for now I did not even know that Carthoris lived, for if +Parthak had wished to raise himself in the estimation of Zat Arrras he +would have permitted me to go on precisely as I did, so that he could +carry my note to his master, in proof of his own loyalty and devotion. +</P> + +<P> +Thirty days had passed since I had given the youth the note. Three +hundred and thirty days had passed since my incarceration. As closely +as I could figure, there remained a bare thirty days ere Dejah Thoris +would be ordered to the arena for the rites of Issus. +</P> + +<P> +As the terrible picture forced itself vividly across my imagination, I +buried my face in my arms, and only with the greatest difficulty was it +that I repressed the tears that welled to my eyes despite my every +effort. To think of that beautiful creature torn and rended by the +cruel fangs of the hideous white apes! It was unthinkable. Such a +horrid fact could not be; and yet my reason told me that within thirty +days my incomparable Princess would be fought over in the arena of the +First Born by those very wild beasts; that her bleeding corpse would be +dragged through the dirt and the dust, until at last a part of it would +be rescued to be served as food upon the tables of the black nobles. +</P> + +<P> +I think that I should have gone crazy but for the sound of my +approaching jailer. It distracted my attention from the terrible +thoughts that had been occupying my entire mind. Now a new and grim +determination came to me. I would make one super-human effort to +escape. Kill my jailer by a ruse, and trust to fate to lead me to the +outer world in safety. +</P> + +<P> +With the thought came instant action. I threw myself upon the floor of +my cell close by the wall, in a strained and distorted posture, as +though I were dead after a struggle or convulsions. When he should +stoop over me I had but to grasp his throat with one hand and strike +him a terrific blow with the slack of my chain, which I gripped firmly +in my right hand for the purpose. +</P> + +<P> +Nearer and nearer came the doomed man. Now I heard him halt before me. +There was a muttered exclamation, and then a step as he came to my +side. I felt him kneel beside me. My grip tightened upon the chain. +He leaned close to me. I must open my eyes to find his throat, grasp +it, and strike one mighty final blow all at the same instant. +</P> + +<P> +The thing worked just as I had planned. So brief was the interval +between the opening of my eyes and the fall of the chain that I could +not check it, though in that minute interval I recognized the face so +close to mine as that of my son, Carthoris. +</P> + +<P> +God! What cruel and malign fate had worked to such a frightful end! +What devious chain of circumstances had led my boy to my side at this +one particular minute of our lives when I could strike him down and +kill him, in ignorance of his identity! A benign though tardy +Providence blurred my vision and my mind as I sank into unconsciousness +across the lifeless body of my only son. +</P> + +<P> +When I regained consciousness it was to feel a cool, firm hand pressed +upon my forehead. For an instant I did not open my eyes. I was +endeavouring to gather the loose ends of many thoughts and memories +which flitted elusively through my tired and overwrought brain. +</P> + +<P> +At length came the cruel recollection of the thing that I had done in +my last conscious act, and then I dared not to open my eyes for fear of +what I should see lying beside me. I wondered who it could be who +ministered to me. Carthoris must have had a companion whom I had not +seen. Well, I must face the inevitable some time, so why not now, and +with a sigh I opened my eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Leaning over me was Carthoris, a great bruise upon his forehead where +the chain had struck, but alive, thank God, alive! There was no one +with him. Reaching out my arms, I took my boy within them, and if ever +there arose from any planet a fervent prayer of gratitude, it was there +beneath the crust of dying Mars as I thanked the Eternal Mystery for my +son's life. +</P> + +<P> +The brief instant in which I had seen and recognized Carthoris before +the chain fell must have been ample to check the force of the blow. He +told me that he had lain unconscious for a time—how long he did not +know. +</P> + +<P> +"How came you here at all?" I asked, mystified that he had found me +without a guide. +</P> + +<P> +"It was by your wit in apprising me of your existence and imprisonment +through the youth, Parthak. Until he came for his harness and his +sword, we had thought you dead. When I had read your note I did as you +had bid, giving Parthak his choice of the harnesses in the guardroom, +and later bringing the jewelled short-sword to him; but the minute that +I had fulfilled the promise you evidently had made him, my obligation +to him ceased. Then I commenced to question him, but he would give me +no information as to your whereabouts. He was intensely loyal to Zat +Arrras. +</P> + +<P> +"Finally I gave him a fair choice between freedom and the pits beneath +the palace—the price of freedom to be full information as to where you +were imprisoned and directions which would lead us to you; but still he +maintained his stubborn partisanship. Despairing, I had him removed to +the pits, where he still is. +</P> + +<P> +"No threats of torture or death, no bribes, however fabulous, would +move him. His only reply to all our importunities was that whenever +Parthak died, were it to-morrow or a thousand years hence, no man could +truly say, 'A traitor is gone to his deserts.' +</P> + +<P> +"Finally, Xodar, who is a fiend for subtle craftiness, evolved a plan +whereby we might worm the information from him. And so I caused Hor +Vastus to be harnessed in the metal of a Zodangan soldier and chained +in Parthak's cell beside him. For fifteen days the noble Hor Vastus +has languished in the darkness of the pits, but not in vain. Little by +little he won the confidence and friendship of the Zodangan, until only +to-day Parthak, thinking that he was speaking not only to a countryman, +but to a dear friend, revealed to Hor Vastus the exact cell in which +you lay. +</P> + +<P> +"It took me but a short time to locate the plans of the pits of Helium +among the official papers. To come to you, though, was a trifle more +difficult matter. As you know, while all the pits beneath the city are +connected, there are but single entrances from those beneath each +section and its neighbour, and that at the upper level just underneath +the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, these openings which lead from contiguous pits to those +beneath government buildings are always guarded, and so, while I easily +came to the entrance to the pits beneath the palace which Zat Arrras is +occupying, I found there a Zodangan soldier on guard. There I left him +when I had gone by, but his soul was no longer with him. +</P> + +<P> +"And here I am, just in time to be nearly killed by you," he ended, +laughing. +</P> + +<P> +As he talked Carthoris had been working at the lock which held my +fetters, and now, with an exclamation of pleasure, he dropped the end +of the chain to the floor, and I stood up once more, freed from the +galling irons I had chafed in for almost a year. +</P> + +<P> +He had brought a long-sword and a dagger for me, and thus armed we set +out upon the return journey to my palace. +</P> + +<P> +At the point where we left the pits of Zat Arrras we found the body of +the guard Carthoris had slain. It had not yet been discovered, and, in +order to still further delay search and mystify the jed's people, we +carried the body with us for a short distance, hiding it in a tiny cell +off the main corridor of the pits beneath an adjoining estate. +</P> + +<P> +Some half-hour later we came to the pits beneath our own palace, and +soon thereafter emerged into the audience chamber itself, where we +found Kantos Kan, Tars Tarkas, Hor Vastus, and Xodar awaiting us most +impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +No time was lost in fruitless recounting of my imprisonment. What I +desired to know was how well the plans we had laid nearly a year ago +had been carried out. +</P> + +<P> +"It has taken much longer than we had expected," replied Kantos Kan. +"The fact that we were compelled to maintain utter secrecy has +handicapped us terribly. Zat Arrras' spies are everywhere. Yet, to the +best of my knowledge, no word of our real plans has reached the +villain's ear. +</P> + +<P> +"To-night there lies about the great docks at Hastor a fleet of a +thousand of the mightiest battleships that ever sailed above Barsoom, +and each equipped to navigate the air of Omean and the waters of Omean +itself. Upon each battleship there are five ten-man cruisers, and ten +five-man scouts, and a hundred one-man scouts; in all, one hundred and +sixteen thousand craft fitted with both air and water propellers. +</P> + +<P> +"At Thark lie the transports for the green warriors of Tars Tarkas, +nine hundred large troopships, and with them their convoys. Seven days +ago all was in readiness, but we waited in the hope that by so doing +your rescue might be encompassed in time for you to command the +expedition. It is well we waited, my Prince." +</P> + +<P> +"How is it, Tars Tarkas," I asked, "that the men of Thark take not the +accustomed action against one who returns from the bosom of Iss?" +</P> + +<P> +"They sent a council of fifty chieftains to talk with me here," replied +the Thark. "We are a just people, and when I had told them the entire +story they were as one man in agreeing that their action toward me +would be guided by the action of Helium toward John Carter. In the +meantime, at their request, I was to resume my throne as Jeddak of +Thark, that I might negotiate with neighboring hordes for warriors to +compose the land forces of the expedition. I have done that which I +agreed. Two hundred and fifty thousand fighting men, gathered from the +ice cap at the north to the ice cap at the south, and representing a +thousand different communities, from a hundred wild and warlike hordes, +fill the great city of Thark to-night. They are ready to sail for the +Land of the First Born when I give the word and fight there until I bid +them stop. All they ask is the loot they take and transportation to +their own territories when the fighting and the looting are over. I am +done." +</P> + +<P> +"And thou, Hor Vastus," I asked, "what has been thy success?" +</P> + +<P> +"A million veteran fighting-men from Helium's thin waterways man the +battleships, the transports, and the convoys," he replied. "Each is +sworn to loyalty and secrecy, nor were enough recruited from a single +district to cause suspicion." +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" I cried. "Each has done his duty, and now, Kantos Kan, may we +not repair at once to Hastor and get under way before to-morrow's sun?" +</P> + +<P> +"We should lose no time, Prince," replied Kantos Kan. "Already the +people of Hastor are questioning the purpose of so great a fleet fully +manned with fighting-men. I wonder much that word of it has not before +reached Zat Arrras. A cruiser awaits above at your own dock; let us +leave at—" A fusillade of shots from the palace gardens just without +cut short his further words. +</P> + +<P> +Together we rushed to the balcony in time to see a dozen members of my +palace guard disappear in the shadows of some distant shrubbery as in +pursuit of one who fled. Directly beneath us upon the scarlet sward a +handful of guardsmen were stooping above a still and prostrate form. +</P> + +<P> +While we watched they lifted the figure in their arms and at my command +bore it to the audience chamber where we had been in council. When +they stretched the body at our feet we saw that it was that of a red +man in the prime of life—his metal was plain, such as common soldiers +wear, or those who wish to conceal their identity. +</P> + +<P> +"Another of Zat Arrras' spies," said Hor Vastus. +</P> + +<P> +"So it would seem," I replied, and then to the guard: "You may remove +the body." +</P> + +<P> +"Wait!" said Xodar. "If you will, Prince, ask that a cloth and a +little thoat oil be brought." +</P> + +<P> +I nodded to one of the soldiers, who left the chamber, returning +presently with the things that Xodar had requested. The black kneeled +beside the body and, dipping a corner of the cloth in the thoat oil, +rubbed for a moment on the dead face before him. Then he turned to me +with a smile, pointing to his work. I looked and saw that where Xodar +had applied the thoat oil the face was white, as white as mine, and +then Xodar seized the black hair of the corpse and with a sudden wrench +tore it all away, revealing a hairless pate beneath. +</P> + +<P> +Guardsmen and nobles pressed close about the silent witness upon the +marble floor. Many were the exclamations of astonishment and +questioning wonder as Xodar's acts confirmed the suspicion which he had +held. +</P> + +<P> +"A thern!" whispered Tars Tarkas. +</P> + +<P> +"Worse than that, I fear," replied Xodar. "But let us see." +</P> + +<P> +With that he drew his dagger and cut open a locked pouch which had +dangled from the thern's harness, and from it he brought forth a +circlet of gold set with a large gem—it was the mate to that which I +had taken from Sator Throg. +</P> + +<P> +"He was a Holy Thern," said Xodar. "Fortunate indeed it is for us that +he did not escape." +</P> + +<P> +The officer of the guard entered the chamber at this juncture. +</P> + +<P> +"My Prince," he said, "I have to report that this fellow's companion +escaped us. I think that it was with the connivance of one or more of +the men at the gate. I have ordered them all under arrest." +</P> + +<P> +Xodar handed him the thoat oil and cloth. +</P> + +<P> +"With this you may discover the spy among you," he said. +</P> + +<P> +I at once ordered a secret search within the city, for every Martian +noble maintains a secret service of his own. +</P> + +<P> +A half-hour later the officer of the guard came again to report. This +time it was to confirm our worst fears—half the guards at the gate +that night had been therns disguised as red men. +</P> + +<P> +"Come!" I cried. "We must lose no time. On to Hastor at once. Should +the therns attempt to check us at the southern verge of the ice cap it +may result in the wrecking of all our plans and the total destruction +of the expedition." +</P> + +<P> +Ten minutes later we were speeding through the night toward Hastor, +prepared to strike the first blow for the preservation of Dejah Thoris. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE AIR BATTLE +</H3> + +<P> +Two hours after leaving my palace at Helium, or about midnight, Kantos +Kan, Xodar, and I arrived at Hastor. Carthoris, Tars Tarkas, and Hor +Vastus had gone directly to Thark upon another cruiser. +</P> + +<P> +The transports were to get under way immediately and move slowly south. +The fleet of battleships would overtake them on the morning of the +second day. +</P> + +<P> +At Hastor we found all in readiness, and so perfectly had Kantos Kan +planned every detail of the campaign that within ten minutes of our +arrival the first of the fleet had soared aloft from its dock, and +thereafter, at the rate of one a second, the great ships floated +gracefully out into the night to form a long, thin line which stretched +for miles toward the south. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until after we had entered the cabin of Kantos Kan that I +thought to ask the date, for up to now I was not positive how long I +had lain in the pits of Zat Arrras. When Kantos Kan told me, I realized +with a pang of dismay that I had misreckoned the time while I lay in +the utter darkness of my cell. Three hundred and sixty-five days had +passed—it was too late to save Dejah Thoris. +</P> + +<P> +The expedition was no longer one of rescue but of revenge. I did not +remind Kantos Kan of the terrible fact that ere we could hope to enter +the Temple of Issus, the Princess of Helium would be no more. In so +far as I knew she might be already dead, for I did not know the exact +date on which she first viewed Issus. +</P> + +<P> +What now the value of burdening my friends with my added personal +sorrows—they had shared quite enough of them with me in the past. +Hereafter I would keep my grief to myself, and so I said nothing to any +other of the fact that we were too late. The expedition could yet do +much if it could but teach the people of Barsoom the facts of the cruel +deception that had been worked upon them for countless ages, and thus +save thousands each year from the horrid fate that awaited them at the +conclusion of the voluntary pilgrimage. +</P> + +<P> +If it could open to the red men the fair Valley Dor it would have +accomplished much, and in the Land of Lost Souls between the Mountains +of Otz and the ice barrier were many broad acres that needed no +irrigation to bear rich harvests. +</P> + +<P> +Here at the bottom of a dying world was the only naturally productive +area upon its surface. Here alone were dews and rains, here alone was +an open sea, here was water in plenty; and all this was but the +stamping ground of fierce brutes and from its beauteous and fertile +expanse the wicked remnants of two once mighty races barred all the +other millions of Barsoom. Could I but succeed in once breaking down +the barrier of religious superstition which had kept the red races from +this El Dorado it would be a fitting memorial to the immortal virtues +of my Princess—I should have again served Barsoom and Dejah Thoris' +martyrdom would not have been in vain. +</P> + +<P> +On the morning of the second day we raised the great fleet of +transports and their consorts at the first flood of dawn, and soon were +near enough to exchange signals. I may mention here that +radio-aerograms are seldom if ever used in war time, or for the +transmission of secret dispatches at any time, for as often as one +nation discovers a new cipher, or invents a new instrument for wireless +purposes its neighbours bend every effort until they are able to +intercept and translate the messages. For so long a time has this gone +on that practically every possibility of wireless communication has +been exhausted and no nation dares transmit dispatches of importance in +this way. +</P> + +<P> +Tars Tarkas reported all well with the transports. The battleships +passed through to take an advanced position, and the combined fleets +moved slowly over the ice cap, hugging the surface closely to prevent +detection by the therns whose land we were approaching. +</P> + +<P> +Far in advance of all a thin line of one-man air scouts protected us +from surprise, and on either side they flanked us, while a smaller +number brought up the rear some twenty miles behind the transports. In +this formation we had progressed toward the entrance to Omean for +several hours when one of our scouts returned from the front to report +that the cone-like summit of the entrance was in sight. At almost the +same instant another scout from the left flank came racing toward the +flagship. +</P> + +<P> +His very speed bespoke the importance of his information. Kantos Kan +and I awaited him upon the little forward deck which corresponds with +the bridge of earthly battleships. Scarcely had his tiny flier come to +rest upon the broad landing-deck of the flagship ere he was bounding up +the stairway to the deck where we stood. +</P> + +<P> +"A great fleet of battleships south-south-east, my Prince," he cried. +"There must be several thousands and they are bearing down directly +upon us." +</P> + +<P> +"The thern spies were not in the palace of John Carter for nothing," +said Kantos Kan to me. "Your orders, Prince." +</P> + +<P> +"Dispatch ten battleships to guard the entrance to Omean, with orders +to let no hostile enter or leave the shaft. That will bottle up the +great fleet of the First Born. +</P> + +<P> +"Form the balance of the battleships into a great V with the apex +pointing directly south-south-east. Order the transports, surrounded +by their convoys, to follow closely in the wake of the battleships +until the point of the V has entered the enemies' line, then the V must +open outward at the apex, the battleships of each leg engage the enemy +fiercely and drive him back to form a lane through his line into which +the transports with their convoys must race at top speed that they may +gain a position above the temples and gardens of the therns. +</P> + +<P> +"Here let them land and teach the Holy Therns such a lesson in +ferocious warfare as they will not forget for countless ages. It had +not been my intention to be distracted from the main issue of the +campaign, but we must settle this attack with the therns once and for +all, or there will be no peace for us while our fleet remains near Dor, +and our chances of ever returning to the outer world will be greatly +minimized." +</P> + +<P> +Kantos Kan saluted and turned to deliver my instructions to his waiting +aides. In an incredibly short space of time the formation of the +battleships changed in accordance with my commands, the ten that were +to guard the way to Omean were speeding toward their destination, and +the troopships and convoys were closing up in preparation for the spurt +through the lane. +</P> + +<P> +The order of full speed ahead was given, the fleet sprang through the +air like coursing greyhounds, and in another moment the ships of the +enemy were in full view. They formed a ragged line as far as the eye +could reach in either direction and about three ships deep. So sudden +was our onslaught that they had no time to prepare for it. It was as +unexpected as lightning from a clear sky. +</P> + +<P> +Every phase of my plan worked splendidly. Our huge ships mowed their +way entirely through the line of thern battlecraft; then the V opened +up and a broad lane appeared through which the transports leaped toward +the temples of the therns which could now be plainly seen glistening in +the sunlight. By the time the therns had rallied from the attack a +hundred thousand green warriors were already pouring through their +courts and gardens, while a hundred and fifty thousand others leaned +from low swinging transports to direct their almost uncanny +marksmanship upon the thern soldiery that manned the ramparts, or +attempted to defend the temples. +</P> + +<P> +Now the two great fleets closed in a titanic struggle far above the +fiendish din of battle in the gorgeous gardens of the therns. Slowly +the two lines of Helium's battleships joined their ends, and then +commenced the circling within the line of the enemy which is so marked +a characteristic of Barsoomian naval warfare. +</P> + +<P> +Around and around in each other's tracks moved the ships under Kantos +Kan, until at length they formed nearly a perfect circle. By this time +they were moving at high speed so that they presented a difficult +target for the enemy. Broadside after broadside they delivered as each +vessel came in line with the ships of the therns. The latter attempted +to rush in and break up the formation, but it was like stopping a buzz +saw with the bare hand. +</P> + +<P> +From my position on the deck beside Kantos Kan I saw ship after ship of +the enemy take the awful, sickening dive which proclaims its total +destruction. Slowly we manoeuvered our circle of death until we hung +above the gardens where our green warriors were engaged. The order was +passed down for them to embark. Then they rose slowly to a position +within the centre of the circle. +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime the therns' fire had practically ceased. They had had +enough of us and were only too glad to let us go on our way in peace. +But our escape was not to be encompassed with such ease, for scarcely +had we gotten under way once more in the direction of the entrance to +Omean than we saw far to the north a great black line topping the +horizon. It could be nothing other than a fleet of war. +</P> + +<P> +Whose or whither bound, we could not even conjecture. When they had +come close enough to make us out at all, Kantos Kan's operator received +a radio-aerogram, which he immediately handed to my companion. He read +the thing and handed it to me. +</P> + +<P> +"Kantos Kan:" it read. "Surrender, in the name of the Jeddak of +Helium, for you cannot escape," and it was signed, "Zat Arrras." +</P> + +<P> +The therns must have caught and translated the message almost as soon +as did we, for they immediately renewed hostilities when they realized +that we were soon to be set upon by other enemies. +</P> + +<P> +Before Zat Arrras had approached near enough to fire a shot we were +again hotly engaged with the thern fleet, and as soon as he drew near +he too commenced to pour a terrific fusillade of heavy shot into us. +Ship after ship reeled and staggered into uselessness beneath the +pitiless fire that we were undergoing. +</P> + +<P> +The thing could not last much longer. I ordered the transports to +descend again into the gardens of the therns. +</P> + +<P> +"Wreak your vengeance to the utmost," was my message to the green +allies, "for by night there will be none left to avenge your wrongs." +</P> + +<P> +Presently I saw the ten battleships that had been ordered to hold the +shaft of Omean. They were returning at full speed, firing their stern +batteries almost continuously. There could be but one explanation. +They were being pursued by another hostile fleet. Well, the situation +could be no worse. The expedition already was doomed. No man that had +embarked upon it would return across that dreary ice cap. How I wished +that I might face Zat Arrras with my longsword for just an instant +before I died! It was he who had caused our failure. +</P> + +<P> +As I watched the oncoming ten I saw their pursuers race swiftly into +sight. It was another great fleet; for a moment I could not believe my +eyes, but finally I was forced to admit that the most fatal calamity +had overtaken the expedition, for the fleet I saw was none other than +the fleet of the First Born, that should have been safely bottled up in +Omean. What a series of misfortunes and disasters! What awful fate +hovered over me, that I should have been so terribly thwarted at every +angle of my search for my lost love! Could it be possible that the +curse of Issus was upon me! That there was, indeed, some malign +divinity in that hideous carcass! I would not believe it, and, +throwing back my shoulders, I ran to the deck below to join my men in +repelling boarders from one of the thern craft that had grappled us +broadside. In the wild lust of hand-to-hand combat my old dauntless +hopefulness returned. And as thern after thern went down beneath my +blade, I could almost feel that we should win success in the end, even +from apparent failure. +</P> + +<P> +My presence among the men so greatly inspirited them that they fell +upon the luckless whites with such terrible ferocity that within a few +moments we had turned the tables upon them and a second later as we +swarmed their own decks I had the satisfaction of seeing their +commander take the long leap from the bows of his vessel in token of +surrender and defeat. +</P> + +<P> +Then I joined Kantos Kan. He had been watching what had taken place on +the deck below, and it seemed to have given him a new thought. +Immediately he passed an order to one of his officers, and presently +the colours of the Prince of Helium broke from every point of the +flagship. A great cheer arose from the men of our own ship, a cheer +that was taken up by every other vessel of our expedition as they in +turn broke my colours from their upper works. +</P> + +<P> +Then Kantos Kan sprang his coup. A signal legible to every sailor of +all the fleets engaged in that fierce struggle was strung aloft upon +the flagship. +</P> + +<P> +"Men of Helium for the Prince of Helium against all his enemies," it +read. Presently my colours broke from one of Zat Arrras' ships. Then +from another and another. On some we could see fierce battles waging +between the Zodangan soldiery and the Heliumetic crews, but eventually +the colours of the Prince of Helium floated above every ship that had +followed Zat Arrras upon our trail—only his flagship flew them not. +</P> + +<P> +Zat Arrras had brought five thousand ships. The sky was black with the +three enormous fleets. It was Helium against the field now, and the +fight had settled to countless individual duels. There could be little +or no manoeuvering of fleets in that crowded, fire-split sky. +</P> + +<P> +Zat Arrras' flagship was close to my own. I could see the thin features +of the man from where I stood. His Zodangan crew was pouring broadside +after broadside into us and we were returning their fire with equal +ferocity. Closer and closer came the two vessels until but a few yards +intervened. Grapplers and boarders lined the contiguous rails of each. +We were preparing for the death struggle with our hated enemy. +</P> + +<P> +There was but a yard between the two mighty ships as the first +grappling irons were hurled. I rushed to the deck to be with my men as +they boarded. Just as the vessels came together with a slight shock, I +forced my way through the lines and was the first to spring to the deck +of Zat Arrras' ship. After me poured a yelling, cheering, cursing +throng of Helium's best fighting-men. Nothing could withstand them in +the fever of battle lust which enthralled them. +</P> + +<P> +Down went the Zodangans before that surging tide of war, and as my men +cleared the lower decks I sprang to the forward deck where stood Zat +Arrras. +</P> + +<P> +"You are my prisoner, Zat Arrras," I cried. "Yield and you shall have +quarter." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment I could not tell whether he contemplated acceding to my +demand or facing me with drawn sword. For an instant he stood +hesitating, and then throwing down his arms he turned and rushed to the +opposite side of the deck. Before I could overtake him he had sprung +to the rail and hurled himself headforemost into the awful depths below. +</P> + +<P> +And thus came Zat Arrras, Jed of Zodanga, to his end. +</P> + +<P> +On and on went that strange battle. The therns and blacks had not +combined against us. Wherever thern ship met ship of the First Born +was a battle royal, and in this I thought I saw our salvation. +Wherever messages could be passed between us that could not be +intercepted by our enemies I passed the word that all our vessels were +to withdraw from the fight as rapidly as possible, taking a position to +the west and south of the combatants. I also sent an air scout to the +fighting green men in the gardens below to re-embark, and to the +transports to join us. +</P> + +<P> +My commanders were further instructed that when engaged with an enemy +to draw him as rapidly as possible toward a ship of his hereditary +foeman, and by careful manoeuvring to force the two to engage, thus +leaving himself free to withdraw. This stratagem worked to +perfection, and just before the sun went down I had the satisfaction of +seeing all that was left of my once mighty fleet gathered nearly twenty +miles southwest of the still terrific battle between the blacks and +whites. +</P> + +<P> +I now transferred Xodar to another battleship and sent him with all the +transports and five thousand battleships directly overhead to the +Temple of Issus. Carthoris and I, with Kantos Kan, took the remaining +ships and headed for the entrance to Omean. +</P> + +<P> +Our plan now was to attempt to make a combined assault upon Issus at +dawn of the following day. Tars Tarkas with his green warriors and Hor +Vastus with the red men, guided by Xodar, were to land within the +garden of Issus or the surrounding plains; while Carthoris, Kantos Kan, +and I were to lead our smaller force from the sea of Omean through the +pits beneath the temple, which Carthoris knew so well. +</P> + +<P> +I now learned for the first time the cause of my ten ships' retreat +from the mouth of the shaft. It seemed that when they had come upon +the shaft the navy of the First Born were already issuing from its +mouth. Fully twenty vessels had emerged, and though they gave battle +immediately in an effort to stem the tide that rolled from the black +pit, the odds against them were too great and they were forced to flee. +</P> + +<P> +With great caution we approached the shaft, under cover of darkness. +At a distance of several miles I caused the fleet to be halted, and +from there Carthoris went ahead alone upon a one-man flier to +reconnoitre. In perhaps half an hour he returned to report that there +was no sign of a patrol boat or of the enemy in any form, and so we +moved swiftly and noiselessly forward once more toward Omean. +</P> + +<P> +At the mouth of the shaft we stopped again for a moment for all the +vessels to reach their previously appointed stations, then with the +flagship I dropped quickly into the black depths, while one by one the +other vessels followed me in quick succession. +</P> + +<P> +We had decided to stake all on the chance that we would be able to +reach the temple by the subterranean way and so we left no guard of +vessels at the shaft's mouth. Nor would it have profited us any to +have done so, for we did not have sufficient force all told to have +withstood the vast navy of the First Born had they returned to engage +us. +</P> + +<P> +For the safety of our entrance upon Omean we depended largely upon the +very boldness of it, believing that it would be some little time before +the First Born on guard there would realize that it was an enemy and +not their own returning fleet that was entering the vault of the buried +sea. +</P> + +<P> +And such proved to be the case. In fact, four hundred of my fleet of +five hundred rested safely upon the bosom of Omean before the first +shot was fired. The battle was short and hot, but there could have +been but one outcome, for the First Born in the carelessness of fancied +security had left but a handful of ancient and obsolete hulks to guard +their mighty harbour. +</P> + +<P> +It was at Carthoris' suggestion that we landed our prisoners under +guard upon a couple of the larger islands, and then towed the ships of +the First Born to the shaft, where we managed to wedge a number of them +securely in the interior of the great well. Then we turned on the +buoyance rays in the balance of them and let them rise by themselves to +further block the passage to Omean as they came into contact with the +vessels already lodged there. +</P> + +<P> +We now felt that it would be some time at least before the returning +First Born could reach the surface of Omean, and that we would have +ample opportunity to make for the subterranean passages which lead to +Issus. One of the first steps I took was to hasten personally with a +good-sized force to the island of the submarine, which I took without +resistance on the part of the small guard there. +</P> + +<P> +I found the submarine in its pool, and at once placed a strong guard +upon it and the island, where I remained to wait the coming of +Carthoris and the others. +</P> + +<P> +Among the prisoners was Yersted, commander of the submarine. He +recognized me from the three trips that I had taken with him during my +captivity among the First Born. +</P> + +<P> +"How does it seem," I asked him, "to have the tables turned? To be +prisoner of your erstwhile captive?" +</P> + +<P> +He smiled, a very grim smile pregnant with hidden meaning. +</P> + +<P> +"It will not be for long, John Carter," he replied. "We have been +expecting you and we are prepared." +</P> + +<P> +"So it would appear," I answered, "for you were all ready to become my +prisoners with scarce a blow struck on either side." +</P> + +<P> +"The fleet must have missed you," he said, "but it will return to +Omean, and then that will be a very different matter—for John Carter." +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know that the fleet has missed me as yet," I said, but of +course he did not grasp my meaning, and only looked puzzled. +</P> + +<P> +"Many prisoners travel to Issus in your grim craft, Yersted?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Very many," he assented. +</P> + +<P> +"Might you remember one whom men called Dejah Thoris?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, indeed, for her great beauty, and then, too, for the fact that +she was wife to the first mortal that ever escaped from Issus through +all the countless ages of her godhood. And the way that Issus +remembers her best as the wife of one and the mother of another who +raised their hands against the Goddess of Life Eternal." +</P> + +<P> +I shuddered for fear of the cowardly revenge that I knew Issus might +have taken upon the innocent Dejah Thoris for the sacrilege of her son +and her husband. +</P> + +<P> +"And where is Dejah Thoris now?" I asked, knowing that he would say the +words I most dreaded, but yet I loved her so that I could not refrain +from hearing even the worst about her fate so that it fell from the +lips of one who had seen her but recently. It was to me as though it +brought her closer to me. +</P> + +<P> +"Yesterday the monthly rites of Issus were held," replied Yersted, "and +I saw her then sitting in her accustomed place at the foot of Issus." +</P> + +<P> +"What," I cried, "she is not dead, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, no," replied the black, "it has been no year since she gazed upon +the divine glory of the radiant face of—" +</P> + +<P> +"No year?" I interrupted. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, no," insisted Yersted. "It cannot have been upward of three +hundred and seventy or eighty days." +</P> + +<P> +A great light burst upon me. How stupid I had been! I could scarcely +retain an outward exhibition of my great joy. Why had I forgotten the +great difference in the length of Martian and Earthly years! The ten +Earth years I had spent upon Barsoom had encompassed but five years and +ninety-six days of Martian time, whose days are forty-one minutes +longer than ours, and whose years number six hundred and eighty-seven +days. +</P> + +<P> +I am in time! I am in time! The words surged through my brain again +and again, until at last I must have voiced them audibly, for Yersted +shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"In time to save your Princess?" he asked, and then without waiting for +my reply, "No, John Carter, Issus will not give up her own. She knows +that you are coming, and ere ever a vandal foot is set within the +precincts of the Temple of Issus, if such a calamity should befall, +Dejah Thoris will be put away for ever from the last faint hope of +rescue." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean that she will be killed merely to thwart me?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Not that, other than as a last resort," he replied. "Hast ever heard +of the Temple of the Sun? It is there that they will put her. It lies +far within the inner court of the Temple of Issus, a little temple that +raises a thin spire far above the spires and minarets of the great +temple that surrounds it. Beneath it, in the ground, there lies the +main body of the temple consisting in six hundred and eighty-seven +circular chambers, one below another. To each chamber a single +corridor leads through solid rock from the pits of Issus. +</P> + +<P> +"As the entire Temple of the Sun revolves once with each revolution of +Barsoom about the sun, but once each year does the entrance to each +separate chamber come opposite the mouth of the corridor which forms +its only link to the world without. +</P> + +<P> +"Here Issus puts those who displease her, but whom she does not care to +execute forthwith. Or to punish a noble of the First Born she may +cause him to be placed within a chamber of the Temple of the Sun for a +year. Ofttimes she imprisons an executioner with the condemned, that +death may come in a certain horrible form upon a given day, or again +but enough food is deposited in the chamber to sustain life but the +number of days that Issus has allotted for mental anguish. +</P> + +<P> +"Thus will Dejah Thoris die, and her fate will be sealed by the first +alien foot that crosses the threshold of Issus." +</P> + +<P> +So I was to be thwarted in the end, although I had performed the +miraculous and come within a few short moments of my divine Princess, +yet was I as far from her as when I stood upon the banks of the Hudson +forty-eight million miles away. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THROUGH FLOOD AND FLAME +</H3> + +<P> +Yersted's information convinced me that there was no time to be lost. +I must reach the Temple of Issus secretly before the forces under Tars +Tarkas assaulted at dawn. Once within its hated walls I was positive +that I could overcome the guards of Issus and bear away my Princess, +for at my back I would have a force ample for the occasion. +</P> + +<P> +No sooner had Carthoris and the others joined me than we commenced the +transportation of our men through the submerged passage to the mouth of +the gangways which lead from the submarine pool at the temple end of +the watery tunnel to the pits of Issus. +</P> + +<P> +Many trips were required, but at last all stood safely together again +at the beginning of the end of our quest. Five thousand strong we +were, all seasoned fighting-men of the most warlike race of the red men +of Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +As Carthoris alone knew the hidden ways of the tunnels we could not +divide the party and attack the temple at several points at once as +would have been most desirable, and so it was decided that he lead us +all as quickly as possible to a point near the temple's centre. +</P> + +<P> +As we were about to leave the pool and enter the corridor, an officer +called my attention to the waters upon which the submarine floated. At +first they seemed to be merely agitated as from the movement of some +great body beneath the surface, and I at once conjectured that another +submarine was rising to the surface in pursuit of us; but presently it +became apparent that the level of the waters was rising, not with +extreme rapidity, but very surely, and that soon they would overflow +the sides of the pool and submerge the floor of the chamber. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment I did not fully grasp the terrible import of the slowly +rising water. It was Carthoris who realized the full meaning of the +thing—its cause and the reason for it. +</P> + +<P> +"Haste!" he cried. "If we delay, we all are lost. The pumps of Omean +have been stopped. They would drown us like rats in a trap. We must +reach the upper levels of the pits in advance of the flood or we shall +never reach them. Come." +</P> + +<P> +"Lead the way, Carthoris," I cried. "We will follow." +</P> + +<P> +At my command, the youth leaped into one of the corridors, and in +column of twos the soldiers followed him in good order, each company +entering the corridor only at the command of its dwar, or captain. +</P> + +<P> +Before the last company filed from the chamber the water was ankle +deep, and that the men were nervous was quite evident. Entirely +unaccustomed to water except in quantities sufficient for drinking and +bathing purposes the red Martians instinctively shrank from it in such +formidable depths and menacing activity. That they were undaunted +while it swirled and eddied about their ankles, spoke well for their +bravery and their discipline. +</P> + +<P> +I was the last to leave the chamber of the submarine, and as I followed +the rear of the column toward the corridor, I moved through water to my +knees. The corridor, too, was flooded to the same depth, for its floor +was on a level with the floor of the chamber from which it led, nor was +there any perceptible rise for many yards. +</P> + +<P> +The march of the troops through the corridor was as rapid as was +consistent with the number of men that moved through so narrow a +passage, but it was not ample to permit us to gain appreciably on the +pursuing tide. As the level of the passage rose, so, too, did the +waters rise until it soon became apparent to me, who brought up the +rear, that they were gaining rapidly upon us. I could understand the +reason for this, as with the narrowing expanse of Omean as the waters +rose toward the apex of its dome, the rapidity of its rise would +increase in inverse ratio to the ever-lessening space to be filled. +</P> + +<P> +Long ere the last of the column could hope to reach the upper pits +which lay above the danger point I was convinced that the waters would +surge after us in overwhelming volume, and that fully half the +expedition would be snuffed out. +</P> + +<P> +As I cast about for some means of saving as many as possible of the +doomed men, I saw a diverging corridor which seemed to rise at a steep +angle at my right. The waters were now swirling about my waist. The +men directly before me were quickly becoming panic-stricken. Something +must be done at once or they would rush forward upon their fellows in a +mad stampede that would result in trampling down hundreds beneath the +flood and eventually clogging the passage beyond any hope of retreat +for those in advance. +</P> + +<P> +Raising my voice to its utmost, I shouted my command to the dwars ahead +of me. +</P> + +<P> +"Call back the last twenty-five utans," I shouted. "Here seems a way +of escape. Turn back and follow me." +</P> + +<P> +My orders were obeyed by nearer thirty utans, so that some three +thousand men came about and hastened into the teeth of the flood to +reach the corridor up which I directed them. +</P> + +<P> +As the first dwar passed in with his utan I cautioned him to listen +closely for my commands, and under no circumstances to venture into the +open, or leave the pits for the temple proper until I should have come +up with him, "or you know that I died before I could reach you." +</P> + +<P> +The officer saluted and left me. The men filed rapidly past me and +entered the diverging corridor which I hoped would lead to safety. The +water rose breast high. Men stumbled, floundered, and went down. Many +I grasped and set upon their feet again, but alone the work was greater +than I could cope with. Soldiers were being swept beneath the boiling +torrent, never to rise. At length the dwar of the 10th utan took a +stand beside me. He was a valorous soldier, Gur Tus by name, and +together we kept the now thoroughly frightened troops in the semblance +of order and rescued many that would have drowned otherwise. +</P> + +<P> +Djor Kantos, son of Kantos Kan, and a padwar of the fifth utan joined +us when his utan reached the opening through which the men were +fleeing. Thereafter not a man was lost of all the hundreds that +remained to pass from the main corridor to the branch. +</P> + +<P> +As the last utan was filing past us the waters had risen until they +surged about our necks, but we clasped hands and stood our ground until +the last man had passed to the comparative safety of the new +passageway. Here we found an immediate and steep ascent, so that +within a hundred yards we had reached a point above the waters. +</P> + +<P> +For a few minutes we continued rapidly up the steep grade, which I +hoped would soon bring us quickly to the upper pits that let into the +Temple of Issus. But I was to meet with a cruel disappointment. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly I heard a cry of "fire" far ahead, followed almost at once by +cries of terror and the loud commands of dwars and padwars who were +evidently attempting to direct their men away from some grave danger. +At last the report came back to us. "They have fired the pits ahead." +"We are hemmed in by flames in front and flood behind." "Help, John +Carter; we are suffocating," and then there swept back upon us at the +rear a wave of dense smoke that sent us, stumbling and blinded, into a +choking retreat. +</P> + +<P> +There was naught to do other than seek a new avenue of escape. The +fire and smoke were to be feared a thousand times over the water, and +so I seized upon the first gallery which led out of and up from the +suffocating smoke that was engulfing us. +</P> + +<P> +Again I stood to one side while the soldiers hastened through on the +new way. Some two thousand must have passed at a rapid run, when the +stream ceased, but I was not sure that all had been rescued who had not +passed the point of origin of the flames, and so to assure myself that +no poor devil was left behind to die a horrible death, unsuccoured, I +ran quickly up the gallery in the direction of the flames which I could +now see burning with a dull glow far ahead. +</P> + +<P> +It was hot and stifling work, but at last I reached a point where the +fire lit up the corridor sufficiently for me to see that no soldier of +Helium lay between me and the conflagration—what was in it or upon the +far side I could not know, nor could any man have passed through that +seething hell of chemicals and lived to learn. +</P> + +<P> +Having satisfied my sense of duty, I turned and ran rapidly back to the +corridor through which my men had passed. To my horror, however, I +found that my retreat in this direction had been blocked—across the +mouth of the corridor stood a massive steel grating that had evidently +been lowered from its resting-place above for the purpose of +effectually cutting off my escape. +</P> + +<P> +That our principal movements were known to the First Born I could not +have doubted, in view of the attack of the fleet upon us the day +before, nor could the stopping of the pumps of Omean at the +psychological moment have been due to chance, nor the starting of a +chemical combustion within the one corridor through which we were +advancing upon the Temple of Issus been due to aught than +well-calculated design. +</P> + +<P> +And now the dropping of the steel gate to pen me effectually between +fire and flood seemed to indicate that invisible eyes were upon us at +every moment. What chance had I, then, to rescue Dejah Thoris were I +to be compelled to fight foes who never showed themselves. A thousand +times I berated myself for being drawn into such a trap as I might have +known these pits easily could be. Now I saw that it would have been +much better to have kept our force intact and made a concerted attack +upon the temple from the valley side, trusting to chance and our great +fighting ability to have overwhelmed the First Born and compelled the +safe delivery of Dejah Thoris to me. +</P> + +<P> +The smoke from the fire was forcing me further and further back down +the corridor toward the waters which I could hear surging through the +darkness. With my men had gone the last torch, nor was this corridor +lighted by the radiance of phosphorescent rock as were those of the +lower levels. It was this fact that assured me that I was not far from +the upper pits which lie directly beneath the temple. +</P> + +<P> +Finally I felt the lapping waters about my feet. The smoke was thick +behind me. My suffering was intense. There seemed but one thing to +do, and that to choose the easier death which confronted me, and so I +moved on down the corridor until the cold waters of Omean closed about +me, and I swam on through utter blackness toward—what? +</P> + +<P> +The instinct of self-preservation is strong even when one, unafraid and +in the possession of his highest reasoning faculties, knows that +death—positive and unalterable—lies just ahead. And so I swam slowly +on, waiting for my head to touch the top of the corridor, which would +mean that I had reached the limit of my flight and the point where I +must sink for ever to an unmarked grave. +</P> + +<P> +But to my surprise I ran against a blank wall before I reached a point +where the waters came to the roof of the corridor. Could I be +mistaken? I felt around. No, I had come to the main corridor, and +still there was a breathing space between the surface of the water and +the rocky ceiling above. And then I turned up the main corridor in the +direction that Carthoris and the head of the column had passed a +half-hour before. On and on I swam, my heart growing lighter at every +stroke, for I knew that I was approaching closer and closer to the +point where there would be no chance that the waters ahead could be +deeper than they were about me. I was positive that I must soon feel +the solid floor beneath my feet again and that once more my chance +would come to reach the Temple of Issus and the side of the fair +prisoner who languished there. +</P> + +<P> +But even as hope was at its highest I felt the sudden shock of contact +as my head struck the rocks above. The worst, then, had come to me. I +had reached one of those rare places where a Martian tunnel dips +suddenly to a lower level. Somewhere beyond I knew that it rose again, +but of what value was that to me, since I did not know how great the +distance that it maintained a level entirely beneath the surface of the +water! +</P> + +<P> +There was but a single forlorn hope, and I took it. Filling my lungs +with air, I dived beneath the surface and swam through the inky, icy +blackness on and on along the submerged gallery. Time and time again I +rose with upstretched hand, only to feel the disappointing rocks close +above me. +</P> + +<P> +Not for much longer would my lungs withstand the strain upon them. I +felt that I must soon succumb, nor was there any retreating now that I +had gone this far. I knew positively that I could never endure to +retrace my path now to the point from which I had felt the waters close +above my head. Death stared me in the face, nor ever can I recall a +time that I so distinctly felt the icy breath from his dead lips upon +my brow. +</P> + +<P> +One more frantic effort I made with my fast ebbing strength. Weakly I +rose for the last time—my tortured lungs gasped for the breath that +would fill them with a strange and numbing element, but instead I felt +the revivifying breath of life-giving air surge through my starving +nostrils into my dying lungs. I was saved. +</P> + +<P> +A few more strokes brought me to a point where my feet touched the +floor, and soon thereafter I was above the water level entirely, and +racing like mad along the corridor searching for the first doorway that +would lead me to Issus. If I could not have Dejah Thoris again I was +at least determined to avenge her death, nor would any life satisfy me +other than that of the fiend incarnate who was the cause of such +immeasurable suffering upon Barsoom. +</P> + +<P> +Sooner than I had expected I came to what appeared to me to be a sudden +exit into the temple above. It was at the right side of the corridor, +which ran on, probably, to other entrances to the pile above. +</P> + +<P> +To me one point was as good as another. What knew I where any of them +led! And so without waiting to be again discovered and thwarted, I ran +quickly up the short, steep incline and pushed open the doorway at its +end. +</P> + +<P> +The portal swung slowly in, and before it could be slammed against me I +sprang into the chamber beyond. Although not yet dawn, the room was +brilliantly lighted. Its sole occupant lay prone upon a low couch at +the further side, apparently in sleep. From the hangings and sumptuous +furniture of the room I judged it to be a living-room of some +priestess, possibly of Issus herself. +</P> + +<P> +At the thought the blood tingled through my veins. What, indeed, if +fortune had been kind enough to place the hideous creature alone and +unguarded in my hands. With her as hostage I could force acquiescence +to my every demand. Cautiously I approached the recumbent figure, on +noiseless feet. Closer and closer I came to it, but I had crossed but +little more than half the chamber when the figure stirred, and, as I +sprang, rose and faced me. +</P> + +<P> +At first an expression of terror overspread the features of the woman +who confronted me—then startled incredulity—hope—thanksgiving. +</P> + +<P> +My heart pounded within my breast as I advanced toward her—tears came +to my eyes—and the words that would have poured forth in a perfect +torrent choked in my throat as I opened my arms and took into them once +more the woman I loved—Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VICTORY AND DEFEAT +</H3> + +<P> +"John Carter, John Carter," she sobbed, with her dear head upon my +shoulder; "even now I can scarce believe the witness of my own eyes. +When the girl, Thuvia, told me that you had returned to Barsoom, I +listened, but I could not understand, for it seemed that such happiness +would be impossible for one who had suffered so in silent loneliness +for all these long years. At last, when I realized that it was truth, +and then came to know the awful place in which I was held prisoner, I +learned to doubt that even you could reach me here. +</P> + +<P> +"As the days passed, and moon after moon went by without bringing even +the faintest rumour of you, I resigned myself to my fate. And now that +you have come, scarce can I believe it. For an hour I have heard the +sounds of conflict within the palace. I knew not what they meant, but +I have hoped against hope that it might be the men of Helium headed by +my Prince. +</P> + +<P> +"And tell me, what of Carthoris, our son?" +</P> + +<P> +"He was with me less than an hour since, Dejah Thoris," I replied. "It +must have been he whose men you have heard battling within the +precincts of the temple. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is Issus?" I asked suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +Dejah Thoris shrugged her shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"She sent me under guard to this room just before the fighting began +within the temple halls. She said that she would send for me later. +She seemed very angry and somewhat fearful. Never have I seen her act +in so uncertain and almost terrified a manner. Now I know that it must +have been because she had learned that John Carter, Prince of Helium, +was approaching to demand an accounting of her for the imprisonment of +his Princess." +</P> + +<P> +The sounds of conflict, the clash of arms, the shouting and the +hurrying of many feet came to us from various parts of the temple. I +knew that I was needed there, but I dared not leave Dejah Thoris, nor +dared I take her with me into the turmoil and danger of battle. +</P> + +<P> +At last I bethought me of the pits from which I had just emerged. Why +not secrete her there until I could return and fetch her away in safety +and for ever from this awful place. I explained my plan to her. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment she clung more closely to me. +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot bear to be parted from you now, even for a moment, John +Carter," she said. "I shudder at the thought of being alone again +where that terrible creature might discover me. You do not know her. +None can imagine her ferocious cruelty who has not witnessed her daily +acts for over half a year. It has taken me nearly all this time to +realize even the things that I have seen with my own eyes." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall not leave you, then, my Princess," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +She was silent for a moment, then she drew my face to hers and kissed +me. +</P> + +<P> +"Go, John Carter," she said. "Our son is there, and the soldiers of +Helium, fighting for the Princess of Helium. Where they are you should +be. I must not think of myself now, but of them and of my husband's +duty. I may not stand in the way of that. Hide me in the pits, and +go." +</P> + +<P> +I led her to the door through which I had entered the chamber from +below. There I pressed her dear form to me, and then, though it tore +my heart to do it, and filled me only with the blackest shadows of +terrible foreboding, I guided her across the threshold, kissed her once +again, and closed the door upon her. +</P> + +<P> +Without hesitating longer, I hurried from the chamber in the direction +of the greatest tumult. Scarce half a dozen chambers had I traversed +before I came upon the theatre of a fierce struggle. The blacks were +massed at the entrance to a great chamber where they were attempting to +block the further progress of a body of red men toward the inner sacred +precincts of the temple. +</P> + +<P> +Coming from within as I did, I found myself behind the blacks, and, +without waiting to even calculate their numbers or the foolhardiness of +my venture, I charged swiftly across the chamber and fell upon them +from the rear with my keen long-sword. +</P> + +<P> +As I struck the first blow I cried aloud, "For Helium!" And then I +rained cut after cut upon the surprised warriors, while the reds +without took heart at the sound of my voice, and with shouts of "John +Carter! John Carter!" redoubled their efforts so effectually that +before the blacks could recover from their temporary demoralization +their ranks were broken and the red men had burst into the chamber. +</P> + +<P> +The fight within that room, had it had but a competent chronicler, +would go down in the annals of Barsoom as a historic memorial to the +grim ferocity of her warlike people. Five hundred men fought there +that day, the black men against the red. No man asked quarter or gave +it. As though by common assent they fought, as though to determine +once and for all their right to live, in accordance with the law of the +survival of the fittest. +</P> + +<P> +I think we all knew that upon the outcome of this battle would hinge +for ever the relative positions of these two races upon Barsoom. It +was a battle between the old and the new, but not for once did I +question the outcome of it. With Carthoris at my side I fought for the +red men of Barsoom and for their total emancipation from the throttling +bondage of a hideous superstition. +</P> + +<P> +Back and forth across the room we surged, until the floor was ankle +deep in blood, and dead men lay so thickly there that half the time we +stood upon their bodies as we fought. As we swung toward the great +windows which overlooked the gardens of Issus a sight met my gaze which +sent a wave of exultation over me. +</P> + +<P> +"Look!" I cried. "Men of the First Born, look!" +</P> + +<P> +For an instant the fighting ceased, and with one accord every eye +turned in the direction I had indicated, and the sight they saw was one +no man of the First Born had ever imagined could be. +</P> + +<P> +Across the gardens, from side to side, stood a wavering line of black +warriors, while beyond them and forcing them ever back was a great +horde of green warriors astride their mighty thoats. And as we +watched, one, fiercer and more grimly terrible than his fellows, rode +forward from the rear, and as he came he shouted some fierce command to +his terrible legion. +</P> + +<P> +It was Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, and as he couched his great +forty-foot metal-shod lance we saw his warriors do likewise. Then it +was that we interpreted his command. Twenty yards now separated the +green men from the black line. Another word from the great Thark, and +with a wild and terrifying battle-cry the green warriors charged. For +a moment the black line held, but only for a moment—then the fearsome +beasts that bore equally terrible riders passed completely through it. +</P> + +<P> +After them came utan upon utan of red men. The green horde broke to +surround the temple. The red men charged for the interior, and then we +turned to continue our interrupted battle; but our foes had vanished. +</P> + +<P> +My first thought was of Dejah Thoris. Calling to Carthoris that I had +found his mother, I started on a run toward the chamber where I had +left her, with my boy close beside me. After us came those of our +little force who had survived the bloody conflict. +</P> + +<P> +The moment I entered the room I saw that some one had been there since +I had left. A silk lay upon the floor. It had not been there before. +There were also a dagger and several metal ornaments strewn about as +though torn from their wearer in a struggle. But worst of all, the +door leading to the pits where I had hidden my Princess was ajar. +</P> + +<P> +With a bound I was before it, and, thrusting it open, rushed within. +Dejah Thoris had vanished. I called her name aloud again and again, +but there was no response. I think in that instant I hovered upon the +verge of insanity. I do not recall what I said or did, but I know that +for an instant I was seized with the rage of a maniac. +</P> + +<P> +"Issus!" I cried. "Issus! Where is Issus? Search the temple for her, +but let no man harm her but John Carter. Carthoris, where are the +apartments of Issus?" +</P> + +<P> +"This way," cried the boy, and, without waiting to know that I had +heard him, he dashed off at breakneck speed, further into the bowels of +the temple. As fast as he went, however, I was still beside him, +urging him on to greater speed. +</P> + +<P> +At last we came to a great carved door, and through this Carthoris +dashed, a foot ahead of me. Within, we came upon such a scene as I had +witnessed within the temple once before—the throne of Issus, with the +reclining slaves, and about it the ranks of soldiery. +</P> + +<P> +We did not even give the men a chance to draw, so quickly were we upon +them. With a single cut I struck down two in the front rank. And then +by the mere weight and momentum of my body, I rushed completely through +the two remaining ranks and sprang upon the dais beside the carved +sorapus throne. +</P> + +<P> +The repulsive creature, squatting there in terror, attempted to escape +me and leap into a trap behind her. But this time I was not to be +outwitted by any such petty subterfuge. Before she had half arisen I +had grasped her by the arm, and then, as I saw the guard starting to +make a concerted rush upon me from all sides, I whipped out my dagger +and, holding it close to that vile breast, ordered them to halt. +</P> + +<P> +"Back!" I cried to them. "Back! The first black foot that is planted +upon this platform sends my dagger into Issus' heart." +</P> + +<P> +For an instant they hesitated. Then an officer ordered them back, +while from the outer corridor there swept into the throne room at the +heels of my little party of survivors a full thousand red men under +Kantos Kan, Hor Vastus, and Xodar. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is Dejah Thoris?" I cried to the thing within my hands. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment her eyes roved wildly about the scene beneath her. I +think that it took a moment for the true condition to make any +impression upon her—she could not at first realize that the temple had +fallen before the assault of men of the outer world. When she did, +there must have come, too, a terrible realization of what it meant to +her—the loss of power—humiliation—the exposure of the fraud and +imposture which she had for so long played upon her own people. +</P> + +<P> +There was just one thing needed to complete the reality of the picture +she was seeing, and that was added by the highest noble of her +realm—the high priest of her religion—the prime minister of her +government. +</P> + +<P> +"Issus, Goddess of Death, and of Life Eternal," he cried, "arise in the +might of thy righteous wrath and with one single wave of thy omnipotent +hand strike dead thy blasphemers! Let not one escape. Issus, thy +people depend upon thee. Daughter of the Lesser Moon, thou only art +all-powerful. Thou only canst save thy people. I am done. We await +thy will. Strike!" +</P> + +<P> +And then it was that she went mad. A screaming, gibbering maniac +writhed in my grasp. It bit and clawed and scratched in impotent fury. +And then it laughed a weird and terrible laughter that froze the blood. +The slave girls upon the dais shrieked and cowered away. And the thing +jumped at them and gnashed its teeth and then spat upon them from +frothing lips. God, but it was a horrid sight. +</P> + +<P> +Finally, I shook the thing, hoping to recall it for a moment to +rationality. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is Dejah Thoris?" I cried again. +</P> + +<P> +The awful creature in my grasp mumbled inarticulately for a moment, +then a sudden gleam of cunning shot into those hideous, close-set eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Dejah Thoris? Dejah Thoris?" and then that shrill, unearthly laugh +pierced our ears once more. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Dejah Thoris—I know. And Thuvia, and Phaidor, daughter of Matai +Shang. They each love John Carter. Ha-ah! but it is droll. Together +for a year they will meditate within the Temple of the Sun, but ere the +year is quite gone there will be no more food for them. Ho-oh! what +divine entertainment," and she licked the froth from her cruel lips. +"There will be no more food—except each other. Ha-ah! Ha-ah!" +</P> + +<P> +The horror of the suggestion nearly paralysed me. To this awful fate +the creature within my power had condemned my Princess. I trembled in +the ferocity of my rage. As a terrier shakes a rat I shook Issus, +Goddess of Life Eternal. +</P> + +<P> +"Countermand your orders!" I cried. "Recall the condemned. Haste, or +you die!" +</P> + +<P> +"It is too late. Ha-ah! Ha-ah!" and then she commenced her gibbering +and shrieking again. +</P> + +<P> +Almost of its own volition, my dagger flew up above that putrid heart. +But something stayed my hand, and I am now glad that it did. It were a +terrible thing to have struck down a woman with one's own hand. But a +fitter fate occurred to me for this false deity. +</P> + +<P> +"First Born," I cried, turning to those who stood within the chamber, +"you have seen to-day the impotency of Issus—the gods are impotent. +Issus is no god. She is a cruel and wicked old woman, who has deceived +and played upon you for ages. Take her. John Carter, Prince of +Helium, would not contaminate his hand with her blood," and with that I +pushed the raving beast, whom a short half-hour before a whole world +had worshipped as divine, from the platform of her throne into the +waiting clutches of her betrayed and vengeful people. +</P> + +<P> +Spying Xodar among the officers of the red men, I called him to lead me +quickly to the Temple of the Sun, and, without waiting to learn what +fate the First Born would wreak upon their goddess, I rushed from the +chamber with Xodar, Carthoris, Hor Vastus, Kantos Kan, and a score of +other red nobles. +</P> + +<P> +The black led us rapidly through the inner chambers of the temple, +until we stood within the central court—a great circular space paved +with a transparent marble of exquisite whiteness. Before us rose a +golden temple wrought in the most wondrous and fanciful designs, inlaid +with diamond, ruby, sapphire, turquoise, emerald, and the thousand +nameless gems of Mars, which far transcend in loveliness and purity of +ray the most priceless stones of Earth. +</P> + +<P> +"This way," cried Xodar, leading us toward the entrance to a tunnel +which opened in the courtyard beside the temple. Just as we were on +the point of descending we heard a deep-toned roar burst from the +Temple of Issus, which we had but just quitted, and then a red man, +Djor Kantos, padwar of the fifth utan, broke from a nearby gate, crying +to us to return. +</P> + +<P> +"The blacks have fired the temple," he cried. "In a thousand places it +is burning now. Haste to the outer gardens, or you are lost." +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke we saw smoke pouring from a dozen windows looking out upon +the courtyard of the Temple of the Sun, and far above the highest +minaret of Issus hung an ever-growing pall of smoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Go back! Go back!" I cried to those who had accompanied me. "The +way! Xodar; point the way and leave me. I shall reach my Princess +yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Follow me, John Carter," replied Xodar, and without waiting for my +reply he dashed down into the tunnel at our feet. At his heels I ran +down through a half-dozen tiers of galleries, until at last he led me +along a level floor at the end of which I discerned a lighted chamber. +</P> + +<P> +Massive bars blocked our further progress, but beyond I saw her—my +incomparable Princess, and with her were Thuvia and Phaidor. When she +saw me she rushed toward the bars that separated us. Already the +chamber had turned upon its slow way so far that but a portion of the +opening in the temple wall was opposite the barred end of the corridor. +Slowly the interval was closing. In a short time there would be but a +tiny crack, and then even that would be closed, and for a long +Barsoomian year the chamber would slowly revolve until once more for a +brief day the aperture in its wall would pass the corridor's end. +</P> + +<P> +But in the meantime what horrible things would go on within that +chamber! +</P> + +<P> +"Xodar!" I cried. "Can no power stop this awful revolving thing? Is +there none who holds the secret of these terrible bars?" +</P> + +<P> +"None, I fear, whom we could fetch in time, though I shall go and make +the attempt. Wait for me here." +</P> + +<P> +After he had left I stood and talked with Dejah Thoris, and she +stretched her dear hand through those cruel bars that I might hold it +until the last moment. +</P> + +<P> +Thuvia and Phaidor came close also, but when Thuvia saw that we would +be alone she withdrew to the further side of the chamber. Not so the +daughter of Matai Shang. +</P> + +<P> +"John Carter," she said, "this be the last time that you shall see any +of us. Tell me that you love me, that I may die happy." +</P> + +<P> +"I love only the Princess of Helium," I replied quietly. "I am sorry, +Phaidor, but it is as I have told you from the beginning." +</P> + +<P> +She bit her lip and turned away, but not before I saw the black and +ugly scowl she turned upon Dejah Thoris. Thereafter she stood a little +way apart, but not so far as I should have desired, for I had many +little confidences to impart to my long-lost love. +</P> + +<P> +For a few minutes we stood thus talking in low tones. Ever smaller and +smaller grew the opening. In a short time now it would be too small +even to permit the slender form of my Princess to pass. Oh, why did +not Xodar haste. Above we could hear the faint echoes of a great +tumult. It was the multitude of black and red and green men fighting +their way through the fire from the burning Temple of Issus. +</P> + +<P> +A draught from above brought the fumes of smoke to our nostrils. As we +stood waiting for Xodar the smoke became thicker and thicker. +Presently we heard shouting at the far end of the corridor, and +hurrying feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Come back, John Carter, come back!" cried a voice, "even the pits are +burning." +</P> + +<P> +In a moment a dozen men broke through the now blinding smoke to my +side. There was Carthoris, and Kantos Kan, and Hor Vastus, and Xodar, +with a few more who had followed me to the temple court. +</P> + +<P> +"There is no hope, John Carter," cried Xodar. "The keeper of the keys +is dead and his keys are not upon his carcass. Our only hope is to +quench this conflagration and trust to fate that a year will find your +Princess alive and well. I have brought sufficient food to last them. +When this crack closes no smoke can reach them, and if we hasten to +extinguish the flames I believe they will be safe." +</P> + +<P> +"Go, then, yourself and take these others with you," I replied. "I +shall remain here beside my Princess until a merciful death releases me +from my anguish. I care not to live." +</P> + +<P> +As I spoke Xodar had been tossing a great number of tiny cans within +the prison cell. The remaining crack was not over an inch in width a +moment later. Dejah Thoris stood as close to it as she could, +whispering words of hope and courage to me, and urging me to save +myself. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly beyond her I saw the beautiful face of Phaidor contorted into +an expression of malign hatred. As my eyes met hers she spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Think not, John Carter, that you may so lightly cast aside the love of +Phaidor, daughter of Matai Shang. Nor ever hope to hold thy Dejah +Thoris in thy arms again. Wait you the long, long year; but know that +when the waiting is over it shall be Phaidor's arms which shall welcome +you—not those of the Princess of Helium. Behold, she dies!" +</P> + +<P> +And as she finished speaking I saw her raise a dagger on high, and then +I saw another figure. It was Thuvia's. As the dagger fell toward the +unprotected breast of my love, Thuvia was almost between them. A +blinding gust of smoke blotted out the tragedy within that fearsome +cell—a shriek rang out, a single shriek, as the dagger fell. +</P> + +<P> +The smoke cleared away, but we stood gazing upon a blank wall. The +last crevice had closed, and for a long year that hideous chamber would +retain its secret from the eyes of men. +</P> + +<P> +They urged me to leave. +</P> + +<P> +"In a moment it will be too late," cried Xodar. "There is, in fact, +but a bare chance that we can come through to the outer garden alive +even now. I have ordered the pumps started, and in five minutes the +pits will be flooded. If we would not drown like rats in a trap we +must hasten above and make a dash for safety through the burning +temple." +</P> + +<P> +"Go," I urged them. "Let me die here beside my Princess—there is no +hope or happiness elsewhere for me. When they carry her dear body from +that terrible place a year hence let them find the body of her lord +awaiting her." +</P> + +<P> +Of what happened after that I have only a confused recollection. It +seems as though I struggled with many men, and then that I was picked +bodily from the ground and borne away. I do not know. I have never +asked, nor has any other who was there that day intruded on my sorrow +or recalled to my mind the occurrences which they know could but at +best reopen the terrible wound within my heart. +</P> + +<P> +Ah! If I could but know one thing, what a burden of suspense would be +lifted from my shoulders! But whether the assassin's dagger reached +one fair bosom or another, only time will divulge. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Gods of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GODS OF MARS *** + +***** This file should be named 29405-h.htm or 29405-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/4/0/29405/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Gods of Mars + +Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs + +Illustrator: Frank E. Schoonover + +Release Date: July 14, 2009 [EBook #29405] +[Last updated: May 17, 2012] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GODS OF MARS *** + + + + +Thanks to Al Haines, based on the +non-illustrated version, at +https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/64 + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: The cold hollow eye of a revolver sought the center +of my forehead.] + + + + + +THE GODS OF MARS + + +BY + +EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS + + +AUTHOR OF + +TARZAN OF THE APES, +A PRINCESS OF MARS, Etc. + + + +FRONTISPIECE BY + +FRANK E. SCHOONOVER + + + +NEW YORK + +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +PUBLISHERS + + + + +Copyright + +A. C. McClurg & Co. + + +Published September, 1918 + + + + +CONTENTS + + I. The Plant Men + II. A Forest Battle + III. The Chamber of Mystery + IV. Thuvia + V. Corridors of Peril + VI. The Black Pirates of Barsoom + VII. A Fair Goddess + VIII. The Depths of Omean + IX. Issus, Goddess of Life Eternal + X. The Prison Isle of Shador + XI. When Hell Broke Loose + XII. Doomed to Die + XIII. A Break for Liberty + XIV. The Eyes in the Dark + XV. Flight and Pursuit + XVI. Under Arrest + XVII. The Death Sentence + XVIII. Sola's Story + XIX. Black Despair + XX. The Air Battle + XXI. Through Flood and Flame + XXII. Victory and Defeat + + + + +FOREWORD + + +Twelve years had passed since I had laid the body of my great-uncle, +Captain John Carter, of Virginia, away from the sight of men in that +strange mausoleum in the old cemetery at Richmond. + +Often had I pondered on the odd instructions he had left me governing +the construction of his mighty tomb, and especially those parts which +directed that he be laid in an _open_ casket and that the ponderous +mechanism which controlled the bolts of the vault's huge door be +accessible _only from the inside_. + +Twelve years had passed since I had read the remarkable manuscript of +this remarkable man; this man who remembered no childhood and who could +not even offer a vague guess as to his age; who was always young and +yet who had dandled my grandfather's great-grandfather upon his knee; +this man who had spent ten years upon the planet Mars; who had fought +for the green men of Barsoom and fought against them; who had fought +for and against the red men and who had won the ever beautiful Dejah +Thoris, Princess of Helium, for his wife, and for nearly ten years had +been a prince of the house of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium. + +Twelve years had passed since his body had been found upon the bluff +before his cottage overlooking the Hudson, and oft-times during these +long years I had wondered if John Carter were really dead, or if he +again roamed the dead sea bottoms of that dying planet; if he had +returned to Barsoom to find that he had opened the frowning portals of +the mighty atmosphere plant in time to save the countless millions who +were dying of asphyxiation on that far-gone day that had seen him +hurtled ruthlessly through forty-eight million miles of space back to +Earth once more. I had wondered if he had found his black-haired +Princess and the slender son he had dreamed was with her in the royal +gardens of Tardos Mors, awaiting his return. + +Or, had he found that he had been too late, and thus gone back to a +living death upon a dead world? Or was he really dead after all, never +to return either to his mother Earth or his beloved Mars? + +Thus was I lost in useless speculation one sultry August evening when +old Ben, my body servant, handed me a telegram. Tearing it open I read: + + +'Meet me to-morrow hotel Raleigh Richmond. + +'JOHN CARTER' + + +Early the next morning I took the first train for Richmond and within +two hours was being ushered into the room occupied by John Carter. + +As I entered he rose to greet me, his old-time cordial smile of welcome +lighting his handsome face. Apparently he had not aged a minute, but +was still the straight, clean-limbed fighting-man of thirty. His keen +grey eyes were undimmed, and the only lines upon his face were the +lines of iron character and determination that always had been there +since first I remembered him, nearly thirty-five years before. + +'Well, nephew,' he greeted me, 'do you feel as though you were seeing a +ghost, or suffering from the effects of too many of Uncle Ben's juleps?' + +'Juleps, I reckon,' I replied, 'for I certainly feel mighty good; but +maybe it's just the sight of you again that affects me. You have been +back to Mars? Tell me. And Dejah Thoris? You found her well and +awaiting you?' + +'Yes, I have been to Barsoom again, and--but it's a long story, too +long to tell in the limited time I have before I must return. I have +learned the secret, nephew, and I may traverse the trackless void at my +will, coming and going between the countless planets as I list; but my +heart is always in Barsoom, and while it is there in the keeping of my +Martian Princess, I doubt that I shall ever again leave the dying world +that is my life. + +'I have come now because my affection for you prompted me to see you +once more before you pass over for ever into that other life that I +shall never know, and which though I have died thrice and shall die +again to-night, as you know death, I am as unable to fathom as are you. + +'Even the wise and mysterious therns of Barsoom, that ancient cult +which for countless ages has been credited with holding the secret of +life and death in their impregnable fastnesses upon the hither slopes +of the Mountains of Otz, are as ignorant as we. I have proved it, +though I near lost my life in the doing of it; but you shall read it +all in the notes I have been making during the last three months that I +have been back upon Earth.' + +He patted a swelling portfolio that lay on the table at his elbow. + +'I know that you are interested and that you believe, and I know that +the world, too, is interested, though they will not believe for many +years; yes, for many ages, since they cannot understand. Earth men +have not yet progressed to a point where they can comprehend the things +that I have written in those notes. + +'Give them what you wish of it, what you think will not harm them, but +do not feel aggrieved if they laugh at you.' + +That night I walked down to the cemetery with him. At the door of his +vault he turned and pressed my hand. + +'Good-bye, nephew,' he said. 'I may never see you again, for I doubt +that I can ever bring myself to leave my wife and boy while they live, +and the span of life upon Barsoom is often more than a thousand years.' + +He entered the vault. The great door swung slowly to. The ponderous +bolts grated into place. The lock clicked. I have never seen Captain +John Carter, of Virginia, since. + +But here is the story of his return to Mars on that other occasion, as +I have gleaned it from the great mass of notes which he left for me +upon the table of his room in the hotel at Richmond. + +There is much which I have left out; much which I have not dared to +tell; but you will find the story of his second search for Dejah +Thoris, Princess of Helium, even more remarkable than was his first +manuscript which I gave to an unbelieving world a short time since and +through which we followed the fighting Virginian across dead sea +bottoms under the moons of Mars. + +E. R. B. + + + + +THE GODS OF MARS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE PLANT MEN + + +As I stood upon the bluff before my cottage on that clear cold night in +the early part of March, 1886, the noble Hudson flowing like the grey +and silent spectre of a dead river below me, I felt again the strange, +compelling influence of the mighty god of war, my beloved Mars, which +for ten long and lonesome years I had implored with outstretched arms +to carry me back to my lost love. + +Not since that other March night in 1866, when I had stood without that +Arizona cave in which my still and lifeless body lay wrapped in the +similitude of earthly death had I felt the irresistible attraction of +the god of my profession. + +With arms outstretched toward the red eye of the great star I stood +praying for a return of that strange power which twice had drawn me +through the immensity of space, praying as I had prayed on a thousand +nights before during the long ten years that I had waited and hoped. + +Suddenly a qualm of nausea swept over me, my senses swam, my knees gave +beneath me and I pitched headlong to the ground upon the very verge of +the dizzy bluff. + +Instantly my brain cleared and there swept back across the threshold of +my memory the vivid picture of the horrors of that ghostly Arizona +cave; again, as on that far-gone night, my muscles refused to respond +to my will and again, as though even here upon the banks of the placid +Hudson, I could hear the awful moans and rustling of the fearsome thing +which had lurked and threatened me from the dark recesses of the cave, +I made the same mighty and superhuman effort to break the bonds of the +strange anaesthesia which held me, and again came the sharp click as of +the sudden parting of a taut wire, and I stood naked and free beside +the staring, lifeless thing that had so recently pulsed with the warm, +red life-blood of John Carter. + +With scarcely a parting glance I turned my eyes again toward Mars, +lifted my hands toward his lurid rays, and waited. + +Nor did I have long to wait; for scarce had I turned ere I shot with +the rapidity of thought into the awful void before me. There was the +same instant of unthinkable cold and utter darkness that I had +experienced twenty years before, and then I opened my eyes in another +world, beneath the burning rays of a hot sun, which beat through a tiny +opening in the dome of the mighty forest in which I lay. + +The scene that met my eyes was so un-Martian that my heart sprang to my +throat as the sudden fear swept through me that I had been aimlessly +tossed upon some strange planet by a cruel fate. + +Why not? What guide had I through the trackless waste of +interplanetary space? What assurance that I might not as well be +hurtled to some far-distant star of another solar system, as to Mars? + +I lay upon a close-cropped sward of red grasslike vegetation, and about +me stretched a grove of strange and beautiful trees, covered with huge +and gorgeous blossoms and filled with brilliant, voiceless birds. I +call them birds since they were winged, but mortal eye ne'er rested on +such odd, unearthly shapes. + +The vegetation was similar to that which covers the lawns of the red +Martians of the great waterways, but the trees and birds were unlike +anything that I had ever seen upon Mars, and then through the further +trees I could see that most un-Martian of all sights--an open sea, its +blue waters shimmering beneath the brazen sun. + +As I rose to investigate further I experienced the same ridiculous +catastrophe that had met my first attempt to walk under Martian +conditions. The lesser attraction of this smaller planet and the +reduced air pressure of its greatly rarefied atmosphere, afforded so +little resistance to my earthly muscles that the ordinary exertion of +the mere act of rising sent me several feet into the air and +precipitated me upon my face in the soft and brilliant grass of this +strange world. + +This experience, however, gave me some slightly increased assurance +that, after all, I might indeed be in some, to me, unknown corner of +Mars, and this was very possible since during my ten years' residence +upon the planet I had explored but a comparatively tiny area of its +vast expanse. + +I arose again, laughing at my forgetfulness, and soon had mastered once +more the art of attuning my earthly sinews to these changed conditions. + +As I walked slowly down the imperceptible slope toward the sea I could +not help but note the park-like appearance of the sward and trees. The +grass was as close-cropped and carpet-like as some old English lawn and +the trees themselves showed evidence of careful pruning to a uniform +height of about fifteen feet from the ground, so that as one turned his +glance in any direction the forest had the appearance at a little +distance of a vast, high-ceiled chamber. + +All these evidences of careful and systematic cultivation convinced me +that I had been fortunate enough to make my entry into Mars on this +second occasion through the domain of a civilized people and that when +I should find them I would be accorded the courtesy and protection that +my rank as a Prince of the house of Tardos Mors entitled me to. + +The trees of the forest attracted my deep admiration as I proceeded +toward the sea. Their great stems, some of them fully a hundred feet +in diameter, attested their prodigious height, which I could only guess +at, since at no point could I penetrate their dense foliage above me to +more than sixty or eighty feet. + +As far aloft as I could see the stems and branches and twigs were as +smooth and as highly polished as the newest of American-made pianos. +The wood of some of the trees was as black as ebony, while their +nearest neighbours might perhaps gleam in the subdued light of the +forest as clear and white as the finest china, or, again, they were +azure, scarlet, yellow, or deepest purple. + +And in the same way was the foliage as gay and variegated as the stems, +while the blooms that clustered thick upon them may not be described in +any earthly tongue, and indeed might challenge the language of the gods. + +As I neared the confines of the forest I beheld before me and between +the grove and the open sea, a broad expanse of meadow land, and as I +was about to emerge from the shadows of the trees a sight met my eyes +that banished all romantic and poetic reflection upon the beauties of +the strange landscape. + +To my left the sea extended as far as the eye could reach, before me +only a vague, dim line indicated its further shore, while at my right a +mighty river, broad, placid, and majestic, flowed between scarlet banks +to empty into the quiet sea before me. + +At a little distance up the river rose mighty perpendicular bluffs, +from the very base of which the great river seemed to rise. + +But it was not these inspiring and magnificent evidences of Nature's +grandeur that took my immediate attention from the beauties of the +forest. It was the sight of a score of figures moving slowly about the +meadow near the bank of the mighty river. + +Odd, grotesque shapes they were; unlike anything that I had ever seen +upon Mars, and yet, at a distance, most manlike in appearance. The +larger specimens appeared to be about ten or twelve feet in height when +they stood erect, and to be proportioned as to torso and lower +extremities precisely as is earthly man. + +Their arms, however, were very short, and from where I stood seemed as +though fashioned much after the manner of an elephant's trunk, in that +they moved in sinuous and snakelike undulations, as though entirely +without bony structure, or if there were bones it seemed that they must +be vertebral in nature. + +As I watched them from behind the stem of a huge tree, one of the +creatures moved slowly in my direction, engaged in the occupation that +seemed to be the principal business of each of them, and which +consisted in running their oddly shaped hands over the surface of the +sward, for what purpose I could not determine. + +As he approached quite close to me I obtained an excellent view of him, +and though I was later to become better acquainted with his kind, I may +say that that single cursory examination of this awful travesty on +Nature would have proved quite sufficient to my desires had I been a +free agent. The fastest flier of the Heliumetic Navy could not quickly +enough have carried me far from this hideous creature. + +Its hairless body was a strange and ghoulish blue, except for a broad +band of white which encircled its protruding, single eye: an eye that +was all dead white--pupil, iris, and ball. + +Its nose was a ragged, inflamed, circular hole in the centre of its +blank face; a hole that resembled more closely nothing that I could +think of other than a fresh bullet wound which has not yet commenced to +bleed. + +Below this repulsive orifice the face was quite blank to the chin, for +the thing had no mouth that I could discover. + +The head, with the exception of the face, was covered by a tangled mass +of jet-black hair some eight or ten inches in length. Each hair was +about the bigness of a large angleworm, and as the thing moved the +muscles of its scalp this awful head-covering seemed to writhe and +wriggle and crawl about the fearsome face as though indeed each +separate hair was endowed with independent life. + +The body and the legs were as symmetrically human as Nature could have +fashioned them, and the feet, too, were human in shape, but of +monstrous proportions. From heel to toe they were fully three feet +long, and very flat and very broad. + +As it came quite close to me I discovered that its strange movements, +running its odd hands over the surface of the turf, were the result of +its peculiar method of feeding, which consists in cropping off the +tender vegetation with its razorlike talons and sucking it up from its +two mouths, which lie one in the palm of each hand, through its +arm-like throats. + +In addition to the features which I have already described, the beast +was equipped with a massive tail about six feet in length, quite round +where it joined the body, but tapering to a flat, thin blade toward the +end, which trailed at right angles to the ground. + +By far the most remarkable feature of this most remarkable creature, +however, were the two tiny replicas of it, each about six inches in +length, which dangled, one on either side, from its armpits. They were +suspended by a small stem which seemed to grow from the exact tops of +their heads to where it connected them with the body of the adult. + +Whether they were the young, or merely portions of a composite +creature, I did not know. + +As I had been scrutinizing this weird monstrosity the balance of the +herd had fed quite close to me and I now saw that while many had the +smaller specimens dangling from them, not all were thus equipped, and I +further noted that the little ones varied in size from what appeared to +be but tiny unopened buds an inch in diameter through various stages of +development to the full-fledged and perfectly formed creature of ten to +twelve inches in length. + +Feeding with the herd were many of the little fellows not much larger +than those which remained attached to their parents, and from the young +of that size the herd graded up to the immense adults. + +Fearsome-looking as they were, I did not know whether to fear them or +not, for they did not seem to be particularly well equipped for +fighting, and I was on the point of stepping from my hiding-place and +revealing myself to them to note the effect upon them of the sight of a +man when my rash resolve was, fortunately for me, nipped in the bud by +a strange shrieking wail, which seemed to come from the direction of +the bluffs at my right. + +Naked and unarmed, as I was, my end would have been both speedy and +horrible at the hands of these cruel creatures had I had time to put my +resolve into execution, but at the moment of the shriek each member of +the herd turned in the direction from which the sound seemed to come, +and at the same instant every particular snake-like hair upon their +heads rose stiffly perpendicular as if each had been a sentient +organism looking or listening for the source or meaning of the wail. +And indeed the latter proved to be the truth, for this strange growth +upon the craniums of the plant men of Barsoom represents the thousand +ears of these hideous creatures, the last remnant of the strange race +which sprang from the original Tree of Life. + +Instantly every eye turned toward one member of the herd, a large +fellow who evidently was the leader. A strange purring sound issued +from the mouth in the palm of one of his hands, and at the same time he +started rapidly toward the bluff, followed by the entire herd. + +Their speed and method of locomotion were both remarkable, springing as +they did in great leaps of twenty or thirty feet, much after the manner +of a kangaroo. + +They were rapidly disappearing when it occurred to me to follow them, +and so, hurling caution to the winds, I sprang across the meadow in +their wake with leaps and bounds even more prodigious than their own, +for the muscles of an athletic Earth man produce remarkable results +when pitted against the lesser gravity and air pressure of Mars. + +Their way led directly towards the apparent source of the river at the +base of the cliffs, and as I neared this point I found the meadow +dotted with huge boulders that the ravages of time had evidently +dislodged from the towering crags above. + +For this reason I came quite close to the cause of the disturbance +before the scene broke upon my horrified gaze. As I topped a great +boulder I saw the herd of plant men surrounding a little group of +perhaps five or six green men and women of Barsoom. + +That I was indeed upon Mars I now had no doubt, for here were members +of the wild hordes that people the dead sea bottoms and deserted cities +of that dying planet. + +Here were the great males towering in all the majesty of their imposing +height; here were the gleaming white tusks protruding from their +massive lower jaws to a point near the centre of their foreheads, the +laterally placed, protruding eyes with which they could look forward or +backward, or to either side without turning their heads, here the +strange antennae-like ears rising from the tops of their foreheads; and +the additional pair of arms extending from midway between the shoulders +and the hips. + +Even without the glossy green hide and the metal ornaments which +denoted the tribes to which they belonged, I would have known them on +the instant for what they were, for where else in all the universe is +their like duplicated? + +There were two men and four females in the party and their ornaments +denoted them as members of different hordes, a fact which tended to +puzzle me infinitely, since the various hordes of green men of Barsoom +are eternally at deadly war with one another, and never, except on that +single historic instance when the great Tars Tarkas of Thark gathered a +hundred and fifty thousand green warriors from several hordes to march +upon the doomed city of Zodanga to rescue Dejah Thoris, Princess of +Helium, from the clutches of Than Kosis, had I seen green Martians of +different hordes associated in other than mortal combat. + +But now they stood back to back, facing, in wide-eyed amazement, the +very evidently hostile demonstrations of a common enemy. + +Both men and women were armed with long-swords and daggers, but no +firearms were in evidence, else it had been short shrift for the +gruesome plant men of Barsoom. + +Presently the leader of the plant men charged the little party, and his +method of attack was as remarkable as it was effective, and by its very +strangeness was the more potent, since in the science of the green +warriors there was no defence for this singular manner of attack, the +like of which it soon was evident to me they were as unfamiliar with as +they were with the monstrosities which confronted them. + +The plant man charged to within a dozen feet of the party and then, +with a bound, rose as though to pass directly above their heads. His +powerful tail was raised high to one side, and as he passed close above +them he brought it down in one terrific sweep that crushed a green +warrior's skull as though it had been an eggshell. + +The balance of the frightful herd was now circling rapidly and with +bewildering speed about the little knot of victims. Their prodigious +bounds and the shrill, screeching purr of their uncanny mouths were +well calculated to confuse and terrorize their prey, so that as two of +them leaped simultaneously from either side, the mighty sweep of those +awful tails met with no resistance and two more green Martians went +down to an ignoble death. + +There were now but one warrior and two females left, and it seemed that +it could be but a matter of seconds ere these, also, lay dead upon the +scarlet sward. + +But as two more of the plant men charged, the warrior, who was now +prepared by the experiences of the past few minutes, swung his mighty +long-sword aloft and met the hurtling bulk with a clean cut that clove +one of the plant men from chin to groin. + +The other, however, dealt a single blow with his cruel tail that laid +both of the females crushed corpses upon the ground. + +As the green warrior saw the last of his companions go down and at the +same time perceived that the entire herd was charging him in a body, he +rushed boldly to meet them, swinging his long-sword in the terrific +manner that I had so often seen the men of his kind wield it in their +ferocious and almost continual warfare among their own race. + +Cutting and hewing to right and left, he laid an open path straight +through the advancing plant men, and then commenced a mad race for the +forest, in the shelter of which he evidently hoped that he might find a +haven of refuge. + +He had turned for that portion of the forest which abutted on the +cliffs, and thus the mad race was taking the entire party farther and +farther from the boulder where I lay concealed. + +As I had watched the noble fight which the great warrior had put up +against such enormous odds my heart had swelled in admiration for him, +and acting as I am wont to do, more upon impulse than after mature +deliberation, I instantly sprang from my sheltering rock and bounded +quickly toward the bodies of the dead green Martians, a well-defined +plan of action already formed. + +Half a dozen great leaps brought me to the spot, and another instant +saw me again in my stride in quick pursuit of the hideous monsters that +were rapidly gaining on the fleeing warrior, but this time I grasped a +mighty long-sword in my hand and in my heart was the old blood lust of +the fighting man, and a red mist swam before my eyes and I felt my lips +respond to my heart in the old smile that has ever marked me in the +midst of the joy of battle. + +Swift as I was I was none too soon, for the green warrior had been +overtaken ere he had made half the distance to the forest, and now he +stood with his back to a boulder, while the herd, temporarily balked, +hissed and screeched about him. + +With their single eyes in the centre of their heads and every eye +turned upon their prey, they did not note my soundless approach, so +that I was upon them with my great long-sword and four of them lay dead +ere they knew that I was among them. + +For an instant they recoiled before my terrific onslaught, and in that +instant the green warrior rose to the occasion and, springing to my +side, laid to the right and left of him as I had never seen but one +other warrior do, with great circling strokes that formed a figure +eight about him and that never stopped until none stood living to +oppose him, his keen blade passing through flesh and bone and metal as +though each had been alike thin air. + +As we bent to the slaughter, far above us rose that shrill, weird cry +which I had heard once before, and which had called the herd to the +attack upon their victims. Again and again it rose, but we were too +much engaged with the fierce and powerful creatures about us to attempt +to search out even with our eyes the author of the horrid notes. + +Great tails lashed in frenzied anger about us, razor-like talons cut +our limbs and bodies, and a green and sticky syrup, such as oozes from +a crushed caterpillar, smeared us from head to foot, for every cut and +thrust of our longswords brought spurts of this stuff upon us from the +severed arteries of the plant men, through which it courses in its +sluggish viscidity in lieu of blood. + +Once I felt the great weight of one of the monsters upon my back and as +keen talons sank into my flesh I experienced the frightful sensation of +moist lips sucking the lifeblood from the wounds to which the claws +still clung. + +I was very much engaged with a ferocious fellow who was endeavouring to +reach my throat from in front, while two more, one on either side, were +lashing viciously at me with their tails. + +The green warrior was much put to it to hold his own, and I felt that +the unequal struggle could last but a moment longer when the huge +fellow discovered my plight, and tearing himself from those that +surrounded him, he raked the assailant from my back with a single sweep +of his blade, and thus relieved I had little difficulty with the others. + +Once together, we stood almost back to back against the great boulder, +and thus the creatures were prevented from soaring above us to deliver +their deadly blows, and as we were easily their match while they +remained upon the ground, we were making great headway in dispatching +what remained of them when our attention was again attracted by the +shrill wail of the caller above our heads. + +This time I glanced up, and far above us upon a little natural balcony +on the face of the cliff stood a strange figure of a man shrieking out +his shrill signal, the while he waved one hand in the direction of the +river's mouth as though beckoning to some one there, and with the other +pointed and gesticulated toward us. + +A glance in the direction toward which he was looking was sufficient to +apprise me of his aims and at the same time to fill me with the dread +of dire apprehension, for, streaming in from all directions across the +meadow, from out of the forest, and from the far distance of the flat +land across the river, I could see converging upon us a hundred +different lines of wildly leaping creatures such as we were now engaged +with, and with them some strange new monsters which ran with great +swiftness, now erect and now upon all fours. + +"It will be a great death," I said to my companion. "Look!" + +As he shot a quick glance in the direction I indicated he smiled. + +"We may at least die fighting and as great warriors should, John +Carter," he replied. + +We had just finished the last of our immediate antagonists as he spoke, +and I turned in surprised wonderment at the sound of my name. + +And there before my astonished eyes I beheld the greatest of the green +men of Barsoom; their shrewdest statesman, their mightiest general, my +great and good friend, Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A FOREST BATTLE + + +Tars Tarkas and I found no time for an exchange of experiences as we +stood there before the great boulder surrounded by the corpses of our +grotesque assailants, for from all directions down the broad valley was +streaming a perfect torrent of terrifying creatures in response to the +weird call of the strange figure far above us. + +"Come," cried Tars Tarkas, "we must make for the cliffs. There lies +our only hope of even temporary escape; there we may find a cave or a +narrow ledge which two may defend for ever against this motley, unarmed +horde." + +Together we raced across the scarlet sward, I timing my speed that I +might not outdistance my slower companion. We had, perhaps, three +hundred yards to cover between our boulder and the cliffs, and then to +search out a suitable shelter for our stand against the terrifying +things that were pursuing us. + +They were rapidly overhauling us when Tars Tarkas cried to me to hasten +ahead and discover, if possible, the sanctuary we sought. The +suggestion was a good one, for thus many valuable minutes might be +saved to us, and, throwing every ounce of my earthly muscles into the +effort, I cleared the remaining distance between myself and the cliffs +in great leaps and bounds that put me at their base in a moment. + +The cliffs rose perpendicular directly from the almost level sward of +the valley. There was no accumulation of fallen debris, forming a more +or less rough ascent to them, as is the case with nearly all other +cliffs I have ever seen. The scattered boulders that had fallen from +above and lay upon or partly buried in the turf, were the only +indication that any disintegration of the massive, towering pile of +rocks ever had taken place. + +My first cursory inspection of the face of the cliffs filled my heart +with forebodings, since nowhere could I discern, except where the weird +herald stood still shrieking his shrill summons, the faintest +indication of even a bare foothold upon the lofty escarpment. + +To my right the bottom of the cliff was lost in the dense foliage of +the forest, which terminated at its very foot, rearing its gorgeous +foliage fully a thousand feet against its stern and forbidding +neighbour. + +To the left the cliff ran, apparently unbroken, across the head of the +broad valley, to be lost in the outlines of what appeared to be a range +of mighty mountains that skirted and confined the valley in every +direction. + +Perhaps a thousand feet from me the river broke, as it seemed, directly +from the base of the cliffs, and as there seemed not the remotest +chance for escape in that direction I turned my attention again toward +the forest. + +The cliffs towered above me a good five thousand feet. The sun was not +quite upon them and they loomed a dull yellow in their own shade. Here +and there they were broken with streaks and patches of dusky red, +green, and occasional areas of white quartz. + +Altogether they were very beautiful, but I fear that I did not regard +them with a particularly appreciative eye on this, my first inspection +of them. + +Just then I was absorbed in them only as a medium of escape, and so, as +my gaze ran quickly, time and again, over their vast expanse in search +of some cranny or crevice, I came suddenly to loathe them as the +prisoner must loathe the cruel and impregnable walls of his dungeon. + +Tars Tarkas was approaching me rapidly, and still more rapidly came the +awful horde at his heels. + +It seemed the forest now or nothing, and I was just on the point of +motioning Tars Tarkas to follow me in that direction when the sun +passed the cliff's zenith, and as the bright rays touched the dull +surface it burst out into a million scintillant lights of burnished +gold, of flaming red, of soft greens, and gleaming whites--a more +gorgeous and inspiring spectacle human eye has never rested upon. + +The face of the entire cliff was, as later inspection conclusively +proved, so shot with veins and patches of solid gold as to quite +present the appearance of a solid wall of that precious metal except +where it was broken by outcroppings of ruby, emerald, and diamond +boulders--a faint and alluring indication of the vast and unguessable +riches which lay deeply buried behind the magnificent surface. + +But what caught my most interested attention at the moment that the +sun's rays set the cliff's face a-shimmer, was the several black spots +which now appeared quite plainly in evidence high across the gorgeous +wall close to the forest's top, and extending apparently below and +behind the branches. + +Almost immediately I recognised them for what they were, the dark +openings of caves entering the solid walls--possible avenues of escape +or temporary shelter, could we but reach them. + +There was but a single way, and that led through the mighty, towering +trees upon our right. That I could scale them I knew full well, but +Tars Tarkas, with his mighty bulk and enormous weight, would find it a +task possibly quite beyond his prowess or his skill, for Martians are +at best but poor climbers. Upon the entire surface of that ancient +planet I never before had seen a hill or mountain that exceeded four +thousand feet in height above the dead sea bottoms, and as the ascent +was usually gradual, nearly to their summits they presented but few +opportunities for the practice of climbing. Nor would the Martians +have embraced even such opportunities as might present themselves, for +they could always find a circuitous route about the base of any +eminence, and these roads they preferred and followed in preference to +the shorter but more arduous ways. + +However, there was nothing else to consider than an attempt to scale +the trees contiguous to the cliff in an effort to reach the caves above. + +The Thark grasped the possibilities and the difficulties of the plan at +once, but there was no alternative, and so we set out rapidly for the +trees nearest the cliff. + +Our relentless pursuers were now close to us, so close that it seemed +that it would be an utter impossibility for the Jeddak of Thark to +reach the forest in advance of them, nor was there any considerable +will in the efforts that Tars Tarkas made, for the green men of Barsoom +do not relish flight, nor ever before had I seen one fleeing from death +in whatsoever form it might have confronted him. But that Tars Tarkas +was the bravest of the brave he had proven thousands of times; yes, +tens of thousands in countless mortal combats with men and beasts. And +so I knew that there was another reason than fear of death behind his +flight, as he knew that a greater power than pride or honour spurred me +to escape these fierce destroyers. In my case it was love--love of the +divine Dejah Thoris; and the cause of the Thark's great and sudden love +of life I could not fathom, for it is oftener that they seek death than +life--these strange, cruel, loveless, unhappy people. + +At length, however, we reached the shadows of the forest, while right +behind us sprang the swiftest of our pursuers--a giant plant man with +claws outreaching to fasten his bloodsucking mouths upon us. + +He was, I should say, a hundred yards in advance of his closest +companion, and so I called to Tars Tarkas to ascend a great tree that +brushed the cliff's face while I dispatched the fellow, thus giving the +less agile Thark an opportunity to reach the higher branches before the +entire horde should be upon us and every vestige of escape cut off. + +But I had reckoned without a just appreciation either of the cunning of +my immediate antagonist or the swiftness with which his fellows were +covering the distance which had separated them from me. + +As I raised my long-sword to deal the creature its death thrust it +halted in its charge and, as my sword cut harmlessly through the empty +air, the great tail of the thing swept with the power of a grizzly's +arm across the sward and carried me bodily from my feet to the ground. +In an instant the brute was upon me, but ere it could fasten its +hideous mouths into my breast and throat I grasped a writhing tentacle +in either hand. + +The plant man was well muscled, heavy, and powerful but my earthly +sinews and greater agility, in conjunction with the deathly strangle +hold I had upon him, would have given me, I think, an eventual victory +had we had time to discuss the merits of our relative prowess +uninterrupted. But as we strained and struggled about the tree into +which Tars Tarkas was clambering with infinite difficulty, I suddenly +caught a glimpse over the shoulder of my antagonist of the great swarm +of pursuers that now were fairly upon me. + +Now, at last, I saw the nature of the other monsters who had come with +the plant men in response to the weird calling of the man upon the +cliff's face. They were that most dreaded of Martian creatures--great +white apes of Barsoom. + +My former experiences upon Mars had familiarized me thoroughly with +them and their methods, and I may say that of all the fearsome and +terrible, weird and grotesque inhabitants of that strange world, it is +the white apes that come nearest to familiarizing me with the sensation +of fear. + +I think that the cause of this feeling which these apes engender within +me is due to their remarkable resemblance in form to our Earth men, +which gives them a human appearance that is most uncanny when coupled +with their enormous size. + +They stand fifteen feet in height and walk erect upon their hind feet. +Like the green Martians, they have an intermediary set of arms midway +between their upper and lower limbs. Their eyes are very close set, +but do not protrude as do those of the green men of Mars; their ears +are high set, but more laterally located than are the green men's, +while their snouts and teeth are much like those of our African +gorilla. Upon their heads grows an enormous shock of bristly hair. + +It was into the eyes of such as these and the terrible plant men that I +gazed above the shoulder of my foe, and then, in a mighty wave of +snarling, snapping, screaming, purring rage, they swept over me--and of +all the sounds that assailed my ears as I went down beneath them, to me +the most hideous was the horrid purring of the plant men. + +Instantly a score of cruel fangs and keen talons were sunk into my +flesh; cold, sucking lips fastened themselves upon my arteries. I +struggled to free myself, and even though weighed down by these immense +bodies, I succeeded in struggling to my feet, where, still grasping my +long-sword, and shortening my grip upon it until I could use it as a +dagger, I wrought such havoc among them that at one time I stood for an +instant free. + +What it has taken minutes to write occurred in but a few seconds, but +during that time Tars Tarkas had seen my plight and had dropped from +the lower branches, which he had reached with such infinite labour, and +as I flung the last of my immediate antagonists from me the great Thark +leaped to my side, and again we fought, back to back, as we had done a +hundred times before. + +Time and again the ferocious apes sprang in to close with us, and time +and again we beat them back with our swords. The great tails of the +plant men lashed with tremendous power about us as they charged from +various directions or sprang with the agility of greyhounds above our +heads; but every attack met a gleaming blade in sword hands that had +been reputed for twenty years the best that Mars ever had known; for +Tars Tarkas and John Carter were names that the fighting men of the +world of warriors loved best to speak. + +But even the two best swords in a world of fighters can avail not for +ever against overwhelming numbers of fierce and savage brutes that know +not what defeat means until cold steel teaches their hearts no longer +to beat, and so, step by step, we were forced back. At length we stood +against the giant tree that we had chosen for our ascent, and then, as +charge after charge hurled its weight upon us, we gave back again and +again, until we had been forced half-way around the huge base of the +colossal trunk. + +Tars Tarkas was in the lead, and suddenly I heard a little cry of +exultation from him. + +"Here is shelter for one at least, John Carter," he said, and, glancing +down, I saw an opening in the base of the tree about three feet in +diameter. + +"In with you, Tars Tarkas," I cried, but he would not go; saying that +his bulk was too great for the little aperture, while I might slip in +easily. + +"We shall both die if we remain without, John Carter; here is a slight +chance for one of us. Take it and you may live to avenge me, it is +useless for me to attempt to worm my way into so small an opening with +this horde of demons besetting us on all sides." + +"Then we shall die together, Tars Tarkas," I replied, "for I shall not +go first. Let me defend the opening while you get in, then my smaller +stature will permit me to slip in with you before they can prevent." + +We still were fighting furiously as we talked in broken sentences, +punctured with vicious cuts and thrusts at our swarming enemy. + +At length he yielded, for it seemed the only way in which either of us +might be saved from the ever-increasing numbers of our assailants, who +were still swarming upon us from all directions across the broad valley. + +"It was ever your way, John Carter, to think last of your own life," he +said; "but still more your way to command the lives and actions of +others, even to the greatest of Jeddaks who rule upon Barsoom." + +There was a grim smile upon his cruel, hard face, as he, the greatest +Jeddak of them all, turned to obey the dictates of a creature of +another world--of a man whose stature was less than half his own. + +"If you fail, John Carter," he said, "know that the cruel and heartless +Thark, to whom you taught the meaning of friendship, will come out to +die beside you." + +"As you will, my friend," I replied; "but quickly now, head first, +while I cover your retreat." + +He hesitated a little at that word, for never before in his whole life +of continual strife had he turned his back upon aught than a dead or +defeated enemy. + +"Haste, Tars Tarkas," I urged, "or we shall both go down to profitless +defeat; I cannot hold them for ever alone." + +As he dropped to the ground to force his way into the tree, the whole +howling pack of hideous devils hurled themselves upon me. To right and +left flew my shimmering blade, now green with the sticky juice of a +plant man, now red with the crimson blood of a great white ape; but +always flying from one opponent to another, hesitating but the barest +fraction of a second to drink the lifeblood in the centre of some +savage heart. + +And thus I fought as I never had fought before, against such frightful +odds that I cannot realize even now that human muscles could have +withstood that awful onslaught, that terrific weight of hurtling tons +of ferocious, battling flesh. + +With the fear that we would escape them, the creatures redoubled their +efforts to pull me down, and though the ground about me was piled high +with their dead and dying comrades, they succeeded at last in +overwhelming me, and I went down beneath them for the second time that +day, and once again felt those awful sucking lips against my flesh. + +But scarce had I fallen ere I felt powerful hands grip my ankles, and +in another second I was being drawn within the shelter of the tree's +interior. For a moment it was a tug of war between Tars Tarkas and a +great plant man, who clung tenaciously to my breast, but presently I +got the point of my long-sword beneath him and with a mighty thrust +pierced his vitals. + +Torn and bleeding from many cruel wounds, I lay panting upon the ground +within the hollow of the tree, while Tars Tarkas defended the opening +from the furious mob without. + +For an hour they howled about the tree, but after a few attempts to +reach us they confined their efforts to terrorizing shrieks and +screams, to horrid growling on the part of the great white apes, and +the fearsome and indescribable purring by the plant men. + +At length, all but a score, who had apparently been left to prevent our +escape, had left us, and our adventure seemed destined to result in a +siege, the only outcome of which could be our death by starvation; for +even should we be able to slip out after dark, whither in this unknown +and hostile valley could we hope to turn our steps toward possible +escape? + +As the attacks of our enemies ceased and our eyes became accustomed to +the semi-darkness of the interior of our strange retreat, I took the +opportunity to explore our shelter. + +The tree was hollow to an extent of about fifty feet in diameter, and +from its flat, hard floor I judged that it had often been used to +domicile others before our occupancy. As I raised my eyes toward its +roof to note the height I saw far above me a faint glow of light. + +There was an opening above. If we could but reach it we might still +hope to make the shelter of the cliff caves. My eyes had now become +quite used to the subdued light of the interior, and as I pursued my +investigation I presently came upon a rough ladder at the far side of +the cave. + +Quickly I mounted it, only to find that it connected at the top with +the lower of a series of horizontal wooden bars that spanned the now +narrow and shaft-like interior of the tree's stem. These bars were set +one above another about three feet apart, and formed a perfect ladder +as far above me as I could see. + +Dropping to the floor once more, I detailed my discovery to Tars +Tarkas, who suggested that I explore aloft as far as I could go in +safety while he guarded the entrance against a possible attack. + +As I hastened above to explore the strange shaft I found that the +ladder of horizontal bars mounted always as far above me as my eyes +could reach, and as I ascended, the light from above grew brighter and +brighter. + +For fully five hundred feet I continued to climb, until at length I +reached the opening in the stem which admitted the light. It was of +about the same diameter as the entrance at the foot of the tree, and +opened directly upon a large flat limb, the well worn surface of which +testified to its long continued use as an avenue for some creature to +and from this remarkable shaft. + +I did not venture out upon the limb for fear that I might be discovered +and our retreat in this direction cut off; but instead hurried to +retrace my steps to Tars Tarkas. + +I soon reached him and presently we were both ascending the long ladder +toward the opening above. + +Tars Tarkas went in advance and as I reached the first of the +horizontal bars I drew the ladder up after me and, handing it to him, +he carried it a hundred feet further aloft, where he wedged it safely +between one of the bars and the side of the shaft. In like manner I +dislodged the lower bars as I passed them, so that we soon had the +interior of the tree denuded of all possible means of ascent for a +distance of a hundred feet from the base; thus precluding possible +pursuit and attack from the rear. + +As we were to learn later, this precaution saved us from dire +predicament, and was eventually the means of our salvation. + +When we reached the opening at the top Tars Tarkas drew to one side +that I might pass out and investigate, as, owing to my lesser weight +and greater agility, I was better fitted for the perilous threading of +this dizzy, hanging pathway. + +The limb upon which I found myself ascended at a slight angle toward +the cliff, and as I followed it I found that it terminated a few feet +above a narrow ledge which protruded from the cliff's face at the +entrance to a narrow cave. + +As I approached the slightly more slender extremity of the branch it +bent beneath my weight until, as I balanced perilously upon its outer +tip, it swayed gently on a level with the ledge at a distance of a +couple of feet. + +Five hundred feet below me lay the vivid scarlet carpet of the valley; +nearly five thousand feet above towered the mighty, gleaming face of +the gorgeous cliffs. + +The cave that I faced was not one of those that I had seen from the +ground, and which lay much higher, possibly a thousand feet. But so +far as I might know it was as good for our purpose as another, and so I +returned to the tree for Tars Tarkas. + +Together we wormed our way along the waving pathway, but when we +reached the end of the branch we found that our combined weight so +depressed the limb that the cave's mouth was now too far above us to be +reached. + +We finally agreed that Tars Tarkas should return along the branch, +leaving his longest leather harness strap with me, and that when the +limb had risen to a height that would permit me to enter the cave I was +to do so, and on Tars Tarkas' return I could then lower the strap and +haul him up to the safety of the ledge. + +This we did without mishap and soon found ourselves together upon the +verge of a dizzy little balcony, with a magnificent view of the valley +spreading out below us. + +As far as the eye could reach gorgeous forest and crimson sward skirted +a silent sea, and about all towered the brilliant monster guardian +cliffs. Once we thought we discerned a gilded minaret gleaming in the +sun amidst the waving tops of far-distant trees, but we soon abandoned +the idea in the belief that it was but an hallucination born of our +great desire to discover the haunts of civilized men in this beautiful, +yet forbidding, spot. + +Below us upon the river's bank the great white apes were devouring the +last remnants of Tars Tarkas' former companions, while great herds of +plant men grazed in ever-widening circles about the sward which they +kept as close clipped as the smoothest of lawns. + +Knowing that attack from the tree was now improbable, we determined to +explore the cave, which we had every reason to believe was but a +continuation of the path we had already traversed, leading the gods +alone knew where, but quite evidently away from this valley of grim +ferocity. + +As we advanced we found a well-proportioned tunnel cut from the solid +cliff. Its walls rose some twenty feet above the floor, which was +about five feet in width. The roof was arched. We had no means of +making a light, and so groped our way slowly into the ever-increasing +darkness, Tars Tarkas keeping in touch with one wall while I felt along +the other, while, to prevent our wandering into diverging branches and +becoming separated or lost in some intricate and labyrinthine maze, we +clasped hands. + +How far we traversed the tunnel in this manner I do not know, but +presently we came to an obstruction which blocked our further progress. +It seemed more like a partition than a sudden ending of the cave, for +it was constructed not of the material of the cliff, but of something +which felt like very hard wood. + +Silently I groped over its surface with my hands, and presently was +rewarded by the feel of the button which as commonly denotes a door on +Mars as does a door knob on Earth. + +Gently pressing it, I had the satisfaction of feeling the door slowly +give before me, and in another instant we were looking into a dimly +lighted apartment, which, so far as we could see, was unoccupied. + +Without more ado I swung the door wide open and, followed by the huge +Thark, stepped into the chamber. As we stood for a moment in silence +gazing about the room a slight noise behind caused me to turn quickly, +when, to my astonishment, I saw the door close with a sharp click as +though by an unseen hand. + +Instantly I sprang toward it to wrench it open again, for something in +the uncanny movement of the thing and the tense and almost palpable +silence of the chamber seemed to portend a lurking evil lying hidden in +this rock-bound chamber within the bowels of the Golden Cliffs. + +My fingers clawed futilely at the unyielding portal, while my eyes +sought in vain for a duplicate of the button which had given us ingress. + +And then, from unseen lips, a cruel and mocking peal of laughter rang +through the desolate place. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CHAMBER OF MYSTERY + + +For moments after that awful laugh had ceased reverberating through the +rocky room, Tars Tarkas and I stood in tense and expectant silence. +But no further sound broke the stillness, nor within the range of our +vision did aught move. + +At length Tars Tarkas laughed softly, after the manner of his strange +kind when in the presence of the horrible or terrifying. It is not an +hysterical laugh, but rather the genuine expression of the pleasure +they derive from the things that move Earth men to loathing or to tears. + +Often and again have I seen them roll upon the ground in mad fits of +uncontrollable mirth when witnessing the death agonies of women and +little children beneath the torture of that hellish green Martian +fete--the Great Games. + +I looked up at the Thark, a smile upon my own lips, for here in truth +was greater need for a smiling face than a trembling chin. + +"What do you make of it all?" I asked. "Where in the deuce are we?" + +He looked at me in surprise. + +"Where are we?" he repeated. "Do you tell me, John Carter, that you +know not where you be?" + +"That I am upon Barsoom is all that I can guess, and but for you and +the great white apes I should not even guess that, for the sights I +have seen this day are as unlike the things of my beloved Barsoom as I +knew it ten long years ago as they are unlike the world of my birth. + +"No, Tars Tarkas, I know not where we be." + +"Where have you been since you opened the mighty portals of the +atmosphere plant years ago, after the keeper had died and the engines +stopped and all Barsoom was dying, that had not already died, of +asphyxiation? Your body even was never found, though the men of a +whole world sought after it for years, though the Jeddak of Helium and +his granddaughter, your princess, offered such fabulous rewards that +even princes of royal blood joined in the search. + +"There was but one conclusion to reach when all efforts to locate you +had failed, and that, that you had taken the long, last pilgrimage down +the mysterious River Iss, to await in the Valley Dor upon the shores of +the Lost Sea of Korus the beautiful Dejah Thoris, your princess. + +"Why you had gone none could guess, for your princess still lived--" + +"Thank God," I interrupted him. "I did not dare to ask you, for I +feared I might have been too late to save her--she was very low when I +left her in the royal gardens of Tardos Mors that long-gone night; so +very low that I scarcely hoped even then to reach the atmosphere plant +ere her dear spirit had fled from me for ever. And she lives yet?" + +"She lives, John Carter." + +"You have not told me where we are," I reminded him. + +"We are where I expected to find you, John Carter--and another. Many +years ago you heard the story of the woman who taught me the thing that +green Martians are reared to hate, the woman who taught me to love. +You know the cruel tortures and the awful death her love won for her at +the hands of the beast, Tal Hajus. + +"She, I thought, awaited me by the Lost Sea of Korus. + +"You know that it was left for a man from another world, for yourself, +John Carter, to teach this cruel Thark what friendship is; and you, I +thought, also roamed the care-free Valley Dor. + +"Thus were the two I most longed for at the end of the long pilgrimage +I must take some day, and so as the time had elapsed which Dejah Thoris +had hoped might bring you once more to her side, for she has always +tried to believe that you had but temporarily returned to your own +planet, I at last gave way to my great yearning and a month since I +started upon the journey, the end of which you have this day witnessed. +Do you understand now where you be, John Carter?" + +"And that was the River Iss, emptying into the Lost Sea of Korus in the +Valley Dor?" I asked. + +"This is the valley of love and peace and rest to which every +Barsoomian since time immemorial has longed to pilgrimage at the end of +a life of hate and strife and bloodshed," he replied. "This, John +Carter, is Heaven." + +His tone was cold and ironical; its bitterness but reflecting the +terrible disappointment he had suffered. Such a fearful +disillusionment, such a blasting of life-long hopes and aspirations, +such an uprooting of age-old tradition might have excused a vastly +greater demonstration on the part of the Thark. + +I laid my hand upon his shoulder. + +"I am sorry," I said, nor did there seem aught else to say. + +"Think, John Carter, of the countless billions of Barsoomians who have +taken the voluntary pilgrimage down this cruel river since the +beginning of time, only to fall into the ferocious clutches of the +terrible creatures that to-day assailed us. + +"There is an ancient legend that once a red man returned from the banks +of the Lost Sea of Korus, returned from the Valley Dor, back through +the mysterious River Iss, and the legend has it that he narrated a +fearful blasphemy of horrid brutes that inhabited a valley of wondrous +loveliness, brutes that pounced upon each Barsoomian as he terminated +his pilgrimage and devoured him upon the banks of the Lost Sea where he +had looked to find love and peace and happiness; but the ancients +killed the blasphemer, as tradition has ordained that any shall be +killed who return from the bosom of the River of Mystery. + +"But now we know that it was no blasphemy, that the legend is a true +one, and that the man told only of what he saw; but what does it profit +us, John Carter, since even should we escape, we also would be treated +as blasphemers? We are between the wild thoat of certainty and the mad +zitidar of fact--we can escape neither." + +"As Earth men say, we are between the devil and the deep sea, Tars +Tarkas," I replied, nor could I help but smile at our dilemma. + +"There is naught that we can do but take things as they come, and at +least have the satisfaction of knowing that whoever slays us eventually +will have far greater numbers of their own dead to count than they will +get in return. White ape or plant man, green Barsoomian or red man, +whosoever it shall be that takes the last toll from us will know that +it is costly in lives to wipe out John Carter, Prince of the House of +Tardos Mors, and Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, at the same time." + +I could not help but laugh at his grim humour, and he joined in with me +in one of those rare laughs of real enjoyment which was one of the +attributes of this fierce Tharkian chief which marked him from the +others of his kind. + +"But about yourself, John Carter," he cried at last. "If you have not +been here all these years where indeed have you been, and how is it +that I find you here to-day?" + +"I have been back to Earth," I replied. "For ten long Earth years I +have been praying and hoping for the day that would carry me once more +to this grim old planet of yours, for which, with all its cruel and +terrible customs, I feel a bond of sympathy and love even greater than +for the world that gave me birth. + +"For ten years have I been enduring a living death of uncertainty and +doubt as to whether Dejah Thoris lived, and now that for the first time +in all these years my prayers have been answered and my doubt relieved +I find myself, through a cruel whim of fate, hurled into the one tiny +spot of all Barsoom from which there is apparently no escape, and if +there were, at a price which would put out for ever the last flickering +hope which I may cling to of seeing my princess again in this life--and +you have seen to-day with what pitiful futility man yearns toward a +material hereafter. + +"Only a bare half-hour before I saw you battling with the plant men I +was standing in the moonlight upon the banks of a broad river that taps +the eastern shore of Earth's most blessed land. I have answered you, +my friend. Do you believe?" + +"I believe," replied Tars Tarkas, "though I cannot understand." + +As we talked I had been searching the interior of the chamber with my +eyes. It was, perhaps, two hundred feet in length and half as broad, +with what appeared to be a doorway in the centre of the wall directly +opposite that through which we had entered. + +The apartment was hewn from the material of the cliff, showing mostly +dull gold in the dim light which a single minute radium illuminator in +the centre of the roof diffused throughout its great dimensions. Here +and there polished surfaces of ruby, emerald, and diamond patched the +golden walls and ceiling. The floor was of another material, very +hard, and worn by much use to the smoothness of glass. Aside from the +two doors I could discern no sign of other aperture, and as one we knew +to be locked against us I approached the other. + +As I extended my hand to search for the controlling button, that cruel +and mocking laugh rang out once more, so close to me this time that I +involuntarily shrank back, tightening my grip upon the hilt of my great +sword. + +And then from the far corner of the great chamber a hollow voice +chanted: "There is no hope, there is no hope; the dead return not, the +dead return not; nor is there any resurrection. Hope not, for there is +no hope." + +Though our eyes instantly turned toward the spot from which the voice +seemed to emanate, there was no one in sight, and I must admit that +cold shivers played along my spine and the short hairs at the base of +my head stiffened and rose up, as do those upon a hound's neck when in +the night his eyes see those uncanny things which are hidden from the +sight of man. + +Quickly I walked toward the mournful voice, but it had ceased ere I +reached the further wall, and then from the other end of the chamber +came another voice, shrill and piercing: + +"Fools! Fools!" it shrieked. "Thinkest thou to defeat the eternal +laws of life and death? Wouldst cheat the mysterious Issus, Goddess of +Death, of her just dues? Did not her mighty messenger, the ancient +Iss, bear you upon her leaden bosom at your own behest to the Valley +Dor? + +"Thinkest thou, O fools, that Issus wilt give up her own? Thinkest +thou to escape from whence in all the countless ages but a single soul +has fled? + +"Go back the way thou camest, to the merciful maws of the children of +the Tree of Life or the gleaming fangs of the great white apes, for +there lies speedy surcease from suffering; but insist in your rash +purpose to thread the mazes of the Golden Cliffs of the Mountains of +Otz, past the ramparts of the impregnable fortresses of the Holy +Therns, and upon your way Death in its most frightful form will +overtake you--a death so horrible that even the Holy Therns themselves, +who conceived both Life and Death, avert their eyes from its +fiendishness and close their ears against the hideous shrieks of its +victims. + +"Go back, O fools, the way thou camest." + +And then the awful laugh broke out from another part of the chamber. + +"Most uncanny," I remarked, turning to Tars Tarkas. + +"What shall we do?" he asked. "We cannot fight empty air; I would +almost sooner return and face foes into whose flesh I may feel my blade +bite and know that I am selling my carcass dearly before I go down to +that eternal oblivion which is evidently the fairest and most desirable +eternity that mortal man has the right to hope for." + +"If, as you say, we cannot fight empty air, Tars Tarkas," I replied, +"neither, on the other hand, can empty air fight us. I, who have faced +and conquered in my time thousands of sinewy warriors and tempered +blades, shall not be turned back by wind; nor no more shall you, Thark." + +"But unseen voices may emanate from unseen and unseeable creatures who +wield invisible blades," answered the green warrior. + +"Rot, Tars Tarkas," I cried, "those voices come from beings as real as +you or as I. In their veins flows lifeblood that may be let as easily +as ours, and the fact that they remain invisible to us is the best +proof to my mind that they are mortal; nor overly courageous mortals at +that. Think you, Tars Tarkas, that John Carter will fly at the first +shriek of a cowardly foe who dare not come out into the open and face a +good blade?" + +I had spoken in a loud voice that there might be no question that our +would-be terrorizers should hear me, for I was tiring of this +nerve-racking fiasco. It had occurred to me, too, that the whole +business was but a plan to frighten us back into the valley of death +from which we had escaped, that we might be quickly disposed of by the +savage creatures there. + +For a long period there was silence, then of a sudden a soft, stealthy +sound behind me caused me to turn suddenly to behold a great +many-legged banth creeping sinuously upon me. + +The banth is a fierce beast of prey that roams the low hills +surrounding the dead seas of ancient Mars. Like nearly all Martian +animals it is almost hairless, having only a great bristly mane about +its thick neck. + +Its long, lithe body is supported by ten powerful legs, its enormous +jaws are equipped, like those of the calot, or Martian hound, with +several rows of long needle-like fangs; its mouth reaches to a point +far back of its tiny ears, while its enormous, protruding eyes of green +add the last touch of terror to its awful aspect. + +As it crept toward me it lashed its powerful tail against its yellow +sides, and when it saw that it was discovered it emitted the terrifying +roar which often freezes its prey into momentary paralysis in the +instant that it makes its spring. + +And so it launched its great bulk toward me, but its mighty voice had +held no paralysing terrors for me, and it met cold steel instead of the +tender flesh its cruel jaws gaped so widely to engulf. + +An instant later I drew my blade from the still heart of this great +Barsoomian lion, and turning toward Tars Tarkas was surprised to see +him facing a similar monster. + +No sooner had he dispatched his than I, turning, as though drawn by the +instinct of my guardian subconscious mind, beheld another of the savage +denizens of the Martian wilds leaping across the chamber toward me. + +From then on for the better part of an hour one hideous creature after +another was launched upon us, springing apparently from the empty air +about us. + +Tars Tarkas was satisfied; here was something tangible that he could +cut and slash with his great blade, while I, for my part, may say that +the diversion was a marked improvement over the uncanny voices from +unseen lips. + +That there was nothing supernatural about our new foes was well +evidenced by their howls of rage and pain as they felt the sharp steel +at their vitals, and the very real blood which flowed from their +severed arteries as they died the real death. + +I noticed during the period of this new persecution that the beasts +appeared only when our backs were turned; we never saw one really +materialize from thin air, nor did I for an instant sufficiently lose +my excellent reasoning faculties to be once deluded into the belief +that the beasts came into the room other than through some concealed +and well-contrived doorway. + +Among the ornaments of Tars Tarkas' leather harness, which is the only +manner of clothing worn by Martians other than silk capes and robes of +silk and fur for protection from the cold after dark, was a small +mirror, about the bigness of a lady's hand glass, which hung midway +between his shoulders and his waist against his broad back. + +Once as he stood looking down at a newly fallen antagonist my eyes +happened to fall upon this mirror and in its shiny surface I saw +pictured a sight that caused me to whisper: + +"Move not, Tars Tarkas! Move not a muscle!" + +He did not ask why, but stood like a graven image while my eyes watched +the strange thing that meant so much to us. + +What I saw was the quick movement of a section of the wall behind me. +It was turning upon pivots, and with it a section of the floor directly +in front of it was turning. It was as though you placed a +visiting-card upon end on a silver dollar that you had laid flat upon a +table, so that the edge of the card perfectly bisected the surface of +the coin. + +The card might represent the section of the wall that turned and the +silver dollar the section of the floor. Both were so nicely fitted +into the adjacent portions of the floor and wall that no crack had been +noticeable in the dim light of the chamber. + +As the turn was half completed a great beast was revealed sitting upon +its haunches upon that part of the revolving floor that had been on the +opposite side before the wall commenced to move; when the section +stopped, the beast was facing toward me on our side of the +partition--it was very simple. + +But what had interested me most was the sight that the half-turned +section had presented through the opening that it had made. A great +chamber, well lighted, in which were several men and women chained to +the wall, and in front of them, evidently directing and operating the +movement of the secret doorway, a wicked-faced man, neither red as are +the red men of Mars, nor green as are the green men, but white, like +myself, with a great mass of flowing yellow hair. + +The prisoners behind him were red Martians. Chained with them were a +number of fierce beasts, such as had been turned upon us, and others +equally as ferocious. + +As I turned to meet my new foe it was with a heart considerably +lightened. + +"Watch the wall at your end of the chamber, Tars Tarkas," I cautioned, +"it is through secret doorways in the wall that the brutes are loosed +upon us." I was very close to him and spoke in a low whisper that my +knowledge of their secret might not be disclosed to our tormentors. + +As long as we remained each facing an opposite end of the apartment no +further attacks were made upon us, so it was quite clear to me that the +partitions were in some way pierced that our actions might be observed +from without. + +At length a plan of action occurred to me, and backing quite close to +Tars Tarkas I unfolded my scheme in a low whisper, keeping my eyes +still glued upon my end of the room. + +The great Thark grunted his assent to my proposition when I had done, +and in accordance with my plan commenced backing toward the wall which +I faced while I advanced slowly ahead of him. + +When we had reached a point some ten feet from the secret doorway I +halted my companion, and cautioning him to remain absolutely motionless +until I gave the prearranged signal I quickly turned my back to the +door through which I could almost feel the burning and baleful eyes of +our would be executioner. + +Instantly my own eyes sought the mirror upon Tars Tarkas' back and in +another second I was closely watching the section of the wall which had +been disgorging its savage terrors upon us. + +I had not long to wait, for presently the golden surface commenced to +move rapidly. Scarcely had it started than I gave the signal to Tars +Tarkas, simultaneously springing for the receding half of the pivoting +door. In like manner the Thark wheeled and leaped for the opening +being made by the inswinging section. + +A single bound carried me completely through into the adjoining room +and brought me face to face with the fellow whose cruel face I had seen +before. He was about my own height and well muscled and in every +outward detail moulded precisely as are Earth men. + +At his side hung a long-sword, a short-sword, a dagger, and one of the +destructive radium revolvers that are common upon Mars. + +The fact that I was armed only with a long-sword, and so according to +the laws and ethics of battle everywhere upon Barsoom should only have +been met with a similar or lesser weapon, seemed to have no effect upon +the moral sense of my enemy, for he whipped out his revolver ere I +scarce had touched the floor by his side, but an uppercut from my +long-sword sent it flying from his grasp before he could discharge it. + +Instantly he drew his long-sword, and thus evenly armed we set to in +earnest for one of the closest battles I ever have fought. + +The fellow was a marvellous swordsman and evidently in practice, while +I had not gripped the hilt of a sword for ten long years before that +morning. + +But it did not take me long to fall easily into my fighting stride, so +that in a few minutes the man began to realize that he had at last met +his match. + +His face became livid with rage as he found my guard impregnable, while +blood flowed from a dozen minor wounds upon his face and body. + +"Who are you, white man?" he hissed. "That you are no Barsoomian from +the outer world is evident from your colour. And you are not of us." + +His last statement was almost a question. + +"What if I were from the Temple of Issus?" I hazarded on a wild guess. + +"Fate forfend!" he exclaimed, his face going white under the blood that +now nearly covered it. + +I did not know how to follow up my lead, but I carefully laid the idea +away for future use should circumstances require it. His answer +indicated that for all he KNEW I might be from the Temple of Issus and +in it were men like unto myself, and either this man feared the inmates +of the temple or else he held their persons or their power in such +reverence that he trembled to think of the harm and indignities he had +heaped upon one of them. + +But my present business with him was of a different nature than that +which requires any considerable abstract reasoning; it was to get my +sword between his ribs, and this I succeeded in doing within the next +few seconds, nor was I an instant too soon. + +The chained prisoners had been watching the combat in tense silence; +not a sound had fallen in the room other than the clashing of our +contending blades, the soft shuffling of our naked feet and the few +whispered words we had hissed at each other through clenched teeth the +while we continued our mortal duel. + +But as the body of my antagonist sank an inert mass to the floor a cry +of warning broke from one of the female prisoners. + +"Turn! Turn! Behind you!" she shrieked, and as I wheeled at the first +note of her shrill cry I found myself facing a second man of the same +race as he who lay at my feet. + +The fellow had crept stealthily from a dark corridor and was almost +upon me with raised sword ere I saw him. Tars Tarkas was nowhere in +sight and the secret panel in the wall, through which I had come, was +closed. + +How I wished that he were by my side now! I had fought almost +continuously for many hours; I had passed through such experiences and +adventures as must sap the vitality of man, and with all this I had not +eaten for nearly twenty-four hours, nor slept. + +I was fagged out, and for the first time in years felt a question as to +my ability to cope with an antagonist; but there was naught else for it +than to engage my man, and that as quickly and ferociously as lay in +me, for my only salvation was to rush him off his feet by the +impetuosity of my attack--I could not hope to win a long-drawn-out +battle. + +But the fellow was evidently of another mind, for he backed and parried +and parried and sidestepped until I was almost completely fagged from +the exertion of attempting to finish him. + +He was a more adroit swordsman, if possible, than my previous foe, and +I must admit that he led me a pretty chase and in the end came near to +making a sorry fool of me--and a dead one into the bargain. + +I could feel myself growing weaker and weaker, until at length objects +commenced to blur before my eyes and I staggered and blundered about +more asleep than awake, and then it was that he worked his pretty +little coup that came near to losing me my life. + +He had backed me around so that I stood in front of the corpse of his +fellow, and then he rushed me suddenly so that I was forced back upon +it, and as my heel struck it the impetus of my body flung me backward +across the dead man. + +My head struck the hard pavement with a resounding whack, and to that +alone I owe my life, for it cleared my brain and the pain roused my +temper, so that I was equal for the moment to tearing my enemy to +pieces with my bare hands, and I verily believe that I should have +attempted it had not my right hand, in the act of raising my body from +the ground, come in contact with a bit of cold metal. + +As the eyes of the layman so is the hand of the fighting man when it +comes in contact with an implement of his vocation, and thus I did not +need to look or reason to know that the dead man's revolver, lying +where it had fallen when I struck it from his grasp, was at my disposal. + +The fellow whose ruse had put me down was springing toward me, the +point of his gleaming blade directed straight at my heart, and as he +came there rang from his lips the cruel and mocking peal of laughter +that I had heard within the Chamber of Mystery. + +And so he died, his thin lips curled in the snarl of his hateful laugh, +and a bullet from the revolver of his dead companion bursting in his +heart. + +His body, borne by the impetus of his headlong rush, plunged upon me. +The hilt of his sword must have struck my head, for with the impact of +the corpse I lost consciousness. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THUVIA + + +It was the sound of conflict that aroused me once more to the realities +of life. For a moment I could neither place my surroundings nor locate +the sounds which had aroused me. And then from beyond the blank wall +beside which I lay I heard the shuffling of feet, the snarling of grim +beasts, the clank of metal accoutrements, and the heavy breathing of a +man. + +As I rose to my feet I glanced hurriedly about the chamber in which I +had just encountered such a warm reception. The prisoners and the +savage brutes rested in their chains by the opposite wall eyeing me +with varying expressions of curiosity, sullen rage, surprise, and hope. + +The latter emotion seemed plainly evident upon the handsome and +intelligent face of the young red Martian woman whose cry of warning +had been instrumental in saving my life. + +She was the perfect type of that remarkably beautiful race whose +outward appearance is identical with the more god-like races of Earth +men, except that this higher race of Martians is of a light reddish +copper colour. As she was entirely unadorned I could not even guess +her station in life, though it was evident that she was either a +prisoner or slave in her present environment. + +It was several seconds before the sounds upon the opposite side of the +partition jolted my slowly returning faculties into a realization of +their probable import, and then of a sudden I grasped the fact that +they were caused by Tars Tarkas in what was evidently a desperate +struggle with wild beasts or savage men. + +With a cry of encouragement I threw my weight against the secret door, +but as well have assayed the down-hurling of the cliffs themselves. +Then I sought feverishly for the secret of the revolving panel, but my +search was fruitless, and I was about to raise my longsword against the +sullen gold when the young woman prisoner called out to me. + +"Save thy sword, O Mighty Warrior, for thou shalt need it more where it +will avail to some purpose--shatter it not against senseless metal +which yields better to the lightest finger touch of one who knows its +secret." + +"Know you the secret of it then?" I asked. + +"Yes; release me and I will give you entrance to the other horror +chamber, if you wish. The keys to my fetters are upon the first dead +of thy foemen. But why would you return to face again the fierce +banth, or whatever other form of destruction they have loosed within +that awful trap?" + +"Because my friend fights there alone," I answered, as I hastily sought +and found the keys upon the carcass of the dead custodian of this grim +chamber of horrors. + +There were many keys upon the oval ring, but the fair Martian maid +quickly selected that which sprung the great lock at her waist, and +freed she hurried toward the secret panel. + +Again she sought out a key upon the ring. This time a slender, +needle-like affair which she inserted in an almost invisible hole in +the wall. Instantly the door swung upon its pivot, and the contiguous +section of the floor upon which I was standing carried me with it into +the chamber where Tars Tarkas fought. + +The great Thark stood with his back against an angle of the walls, +while facing him in a semi-circle a half-dozen huge monsters crouched +waiting for an opening. Their blood-streaked heads and shoulders +testified to the cause of their wariness as well as to the +swordsmanship of the green warrior whose glossy hide bore the same mute +but eloquent witness to the ferocity of the attacks that he had so far +withstood. + +Sharp talons and cruel fangs had torn leg, arm, and breast literally to +ribbons. So weak was he from continued exertion and loss of blood that +but for the supporting wall I doubt that he even could have stood +erect. But with the tenacity and indomitable courage of his kind he +still faced his cruel and relentless foes--the personification of that +ancient proverb of his tribe: "Leave to a Thark his head and one hand +and he may yet conquer." + +As he saw me enter, a grim smile touched those grim lips of his, but +whether the smile signified relief or merely amusement at the sight of +my own bloody and dishevelled condition I do not know. + +As I was about to spring into the conflict with my sharp long-sword I +felt a gentle hand upon my shoulder and turning found, to my surprise, +that the young woman had followed me into the chamber. + +"Wait," she whispered, "leave them to me," and pushing me advanced, all +defenceless and unarmed, upon the snarling banths. + +When quite close to them she spoke a single Martian word in low but +peremptory tones. Like lightning the great beasts wheeled upon her, +and I looked to see her torn to pieces before I could reach her side, +but instead the creatures slunk to her feet like puppies that expect a +merited whipping. + +Again she spoke to them, but in tones so low I could not catch the +words, and then she started toward the opposite side of the chamber +with the six mighty monsters trailing at heel. One by one she sent +them through the secret panel into the room beyond, and when the last +had passed from the chamber where we stood in wide-eyed amazement she +turned and smiled at us and then herself passed through, leaving us +alone. + +For a moment neither of us spoke. Then Tars Tarkas said: + +"I heard the fighting beyond the partition through which you passed, +but I did not fear for you, John Carter, until I heard the report of a +revolver shot. I knew that there lived no man upon all Barsoom who +could face you with naked steel and live, but the shot stripped the +last vestige of hope from me, since you I knew to be without firearms. +Tell me of it." + +I did as he bade, and then together we sought the secret panel through +which I had just entered the apartment--the one at the opposite end of +the room from that through which the girl had led her savage companions. + +To our disappointment the panel eluded our every effort to negotiate +its secret lock. We felt that once beyond it we might look with some +little hope of success for a passage to the outside world. + +The fact that the prisoners within were securely chained led us to +believe that surely there must be an avenue of escape from the terrible +creatures which inhabited this unspeakable place. + +Again and again we turned from one door to another, from the baffling +golden panel at one end of the chamber to its mate at the +other--equally baffling. + +When we had about given up all hope one of the panels turned silently +toward us, and the young woman who had led away the banths stood once +more beside us. + +"Who are you?" she asked, "and what your mission, that you have the +temerity to attempt to escape from the Valley Dor and the death you +have chosen?" + +"I have chosen no death, maiden," I replied. "I am not of Barsoom, nor +have I taken yet the voluntary pilgrimage upon the River Iss. My +friend here is Jeddak of all the Tharks, and though he has not yet +expressed a desire to return to the living world, I am taking him with +me from the living lie that hath lured him to this frightful place. + +"I am of another world. I am John Carter, Prince of the House of +Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium. Perchance some faint rumour of me may +have leaked within the confines of your hellish abode." + +She smiled. + +"Yes," she replied, "naught that passes in the world we have left is +unknown here. I have heard of you, many years ago. The therns have +ofttimes wondered whither you had flown, since you had neither taken +the pilgrimage, nor could be found upon the face of Barsoom." + +"Tell me," I said, "and who be you, and why a prisoner, yet with power +over the ferocious beasts of the place that denotes familiarity and +authority far beyond that which might be expected of a prisoner or a +slave?" + +"Slave I am," she answered. "For fifteen years a slave in this +terrible place, and now that they have tired of me and become fearful +of the power which my knowledge of their ways has given me I am but +recently condemned to die the death." + +She shuddered. + +"What death?" I asked. + +"The Holy Therns eat human flesh," she answered me; "but only that +which has died beneath the sucking lips of a plant man--flesh from +which the defiling blood of life has been drawn. And to this cruel end +I have been condemned. It was to be within a few hours, had your +advent not caused an interruption of their plans." + +"Was it then Holy Therns who felt the weight of John Carter's hand?" I +asked. + +"Oh, no; those whom you laid low are lesser therns; but of the same +cruel and hateful race. The Holy Therns abide upon the outer slopes of +these grim hills, facing the broad world from which they harvest their +victims and their spoils. + +"Labyrinthine passages connect these caves with the luxurious palaces +of the Holy Therns, and through them pass upon their many duties the +lesser therns, and hordes of slaves, and prisoners, and fierce beasts; +the grim inhabitants of this sunless world. + +"There be within this vast network of winding passages and countless +chambers men, women, and beasts who, born within its dim and gruesome +underworld, have never seen the light of day--nor ever shall. + +"They are kept to do the bidding of the race of therns; to furnish at +once their sport and their sustenance. + +"Now and again some hapless pilgrim, drifting out upon the silent sea +from the cold Iss, escapes the plant men and the great white apes that +guard the Temple of Issus and falls into the remorseless clutches of +the therns; or, as was my misfortune, is coveted by the Holy Thern who +chances to be upon watch in the balcony above the river where it issues +from the bowels of the mountains through the cliffs of gold to empty +into the Lost Sea of Korus. + +"All who reach the Valley Dor are, by custom, the rightful prey of the +plant men and the apes, while their arms and ornaments become the +portion of the therns; but if one escapes the terrible denizens of the +valley for even a few hours the therns may claim such a one as their +own. And again the Holy Thern on watch, should he see a victim he +covets, often tramples upon the rights of the unreasoning brutes of the +valley and takes his prize by foul means if he cannot gain it by fair. + +"It is said that occasionally some deluded victim of Barsoomian +superstition will so far escape the clutches of the countless enemies +that beset his path from the moment that he emerges from the +subterranean passage through which the Iss flows for a thousand miles +before it enters the Valley Dor as to reach the very walls of the +Temple of Issus; but what fate awaits one there not even the Holy +Therns may guess, for who has passed within those gilded walls never +has returned to unfold the mysteries they have held since the beginning +of time. + +"The Temple of Issus is to the therns what the Valley Dor is imagined +by the peoples of the outer world to be to them; it is the ultimate +haven of peace, refuge, and happiness to which they pass after this +life and wherein an eternity of eternities is spent amidst the delights +of the flesh which appeal most strongly to this race of mental giants +and moral pygmies." + +"The Temple of Issus is, I take it, a heaven within a heaven," I said. +"Let us hope that there it will be meted to the therns as they have +meted it here unto others." + +"Who knows?" the girl murmured. + +"The therns, I judge from what you have said, are no less mortal than +we; and yet have I always heard them spoken of with the utmost awe and +reverence by the people of Barsoom, as one might speak of the gods +themselves." + +"The therns are mortal," she replied. "They die from the same causes +as you or I might: those who do not live their allotted span of life, +one thousand years, when by the authority of custom they may take their +way in happiness through the long tunnel that leads to Issus. + +"Those who die before are supposed to spend the balance of their +allotted time in the image of a plant man, and it is for this reason +that the plant men are held sacred by the therns, since they believe +that each of these hideous creatures was formerly a thern." + +"And should a plant man die?" I asked. + +"Should he die before the expiration of the thousand years from the +birth of the thern whose immortality abides within him then the soul +passes into a great white ape, but should the ape die short of the +exact hour that terminates the thousand years the soul is for ever lost +and passes for all eternity into the carcass of the slimy and fearsome +silians whose wriggling thousands seethe the silent sea beneath the +hurtling moons when the sun has gone and strange shapes walk through +the Valley Dor." + +"We sent several Holy Therns to the silians to-day, then," said Tars +Tarkas, laughing. + +"And so will your death be the more terrible when it comes," said the +maiden. "And come it will--you cannot escape." + +"One has escaped, centuries ago," I reminded her, "and what has been +done may be done again." + +"It is useless even to try," she answered hopelessly. + +"But try we shall," I cried, "and you shall go with us, if you wish." + +"To be put to death by mine own people, and render my memory a disgrace +to my family and my nation? A Prince of the House of Tardos Mors +should know better than to suggest such a thing." + +Tars Tarkas listened in silence, but I could feel his eyes riveted upon +me and I knew that he awaited my answer as one might listen to the +reading of his sentence by the foreman of a jury. + +What I advised the girl to do would seal our fate as well, since if I +bowed to the inevitable decree of age-old superstition we must all +remain and meet our fate in some horrible form within this awful abode +of horror and cruelty. + +"We have the right to escape if we can," I answered. "Our own moral +senses will not be offended if we succeed, for we know that the fabled +life of love and peace in the blessed Valley of Dor is a rank and +wicked deception. We know that the valley is not sacred; we know that +the Holy Therns are not holy; that they are a race of cruel and +heartless mortals, knowing no more of the real life to come than we do. + +"Not only is it our right to bend every effort to escape--it is a +solemn duty from which we should not shrink even though we know that we +should be reviled and tortured by our own peoples when we returned to +them. + +"Only thus may we carry the truth to those without, and though the +likelihood of our narrative being given credence is, I grant you, +remote, so wedded are mortals to their stupid infatuation for +impossible superstitions, we should be craven cowards indeed were we to +shirk the plain duty which confronts us. + +"Again there is a chance that with the weight of the testimony of +several of us the truth of our statements may be accepted, and at least +a compromise effected which will result in the dispatching of an +expedition of investigation to this hideous mockery of heaven." + +Both the girl and the green warrior stood silent in thought for some +moments. The former it was who eventually broke the silence. + +"Never had I considered the matter in that light before," she said. +"Indeed would I give my life a thousand times if I could but save a +single soul from the awful life that I have led in this cruel place. +Yes, you are right, and I will go with you as far as we can go; but I +doubt that we ever shall escape." + +I turned an inquiring glance toward the Thark. + +"To the gates of Issus, or to the bottom of Korus," spoke the green +warrior; "to the snows to the north or to the snows to the south, Tars +Tarkas follows where John Carter leads. I have spoken." + +"Come, then," I cried, "we must make the start, for we could not be +further from escape than we now are in the heart of this mountain and +within the four walls of this chamber of death." + +"Come, then," said the girl, "but do not flatter yourself that you can +find no worse place than this within the territory of the therns." + +So saying she swung the secret panel that separated us from the +apartment in which I had found her, and we stepped through once more +into the presence of the other prisoners. + +There were in all ten red Martians, men and women, and when we had +briefly explained our plan they decided to join forces with us, though +it was evident that it was with some considerable misgivings that they +thus tempted fate by opposing an ancient superstition, even though each +knew through cruel experience the fallacy of its entire fabric. + +Thuvia, the girl whom I had first freed, soon had the others at +liberty. Tars Tarkas and I stripped the bodies of the two therns of +their weapons, which included swords, daggers, and two revolvers of the +curious and deadly type manufactured by the red Martians. + +We distributed the weapons as far as they would go among our followers, +giving the firearms to two of the women; Thuvia being one so armed. + +With the latter as our guide we set off rapidly but cautiously through +a maze of passages, crossing great chambers hewn from the solid metal +of the cliff, following winding corridors, ascending steep inclines, +and now and again concealing ourselves in dark recesses at the sound of +approaching footsteps. + +Our destination, Thuvia said, was a distant storeroom where arms and +ammunition in plenty might be found. From there she was to lead us to +the summit of the cliffs, from where it would require both wondrous wit +and mighty fighting to win our way through the very heart of the +stronghold of the Holy Therns to the world without. + +"And even then, O Prince," she cried, "the arm of the Holy Thern is +long. It reaches to every nation of Barsoom. His secret temples are +hidden in the heart of every community. Wherever we go should we +escape we shall find that word of our coming has preceded us, and death +awaits us before we may pollute the air with our blasphemies." + +We had proceeded for possibly an hour without serious interruption, and +Thuvia had just whispered to me that we were approaching our first +destination, when on entering a great chamber we came upon a man, +evidently a thern. + +He wore in addition to his leathern trappings and jewelled ornaments a +great circlet of gold about his brow in the exact centre of which was +set an immense stone, the exact counterpart of that which I had seen +upon the breast of the little old man at the atmosphere plant nearly +twenty years before. + +It is the one priceless jewel of Barsoom. Only two are known to exist, +and these were worn as the insignia of their rank and position by the +two old men in whose charge was placed the operation of the great +engines which pump the artificial atmosphere to all parts of Mars from +the huge atmosphere plant, the secret to whose mighty portals placed in +my possession the ability to save from immediate extinction the life of +a whole world. + +The stone worn by the thern who confronted us was of about the same +size as that which I had seen before; an inch in diameter I should say. +It scintillated nine different and distinct rays; the seven primary +colours of our earthly prism and the two rays which are unknown upon +Earth, but whose wondrous beauty is indescribable. + +As the thern saw us his eyes narrowed to two nasty slits. + +"Stop!" he cried. "What means this, Thuvia?" + +For answer the girl raised her revolver and fired point-blank at him. +Without a sound he sank to the earth, dead. + +"Beast!" she hissed. "After all these years I am at last revenged." + +Then as she turned toward me, evidently with a word of explanation on +her lips, her eyes suddenly widened as they rested upon me, and with a +little exclamation she started toward me. + +"O Prince," she cried, "Fate is indeed kind to us. The way is still +difficult, but through this vile thing upon the floor we may yet win to +the outer world. Notest thou not the remarkable resemblance between +this Holy Thern and thyself?" + +The man was indeed of my precise stature, nor were his eyes and +features unlike mine; but his hair was a mass of flowing yellow locks, +like those of the two I had killed, while mine is black and close +cropped. + +"What of the resemblance?" I asked the girl Thuvia. "Do you wish me +with my black, short hair to pose as a yellow-haired priest of this +infernal cult?" + +She smiled, and for answer approached the body of the man she had +slain, and kneeling beside it removed the circlet of gold from the +forehead, and then to my utter amazement lifted the entire scalp bodily +from the corpse's head. + +Rising, she advanced to my side and placing the yellow wig over my +black hair, crowned me with the golden circlet set with the magnificent +gem. + +"Now don his harness, Prince," she said, "and you may pass where you +will in the realms of the therns, for Sator Throg was a Holy Thern of +the Tenth Cycle, and mighty among his kind." + +As I stooped to the dead man to do her bidding I noted that not a hair +grew upon his head, which was quite as bald as an egg. + +"They are all thus from birth," explained Thuvia noting my surprise. +"The race from which they sprang were crowned with a luxuriant growth +of golden hair, but for many ages the present race has been entirely +bald. The wig, however, has come to be a part of their apparel, and so +important a part do they consider it that it is cause for the deepest +disgrace were a thern to appear in public without it." + +In another moment I stood garbed in the habiliments of a Holy Thern. + +At Thuvia's suggestion two of the released prisoners bore the body of +the dead thern upon their shoulders with us as we continued our journey +toward the storeroom, which we reached without further mishap. + +Here the keys which Thuvia bore from the dead thern of the prison vault +were the means of giving us immediate entrance to the chamber, and very +quickly we were thoroughly outfitted with arms and ammunition. + +By this time I was so thoroughly fagged out that I could go no further, +so I threw myself upon the floor, bidding Tars Tarkas to do likewise, +and cautioning two of the released prisoners to keep careful watch. + +In an instant I was asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +CORRIDORS OF PERIL + + +How long I slept upon the floor of the storeroom I do not know, but it +must have been many hours. + +I was awakened with a start by cries of alarm, and scarce were my eyes +opened, nor had I yet sufficiently collected my wits to quite realize +where I was, when a fusillade of shots rang out, reverberating through +the subterranean corridors in a series of deafening echoes. + +In an instant I was upon my feet. A dozen lesser therns confronted us +from a large doorway at the opposite end of the storeroom from which we +had entered. About me lay the bodies of my companions, with the +exception of Thuvia and Tars Tarkas, who, like myself, had been asleep +upon the floor and thus escaped the first raking fire. + +As I gained my feet the therns lowered their wicked rifles, their faces +distorted in mingled chagrin, consternation, and alarm. + +Instantly I rose to the occasion. + +"What means this?" I cried in tones of fierce anger. "Is Sator Throg +to be murdered by his own vassals?" + +"Have mercy, O Master of the Tenth Cycle!" cried one of the fellows, +while the others edged toward the doorway as though to attempt a +surreptitious escape from the presence of the mighty one. + +"Ask them their mission here," whispered Thuvia at my elbow. + +"What do you here, fellows?" I cried. + +"Two from the outer world are at large within the dominions of the +therns. We sought them at the command of the Father of Therns. One +was white with black hair, the other a huge green warrior," and here +the fellow cast a suspicious glance toward Tars Tarkas. + +"Here, then, is one of them," spoke Thuvia, indicating the Thark, "and +if you will look upon this dead man by the door perhaps you will +recognize the other. It was left for Sator Throg and his poor slaves +to accomplish what the lesser therns of the guard were unable to do--we +have killed one and captured the other; for this had Sator Throg given +us our liberty. And now in your stupidity have you come and killed all +but myself, and like to have killed the mighty Sator Throg himself." + +The men looked very sheepish and very scared. + +"Had they not better throw these bodies to the plant men and then +return to their quarters, O Mighty One?" asked Thuvia of me. + +"Yes; do as Thuvia bids you," I said. + +As the men picked up the bodies I noticed that the one who stooped to +gather up the late Sator Throg started as his closer scrutiny fell upon +the upturned face, and then the fellow stole a furtive, sneaking glance +in my direction from the corner of his eye. + +That he suspicioned something of the truth I could have sworn; but that +it was only a suspicion which he did not dare voice was evidenced by +his silence. + +Again, as he bore the body from the room, he shot a quick but searching +glance toward me, and then his eyes fell once more upon the bald and +shiny dome of the dead man in his arms. The last fleeting glimpse that +I obtained of his profile as he passed from my sight without the +chamber revealed a cunning smile of triumph upon his lips. + +Only Tars Tarkas, Thuvia, and I were left. The fatal marksmanship of +the therns had snatched from our companions whatever slender chance +they had of gaining the perilous freedom of the world without. + +So soon as the last of the gruesome procession had disappeared the girl +urged us to take up our flight once more. + +She, too, had noted the questioning attitude of the thern who had borne +Sator Throg away. + +"It bodes no good for us, O Prince," she said. "For even though this +fellow dared not chance accusing you in error, there be those above +with power sufficient to demand a closer scrutiny, and that, Prince, +would indeed prove fatal." + +I shrugged my shoulders. It seemed that in any event the outcome of +our plight must end in death. I was refreshed from my sleep, but still +weak from loss of blood. My wounds were painful. No medicinal aid +seemed possible. How I longed for the almost miraculous healing power +of the strange salves and lotions of the green Martian women. In an +hour they would have had me as new. + +I was discouraged. Never had a feeling of such utter hopelessness come +over me in the face of danger. Then the long flowing, yellow locks of +the Holy Thern, caught by some vagrant draught, blew about my face. + +Might they not still open the way of freedom? If we acted in time, +might we not even yet escape before the general alarm was sounded? We +could at least try. + +"What will the fellow do first, Thuvia?" I asked. "How long will it be +before they may return for us?" + +"He will go directly to the Father of Therns, old Matai Shang. He may +have to wait for an audience, but since he is very high among the +lesser therns, in fact as a thorian among them, it will not be long +that Matai Shang will keep him waiting. + +"Then if the Father of Therns puts credence in his story, another hour +will see the galleries and chambers, the courts and gardens, filled +with searchers." + +"What we do then must be done within an hour. What is the best way, +Thuvia, the shortest way out of this celestial Hades?" + +"Straight to the top of the cliffs, Prince," she replied, "and then +through the gardens to the inner courts. From there our way will lie +within the temples of the therns and across them to the outer court. +Then the ramparts--O Prince, it is hopeless. Ten thousand warriors +could not hew a way to liberty from out this awful place. + +"Since the beginning of time, little by little, stone by stone, have +the therns been ever adding to the defences of their stronghold. A +continuous line of impregnable fortifications circles the outer slopes +of the Mountains of Otz. + +"Within the temples that lie behind the ramparts a million fighting-men +are ever ready. The courts and gardens are filled with slaves, with +women and with children. + +"None could go a stone's throw without detection." + +"If there is no other way, Thuvia, why dwell upon the difficulties of +this. We must face them." + +"Can we not better make the attempt after dark?" asked Tars Tarkas. +"There would seem to be no chance by day." + +"There would be a little better chance by night, but even then the +ramparts are well guarded; possibly better than by day. There are +fewer abroad in the courts and gardens, though," said Thuvia. + +"What is the hour?" I asked. + +"It was midnight when you released me from my chains," said Thuvia. +"Two hours later we reached the storeroom. There you slept for +fourteen hours. It must now be nearly sundown again. Come, we will go +to some nearby window in the cliff and make sure." + +So saying, she led the way through winding corridors until at a sudden +turn we came upon an opening which overlooked the Valley Dor. + +At our right the sun was setting, a huge red orb, below the western +range of Otz. A little below us stood the Holy Thern on watch upon his +balcony. His scarlet robe of office was pulled tightly about him in +anticipation of the cold that comes so suddenly with darkness as the +sun sets. So rare is the atmosphere of Mars that it absorbs very +little heat from the sun. During the daylight hours it is always +extremely hot; at night it is intensely cold. Nor does the thin +atmosphere refract the sun's rays or diffuse its light as upon Earth. +There is no twilight on Mars. When the great orb of day disappears +beneath the horizon the effect is precisely as that of the +extinguishing of a single lamp within a chamber. From brilliant light +you are plunged without warning into utter darkness. Then the moons +come; the mysterious, magic moons of Mars, hurtling like monster +meteors low across the face of the planet. + +The declining sun lighted brilliantly the eastern banks of Korus, the +crimson sward, the gorgeous forest. Beneath the trees we saw feeding +many herds of plant men. The adults stood aloft upon their toes and +their mighty tails, their talons pruning every available leaf and twig. +It was then that I understood the careful trimming of the trees which +had led me to form the mistaken idea when first I opened my eyes upon +the grove that it was the playground of a civilized people. + +As we watched, our eyes wandered to the rolling Iss, which issued from +the base of the cliffs beneath us. Presently there emerged from the +mountain a canoe laden with lost souls from the outer world. There +were a dozen of them. All were of the highly civilized and cultured +race of red men who are dominant on Mars. + +The eyes of the herald upon the balcony beneath us fell upon the doomed +party as soon as did ours. He raised his head and leaning far out over +the low rail that rimmed his dizzy perch, voiced the shrill, weird wail +that called the demons of this hellish place to the attack. + +For an instant the brutes stood with stiffly erected ears, then they +poured from the grove toward the river's bank, covering the distance +with great, ungainly leaps. + +The party had landed and was standing on the sward as the awful horde +came in sight. There was a brief and futile effort of defence. Then +silence as the huge, repulsive shapes covered the bodies of their +victims and scores of sucking mouths fastened themselves to the flesh +of their prey. + +I turned away in disgust. + +"Their part is soon over," said Thuvia. "The great white apes get the +flesh when the plant men have drained the arteries. Look, they are +coming now." + +As I turned my eyes in the direction the girl indicated, I saw a dozen +of the great white monsters running across the valley toward the river +bank. Then the sun went down and darkness that could almost be felt +engulfed us. + +Thuvia lost no time in leading us toward the corridor which winds back +and forth up through the cliffs toward the surface thousands of feet +above the level on which we had been. + +Twice great banths, wandering loose through the galleries, blocked our +progress, but in each instance Thuvia spoke a low word of command and +the snarling beasts slunk sullenly away. + +"If you can dissolve all our obstacles as easily as you master these +fierce brutes I can see no difficulties in our way," I said to the +girl, smiling. "How do you do it?" + +She laughed, and then shuddered. + +"I do not quite know," she said. "When first I came here I angered +Sator Throg, because I repulsed him. He ordered me to be thrown into +one of the great pits in the inner gardens. It was filled with banths. +In my own country I had been accustomed to command. Something in my +voice, I do not know what, cowed the beasts as they sprang to attack me. + +"Instead of tearing me to pieces, as Sator Throg had desired, they +fawned at my feet. So greatly were Sator Throg and his friends amused +by the sight that they kept me to train and handle the terrible +creatures. I know them all by name. There are many of them wandering +through these lower regions. They are the scavengers. Many prisoners +die here in their chains. The banths solve the problem of sanitation, +at least in this respect. + +"In the gardens and temples above they are kept in pits. The therns +fear them. It is because of the banths that they seldom venture below +ground except as their duties call them." + +An idea occurred to me, suggested by what Thuvia had just said. + +"Why not take a number of banths and set them loose before us above +ground?" I asked. + +Thuvia laughed. + +"It would distract attention from us, I am sure," she said. + +She commenced calling in a low singsong voice that was half purr. She +continued this as we wound our tedious way through the maze of +subterranean passages and chambers. + +Presently soft, padded feet sounded close behind us, and as I turned I +saw a pair of great, green eyes shining in the dark shadows at our +rear. From a diverging tunnel a sinuous, tawny form crept stealthily +toward us. + +Low growls and angry snarls assailed our ears on every side as we +hastened on and one by one the ferocious creatures answered the call of +their mistress. + +She spoke a word to each as it joined us. Like well-schooled terriers, +they paced the corridors with us, but I could not help but note the +lathering jowls, nor the hungry expressions with which they eyed Tars +Tarkas and myself. + +Soon we were entirely surrounded by some fifty of the brutes. Two +walked close on either side of Thuvia, as guards might walk. The sleek +sides of others now and then touched my own naked limbs. It was a +strange experience; the almost noiseless passage of naked human feet +and padded paws; the golden walls splashed with precious stones; the +dim light cast by the tiny radium bulbs set at considerable distances +along the roof; the huge, maned beasts of prey crowding with low growls +about us; the mighty green warrior towering high above us all; myself +crowned with the priceless diadem of a Holy Thern; and leading the +procession the beautiful girl, Thuvia. + +I shall not soon forget it. + +Presently we approached a great chamber more brightly lighted than the +corridors. Thuvia halted us. Quietly she stole toward the entrance +and glanced within. Then she motioned us to follow her. + +The room was filled with specimens of the strange beings that inhabit +this underworld; a heterogeneous collection of hybrids--the offspring +of the prisoners from the outside world; red and green Martians and the +white race of therns. + +Constant confinement below ground had wrought odd freaks upon their +skins. They more resemble corpses than living beings. Many are +deformed, others maimed, while the majority, Thuvia explained, are +sightless. + +As they lay sprawled about the floor, sometimes overlapping one +another, again in heaps of several bodies, they suggested instantly to +me the grotesque illustrations that I had seen in copies of Dante's +INFERNO, and what more fitting comparison? Was this not indeed a +veritable hell, peopled by lost souls, dead and damned beyond all hope? + +Picking our way carefully we threaded a winding path across the +chamber, the great banths sniffing hungrily at the tempting prey spread +before them in such tantalizing and defenceless profusion. + +Several times we passed the entrances to other chambers similarly +peopled, and twice again we were compelled to cross directly through +them. In others were chained prisoners and beasts. + +"Why is it that we see no therns?" I asked of Thuvia. + +"They seldom traverse the underworld at night, for then it is that the +great banths prowl the dim corridors seeking their prey. The therns +fear the awful denizens of this cruel and hopeless world that they have +fostered and allowed to grow beneath their feet. The prisoners even +sometimes turn upon them and rend them. The thern can never tell from +what dark shadow an assassin may spring upon his back. + +"By day it is different. Then the corridors and chambers are filled +with guards passing to and fro; slaves from the temples above come by +hundreds to the granaries and storerooms. All is life then. You did +not see it because I led you not in the beaten tracks, but through +roundabout passages seldom used. Yet it is possible that we may meet a +thern even yet. They do occasionally find it necessary to come here +after the sun has set. Because of this I have moved with such great +caution." + +But we reached the upper galleries without detection and presently +Thuvia halted us at the foot of a short, steep ascent. + +"Above us," she said, "is a doorway which opens on to the inner +gardens. I have brought you thus far. From here on for four miles to +the outer ramparts our way will be beset by countless dangers. Guards +patrol the courts, the temples, the gardens. Every inch of the +ramparts themselves is beneath the eye of a sentry." + +I could not understand the necessity for such an enormous force of +armed men about a spot so surrounded by mystery and superstition that +not a soul upon Barsoom would have dared to approach it even had they +known its exact location. I questioned Thuvia, asking her what enemies +the therns could fear in their impregnable fortress. + +We had reached the doorway now and Thuvia was opening it. + +"They fear the black pirates of Barsoom, O Prince," she said, "from +whom may our first ancestors preserve us." + +The door swung open; the smell of growing things greeted my nostrils; +the cool night air blew against my cheek. The great banths sniffed the +unfamiliar odours, and then with a rush they broke past us with low +growls, swarming across the gardens beneath the lurid light of the +nearer moon. + +Suddenly a great cry arose from the roofs of the temples; a cry of +alarm and warning that, taken up from point to point, ran off to the +east and to the west, from temple, court, and rampart, until it sounded +as a dim echo in the distance. + +The great Thark's long-sword leaped from its scabbard; Thuvia shrank +shuddering to my side. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BLACK PIRATES OF BARSOOM + + +"What is it?" I asked of the girl. + +For answer she pointed to the sky. + +I looked, and there, above us, I saw shadowy bodies flitting hither and +thither high over temple, court, and garden. + +Almost immediately flashes of light broke from these strange objects. +There was a roar of musketry, and then answering flashes and roars from +temple and rampart. + +"The black pirates of Barsoom, O Prince," said Thuvia. + +In great circles the air craft of the marauders swept lower and lower +toward the defending forces of the therns. + +Volley after volley they vomited upon the temple guards; volley on +volley crashed through the thin air toward the fleeting and illusive +fliers. + +As the pirates swooped closer toward the ground, thern soldiery poured +from the temples into the gardens and courts. The sight of them in the +open brought a score of fliers darting toward us from all directions. + +The therns fired upon them through shields affixed to their rifles, but +on, steadily on, came the grim, black craft. They were small fliers +for the most part, built for two to three men. A few larger ones there +were, but these kept high aloft dropping bombs upon the temples from +their keel batteries. + +At length, with a concerted rush, evidently in response to a signal of +command, the pirates in our immediate vicinity dashed recklessly to the +ground in the very midst of the thern soldiery. + +Scarcely waiting for their craft to touch, the creatures manning them +leaped among the therns with the fury of demons. Such fighting! Never +had I witnessed its like before. I had thought the green Martians the +most ferocious warriors in the universe, but the awful abandon with +which the black pirates threw themselves upon their foes transcended +everything I ever before had seen. + +Beneath the brilliant light of Mars' two glorious moons the whole scene +presented itself in vivid distinctness. The golden-haired, +white-skinned therns battling with desperate courage in hand-to-hand +conflict with their ebony-skinned foemen. + +Here a little knot of struggling warriors trampled a bed of gorgeous +pimalia; there the curved sword of a black man found the heart of a +thern and left its dead foeman at the foot of a wondrous statue carved +from a living ruby; yonder a dozen therns pressed a single pirate back +upon a bench of emerald, upon whose iridescent surface a strangely +beautiful Barsoomian design was traced out in inlaid diamonds. + +A little to one side stood Thuvia, the Thark, and I. The tide of +battle had not reached us, but the fighters from time to time swung +close enough that we might distinctly note them. + +The black pirates interested me immensely. I had heard vague rumours, +little more than legends they were, during my former life on Mars; but +never had I seen them, nor talked with one who had. + +They were popularly supposed to inhabit the lesser moon, from which +they descended upon Barsoom at long intervals. Where they visited they +wrought the most horrible atrocities, and when they left carried away +with them firearms and ammunition, and young girls as prisoners. These +latter, the rumour had it, they sacrificed to some terrible god in an +orgy which ended in the eating of their victims. + +I had an excellent opportunity to examine them, as the strife +occasionally brought now one and now another close to where I stood. +They were large men, possibly six feet and over in height. Their +features were clear cut and handsome in the extreme; their eyes were +well set and large, though a slight narrowness lent them a crafty +appearance; the iris, as well as I could determine by moonlight, was of +extreme blackness, while the eyeball itself was quite white and clear. +The physical structure of their bodies seemed identical with those of +the therns, the red men, and my own. Only in the colour of their skin +did they differ materially from us; that is of the appearance of +polished ebony, and odd as it may seem for a Southerner to say it, adds +to rather than detracts from their marvellous beauty. + +But if their bodies are divine, their hearts, apparently, are quite the +reverse. Never did I witness such a malign lust for blood as these +demons of the outer air evinced in their mad battle with the therns. + +All about us in the garden lay their sinister craft, which the therns +for some reason, then unaccountable to me, made no effort to injure. +Now and again a black warrior would rush from a nearby temple bearing +a young woman in his arms. Straight for his flier he would leap while +those of his comrades who fought near by would rush to cover his escape. + +The therns on their side would hasten to rescue the girl, and in an +instant the two would be swallowed in the vortex of a maelstrom of +yelling devils, hacking and hewing at one another, like fiends +incarnate. + +But always, it seemed, were the black pirates of Barsoom victorious, +and the girl, brought miraculously unharmed through the conflict, borne +away into the outer darkness upon the deck of a swift flier. + +Fighting similar to that which surrounded us could be heard in both +directions as far as sound carried, and Thuvia told me that the attacks +of the black pirates were usually made simultaneously along the entire +ribbon-like domain of the therns, which circles the Valley Dor on the +outer slopes of the Mountains of Otz. + +As the fighting receded from our position for a moment, Thuvia turned +toward me with a question. + +"Do you understand now, O Prince," she said, "why a million warriors +guard the domains of the Holy Therns by day and by night?" + +"The scene you are witnessing now is but a repetition of what I have +seen enacted a score of times during the fifteen years I have been a +prisoner here. From time immemorial the black pirates of Barsoom have +preyed upon the Holy Therns. + +"Yet they never carry their expeditions to a point, as one might +readily believe it was in their power to do, where the extermination of +the race of therns is threatened. It is as though they but utilized +the race as playthings, with which they satisfy their ferocious lust +for fighting; and from whom they collect toll in arms and ammunition +and in prisoners." + +"Why don't they jump in and destroy these fliers?" I asked. "That +would soon put a stop to the attacks, or at least the blacks would +scarce be so bold. Why, see how perfectly unguarded they leave their +craft, as though they were lying safe in their own hangars at home." + +"The therns do not dare. They tried it once, ages ago, but the next +night and for a whole moon thereafter a thousand great black +battleships circled the Mountains of Otz, pouring tons of projectiles +upon the temples, the gardens, and the courts, until every thern who +was not killed was driven for safety into the subterranean galleries. + +"The therns know that they live at all only by the sufferance of the +black men. They were near to extermination that once and they will not +venture risking it again." + +As she ceased talking a new element was instilled into the conflict. +It came from a source equally unlooked for by either thern or pirate. +The great banths which we had liberated in the garden had evidently +been awed at first by the sound of the battle, the yelling of the +warriors and the loud report of rifle and bomb. + +But now they must have become angered by the continuous noise and +excited by the smell of new blood, for all of a sudden a great form +shot from a clump of low shrubbery into the midst of a struggling mass +of humanity. A horrid scream of bestial rage broke from the banth as +he felt warm flesh beneath his powerful talons. + +As though his cry was but a signal to the others, the entire great pack +hurled themselves among the fighters. Panic reigned in an instant. +Thern and black man turned alike against the common enemy, for the +banths showed no partiality toward either. + +The awful beasts bore down a hundred men by the mere weight of their +great bodies as they hurled themselves into the thick of the fight. +Leaping and clawing, they mowed down the warriors with their powerful +paws, turning for an instant to rend their victims with frightful fangs. + +The scene was fascinating in its terribleness, but suddenly it came to +me that we were wasting valuable time watching this conflict, which in +itself might prove a means of our escape. + +The therns were so engaged with their terrible assailants that now, if +ever, escape should be comparatively easy. I turned to search for an +opening through the contending hordes. If we could but reach the +ramparts we might find that the pirates somewhere had thinned the +guarding forces and left a way open to us to the world without. + +As my eyes wandered about the garden, the sight of the hundreds of air +craft lying unguarded around us suggested the simplest avenue to +freedom. Why it had not occurred to me before! I was thoroughly +familiar with the mechanism of every known make of flier on Barsoom. +For nine years I had sailed and fought with the navy of Helium. I had +raced through space on the tiny one-man air scout and I had commanded +the greatest battleship that ever had floated in the thin air of dying +Mars. + +To think, with me, is to act. Grasping Thuvia by the arm, I whispered +to Tars Tarkas to follow me. Quickly we glided toward a small flier +which lay furthest from the battling warriors. Another instant found +us huddled on the tiny deck. My hand was on the starting lever. I +pressed my thumb upon the button which controls the ray of repulsion, +that splendid discovery of the Martians which permits them to navigate +the thin atmosphere of their planet in huge ships that dwarf the +dreadnoughts of our earthly navies into pitiful insignificance. + +The craft swayed slightly but she did not move. Then a new cry of +warning broke upon our ears. Turning, I saw a dozen black pirates +dashing toward us from the melee. We had been discovered. With +shrieks of rage the demons sprang for us. With frenzied insistence I +continued to press the little button which should have sent us racing +out into space, but still the vessel refused to budge. Then it came to +me--the reason that she would not rise. + +We had stumbled upon a two-man flier. Its ray tanks were charged only +with sufficient repulsive energy to lift two ordinary men. The Thark's +great weight was anchoring us to our doom. + +The blacks were nearly upon us. There was not an instant to be lost in +hesitation or doubt. + +I pressed the button far in and locked it. Then I set the lever at +high speed and as the blacks came yelling upon us I slipped from the +craft's deck and with drawn long-sword met the attack. + +At the same moment a girl's shriek rang out behind me and an instant +later, as the blacks fell upon me. I heard far above my head, and +faintly, in Thuvia's voice: "My Prince, O my Prince; I would rather +remain and die with--" But the rest was lost in the noise of my +assailants. + +I knew though that my ruse had worked and that temporarily at least +Thuvia and Tars Tarkas were safe, and the means of escape was theirs. + +For a moment it seemed that I could not withstand the weight of numbers +that confronted me, but again, as on so many other occasions when I had +been called upon to face fearful odds upon this planet of warriors and +fierce beasts, I found that my earthly strength so far transcended that +of my opponents that the odds were not so greatly against me as they +appeared. + +My seething blade wove a net of death about me. For an instant the +blacks pressed close to reach me with their shorter swords, but +presently they gave back, and the esteem in which they suddenly had +learned to hold my sword arm was writ large upon each countenance. + +I knew though that it was but a question of minutes before their +greater numbers would wear me down, or get around my guard. I must go +down eventually to certain death before them. I shuddered at the +thought of it, dying thus in this terrible place where no word of my +end ever could reach my Dejah Thoris. Dying at the hands of nameless +black men in the gardens of the cruel therns. + +Then my old-time spirit reasserted itself. The fighting blood of my +Virginian sires coursed hot through my veins. The fierce blood lust +and the joy of battle surged over me. The fighting smile that has +brought consternation to a thousand foemen touched my lips. I put the +thought of death out of my mind, and fell upon my antagonists with fury +that those who escaped will remember to their dying day. + +That others would press to the support of those who faced me I knew, so +even as I fought I kept my wits at work, searching for an avenue of +escape. + +It came from an unexpected quarter out of the black night behind me. I +had just disarmed a huge fellow who had given me a desperate struggle, +and for a moment the blacks stood back for a breathing spell. + +They eyed me with malignant fury, yet withal there was a touch of +respect in their demeanour. + +"Thern," said one, "you fight like a Dator. But for your detestable +yellow hair and your white skin you would be an honour to the First +Born of Barsoom." + +"I am no thern," I said, and was about to explain that I was from +another world, thinking that by patching a truce with these fellows and +fighting with them against the therns I might enlist their aid in +regaining my liberty. But just at that moment a heavy object smote me +a resounding whack between my shoulders that nearly felled me to the +ground. + +As I turned to meet this new enemy an object passed over my shoulder, +striking one of my assailants squarely in the face and knocking him +senseless to the sward. At the same instant I saw that the thing that +had struck us was the trailing anchor of a rather fair-sized air +vessel; possibly a ten man cruiser. + +The ship was floating slowly above us, not more than fifty feet over +our heads. Instantly the one chance for escape that it offered +presented itself to me. The vessel was slowly rising and now the +anchor was beyond the blacks who faced me and several feet above their +heads. + +With a bound that left them gaping in wide-eyed astonishment I sprang +completely over them. A second leap carried me just high enough to +grasp the now rapidly receding anchor. + +But I was successful, and there I hung by one hand, dragging through +the branches of the higher vegetation of the gardens, while my late +foemen shrieked and howled beneath me. + +Presently the vessel veered toward the west and then swung gracefully +to the south. In another instant I was carried beyond the crest of the +Golden Cliffs, out over the Valley Dor, where, six thousand feet below +me, the Lost Sea of Korus lay shimmering in the moonlight. + +Carefully I climbed to a sitting posture across the anchor's arms. I +wondered if by chance the vessel might be deserted. I hoped so. Or +possibly it might belong to a friendly people, and have wandered by +accident almost within the clutches of the pirates and the therns. The +fact that it was retreating from the scene of battle lent colour to +this hypothesis. + +But I decided to know positively, and at once, so, with the greatest +caution, I commenced to climb slowly up the anchor chain toward the +deck above me. + +One hand had just reached for the vessel's rail and found it when a +fierce black face was thrust over the side and eyes filled with +triumphant hate looked into mine. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A FAIR GODDESS + + +For an instant the black pirate and I remained motionless, glaring into +each other's eyes. Then a grim smile curled the handsome lips above +me, as an ebony hand came slowly in sight from above the edge of the +deck and the cold, hollow eye of a revolver sought the centre of my +forehead. + +Simultaneously my free hand shot out for the black throat, just within +reach, and the ebony finger tightened on the trigger. The pirate's +hissing, "Die, cursed thern," was half choked in his windpipe by my +clutching fingers. The hammer fell with a futile click upon an empty +chamber. + +Before he could fire again I had pulled him so far over the edge of the +deck that he was forced to drop his firearm and clutch the rail with +both hands. + +My grasp upon his throat effectually prevented any outcry, and so we +struggled in grim silence; he to tear away from my hold, I to drag him +over to his death. + +His face was taking on a livid hue, his eyes were bulging from their +sockets. It was evident to him that he soon must die unless he tore +loose from the steel fingers that were choking the life from him. With +a final effort he threw himself further back upon the deck, at the same +instant releasing his hold upon the rail to tear frantically with both +hands at my fingers in an effort to drag them from his throat. + +That little second was all that I awaited. With one mighty downward +surge I swept him clear of the deck. His falling body came near to +tearing me from the frail hold that my single free hand had upon the +anchor chain and plunging me with him to the waters of the sea below. + +I did not relinquish my grasp upon him, however, for I knew that a +single shriek from those lips as he hurtled to his death in the silent +waters of the sea would bring his comrades from above to avenge him. + +Instead I held grimly to him, choking, ever choking, while his frantic +struggles dragged me lower and lower toward the end of the chain. + +Gradually his contortions became spasmodic, lessening by degrees until +they ceased entirely. Then I released my hold upon him and in an +instant he was swallowed by the black shadows far below. + +Again I climbed to the ship's rail. This time I succeeded in raising +my eyes to the level of the deck, where I could take a careful survey +of the conditions immediately confronting me. + +The nearer moon had passed below the horizon, but the clear effulgence +of the further satellite bathed the deck of the cruiser, bringing into +sharp relief the bodies of six or eight black men sprawled about in +sleep. + +Huddled close to the base of a rapid fire gun was a young white girl, +securely bound. Her eyes were widespread in an expression of horrified +anticipation and fixed directly upon me as I came in sight above the +edge of the deck. + +Unutterable relief instantly filled them as if they fell upon the mystic +jewel which sparkled in the centre of my stolen headpiece. She did not +speak. Instead her eyes warned me to beware the sleeping figures that +surrounded her. + +Noiselessly I gained the deck. The girl nodded to me to approach her. +As I bent low she whispered to me to release her. + +"I can aid you," she said, "and you will need all the aid available +when they awaken." + +"Some of them will awake in Korus," I replied smiling. + +She caught the meaning of my words, and the cruelty of her answering +smile horrified me. One is not astonished by cruelty in a hideous +face, but when it touches the features of a goddess whose +fine-chiselled lineaments might more fittingly portray love and beauty, +the contrast is appalling. + +Quickly I released her. + +"Give me a revolver," she whispered. "I can use that upon those your +sword does not silence in time." + +I did as she bid. Then I turned toward the distasteful work that lay +before me. This was no time for fine compunctions, nor for a chivalry +that these cruel demons would neither appreciate nor reciprocate. + +Stealthily I approached the nearest sleeper. When he awoke he was well +on his journey to the bosom of Korus. His piercing shriek as +consciousness returned to him came faintly up to us from the black +depths beneath. + +The second awoke as I touched him, and, though I succeeded in hurling +him from the cruiser's deck, his wild cry of alarm brought the +remaining pirates to their feet. There were five of them. + +As they arose the girl's revolver spoke in sharp staccato and one sank +back to the deck again to rise no more. + +The others rushed madly upon me with drawn swords. The girl evidently +dared not fire for fear of wounding me, but I saw her sneak stealthily +and cat-like toward the flank of the attackers. Then they were on me. + +For a few minutes I experienced some of the hottest fighting I had ever +passed through. The quarters were too small for foot work. It was +stand your ground and give and take. At first I took considerably more +than I gave, but presently I got beneath one fellow's guard and had the +satisfaction of seeing him collapse upon the deck. + +The others redoubled their efforts. The crashing of their blades upon +mine raised a terrific din that might have been heard for miles through +the silent night. Sparks flew as steel smote steel, and then there was +the dull and sickening sound of a shoulder bone parting beneath the +keen edge of my Martian sword. + +Three now faced me, but the girl was working her way to a point that +would soon permit her to reduce the number by one at least. Then +things happened with such amazing rapidity that I can scarce comprehend +even now all that took place in that brief instant. + +The three rushed me with the evident purpose of forcing me back the few +steps that would carry my body over the rail into the void below. At +the same instant the girl fired and my sword arm made two moves. One +man dropped with a bullet in his brain; a sword flew clattering across +the deck and dropped over the edge beyond as I disarmed one of my +opponents and the third went down with my blade buried to the hilt in +his breast and three feet of it protruding from his back, and falling +wrenched the sword from my grasp. + +Disarmed myself, I now faced my remaining foeman, whose own sword lay +somewhere thousands of feet below us, lost in the Lost Sea. + +The new conditions seemed to please my adversary, for a smile of +satisfaction bared his gleaming teeth as he rushed at me bare-handed. +The great muscles which rolled beneath his glossy black hide evidently +assured him that here was easy prey, not worth the trouble of drawing +the dagger from his harness. + +I let him come almost upon me. Then I ducked beneath his outstretched +arms, at the same time sidestepping to the right. Pivoting on my left +toe, I swung a terrific right to his jaw, and, like a felled ox, he +dropped in his tracks. + +A low, silvery laugh rang out behind me. + +"You are no thern," said the sweet voice of my companion, "for all your +golden locks or the harness of Sator Throg. Never lived there upon all +Barsoom before one who could fight as you have fought this night. Who +are you?" + +"I am John Carter, Prince of the House of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of +Helium," I replied. "And whom," I added, "has the honour of serving +been accorded me?" + +She hesitated a moment before speaking. Then she asked: + +"You are no thern. Are you an enemy of the therns?" + +"I have been in the territory of the therns for a day and a half. +During that entire time my life has been in constant danger. I have +been harassed and persecuted. Armed men and fierce beasts have been +set upon me. I had no quarrel with the therns before, but can you +wonder that I feel no great love for them now? I have spoken." + +She looked at me intently for several minutes before she replied. It +was as though she were attempting to read my inmost soul, to judge my +character and my standards of chivalry in that long-drawn, searching +gaze. + +Apparently the inventory satisfied her. + +"I am Phaidor, daughter of Matai Shang, Holy Hekkador of the Holy +Therns, Father of Therns, Master of Life and Death upon Barsoom, +Brother of Issus, Prince of Life Eternal." + +At that moment I noticed that the black I had dropped with my fist was +commencing to show signs of returning consciousness. I sprang to his +side. Stripping his harness from him I securely bound his hands behind +his back, and after similarly fastening his feet tied him to a heavy +gun carriage. + +"Why not the simpler way?" asked Phaidor. + +"I do not understand. What 'simpler way'?" I replied. + +With a slight shrug of her lovely shoulders she made a gesture with her +hands personating the casting of something over the craft's side. + +"I am no murderer," I said. "I kill in self-defence only." + +She looked at me narrowly. Then she puckered those divine brows of +hers, and shook her head. She could not comprehend. + +Well, neither had my own Dejah Thoris been able to understand what to +her had seemed a foolish and dangerous policy toward enemies. Upon +Barsoom, quarter is neither asked nor given, and each dead man means so +much more of the waning resources of this dying planet to be divided +amongst those who survive. + +But there seemed a subtle difference here between the manner in which +this girl contemplated the dispatching of an enemy and the +tender-hearted regret of my own princess for the stern necessity which +demanded it. + +I think that Phaidor regretted the thrill that the spectacle would have +afforded her rather than the fact that my decision left another enemy +alive to threaten us. + +The man had now regained full possession of his faculties, and was +regarding us intently from where he lay bound upon the deck. He was a +handsome fellow, clean limbed and powerful, with an intelligent face +and features of such exquisite chiselling that Adonis himself might +have envied him. + +The vessel, unguided, had been moving slowly across the valley; but now +I thought it time to take the helm and direct her course. Only in a +very general way could I guess the location of the Valley Dor. That it +was far south of the equator was evident from the constellations, but I +was not sufficiently a Martian astronomer to come much closer than a +rough guess without the splendid charts and delicate instruments with +which, as an officer in the Heliumite Navy, I had formerly reckoned the +positions of the vessels on which I sailed. + +That a northerly course would quickest lead me toward the more settled +portions of the planet immediately decided the direction that I should +steer. Beneath my hand the cruiser swung gracefully about. Then the +button which controlled the repulsive rays sent us soaring far out into +space. With speed lever pulled to the last notch, we raced toward the +north as we rose ever farther and farther above that terrible valley of +death. + +As we passed at a dizzy height over the narrow domains of the therns +the flash of powder far below bore mute witness to the ferocity of the +battle that still raged along that cruel frontier. No sound of +conflict reached our ears, for in the rarefied atmosphere of our great +altitude no sound wave could penetrate; they were dissipated in thin +air far below us. + +It became intensely cold. Breathing was difficult. The girl, Phaidor, +and the black pirate kept their eyes glued upon me. At length the girl +spoke. + +"Unconsciousness comes quickly at this altitude," she said quietly. +"Unless you are inviting death for us all you had best drop, and that +quickly." + +There was no fear in her voice. It was as one might say: "You had +better carry an umbrella. It is going to rain." + +I dropped the vessel quickly to a lower level. Nor was I a moment too +soon. The girl had swooned. + +The black, too, was unconscious, while I, myself, retained my senses, I +think, only by sheer will. The one on whom all responsibility rests is +apt to endure the most. + +We were swinging along low above the foothills of the Otz. It was +comparatively warm and there was plenty of air for our starved lungs, +so I was not surprised to see the black open his eyes, and a moment +later the girl also. + +"It was a close call," she said. + +"It has taught me two things though," I replied. + +"What?" + +"That even Phaidor, daughter of the Master of Life and Death, is +mortal," I said smiling. + +"There is immortality only in Issus," she replied. "And Issus is for +the race of therns alone. Thus am I immortal." + +I caught a fleeting grin passing across the features of the black as he +heard her words. I did not then understand why he smiled. Later I was +to learn, and she, too, in a most horrible manner. + +"If the other thing you have just learned," she continued, "has led to +as erroneous deductions as the first you are little richer in knowledge +than you were before." + +"The other," I replied, "is that our dusky friend here does not hail +from the nearer moon--he was like to have died at a few thousand feet +above Barsoom. Had we continued the five thousand miles that lie +between Thuria and the planet he would have been but the frozen memory +of a man." + +Phaidor looked at the black in evident astonishment. + +"If you are not of Thuria, then where?" she asked. + +He shrugged his shoulders and turned his eyes elsewhere, but did not +reply. + +The girl stamped her little foot in a peremptory manner. + +"The daughter of Matai Shang is not accustomed to having her queries +remain unanswered," she said. "One of the lesser breed should feel +honoured that a member of the holy race that was born to inherit life +eternal should deign even to notice him." + +Again the black smiled that wicked, knowing smile. + +"Xodar, Dator of the First Born of Barsoom, is accustomed to give +commands, not to receive them," replied the black pirate. Then, +turning to me, "What are your intentions concerning me?" + +"I intend taking you both back to Helium," I said. "No harm will come +to you. You will find the red men of Helium a kindly and magnanimous +race, but if they listen to me there will be no more voluntary +pilgrimages down the river Iss, and the impossible belief that they +have cherished for ages will be shattered into a thousand pieces." + +"Are you of Helium?" he asked. + +"I am a Prince of the House of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium," I +replied, "but I am not of Barsoom. I am of another world." + +Xodar looked at me intently for a few moments. + +"I can well believe that you are not of Barsoom," he said at length. +"None of this world could have bested eight of the First Born +single-handed. But how is it that you wear the golden hair and the +jewelled circlet of a Holy Thern?" He emphasized the word holy with a +touch of irony. + +"I had forgotten them," I said. "They are the spoils of conquest," and +with a sweep of my hand I removed the disguise from my head. + +When the black's eyes fell on my close-cropped black hair they opened +in astonishment. Evidently he had looked for the bald pate of a thern. + +"You are indeed of another world," he said, a touch of awe in his +voice. "With the skin of a thern, the black hair of a First Born and +the muscles of a dozen Dators it was no disgrace even for Xodar to +acknowledge your supremacy. A thing he could never do were you a +Barsoomian," he added. + +"You are travelling several laps ahead of me, my friend," I +interrupted. "I glean that your name is Xodar, but whom, pray, are the +First Born, and what a Dator, and why, if you were conquered by a +Barsoomian, could you not acknowledge it?" + +"The First Born of Barsoom," he explained, "are the race of black men +of which I am a Dator, or, as the lesser Barsoomians would say, Prince. +My race is the oldest on the planet. We trace our lineage, unbroken, +direct to the Tree of Life which flourished in the centre of the Valley +Dor twenty-three million years ago. + +"For countless ages the fruit of this tree underwent the gradual +changes of evolution, passing by degrees from true plant life to a +combination of plant and animal. In the first stages the fruit of the +tree possessed only the power of independent muscular action, while the +stem remained attached to the parent plant; later a brain developed in +the fruit, so that hanging there by their long stems they thought and +moved as individuals. + +"Then, with the development of perceptions came a comparison of them; +judgments were reached and compared, and thus reason and the power to +reason were born upon Barsoom. + +"Ages passed. Many forms of life came and went upon the Tree of Life, +but still all were attached to the parent plant by stems of varying +lengths. At length the fruit tree consisted in tiny plant men, such as +we now see reproduced in such huge dimensions in the Valley Dor, but +still hanging to the limbs and branches of the tree by the stems which +grew from the tops of their heads. + +"The buds from which the plant men blossomed resembled large nuts about +a foot in diameter, divided by double partition walls into four +sections. In one section grew the plant man, in another a +sixteen-legged worm, in the third the progenitor of the white ape and +in the fourth the primaeval black man of Barsoom. + +"When the bud burst the plant man remained dangling at the end of his +stem, but the three other sections fell to the ground, where the +efforts of their imprisoned occupants to escape sent them hopping about +in all directions. + +"Thus as time went on, all Barsoom was covered with these imprisoned +creatures. For countless ages they lived their long lives within their +hard shells, hopping and skipping about the broad planet; falling into +rivers, lakes, and seas, to be still further spread about the surface +of the new world. + +"Countless billions died before the first black man broke through his +prison walls into the light of day. Prompted by curiosity, he broke +open other shells and the peopling of Barsoom commenced. + +"The pure strain of the blood of this first black man has remained +untainted by admixture with other creatures in the race of which I am a +member; but from the sixteen-legged worm, the first ape and renegade +black man has sprung every other form of animal life upon Barsoom. + +"The therns," and he smiled maliciously as he spoke, "are but the +result of ages of evolution from the pure white ape of antiquity. They +are a lower order still. There is but one race of true and immortal +humans on Barsoom. It is the race of black men. + +"The Tree of Life is dead, but before it died the plant men learned to +detach themselves from it and roam the face of Barsoom with the other +children of the First Parent. + +"Now their bisexuality permits them to reproduce themselves after the +manner of true plants, but otherwise they have progressed but little in +all the ages of their existence. Their actions and movements are +largely matters of instinct and not guided to any great extent by +reason, since the brain of a plant man is but a trifle larger than the +end of your smallest finger. They live upon vegetation and the blood +of animals, and their brain is just large enough to direct their +movements in the direction of food, and to translate the food +sensations which are carried to it from their eyes and ears. They have +no sense of self-preservation and so are entirely without fear in the +face of danger. That is why they are such terrible antagonists in +combat." + +I wondered why the black man took such pains to discourse thus at +length to enemies upon the genesis of life Barsoomian. It seemed a +strangely inopportune moment for a proud member of a proud race to +unbend in casual conversation with a captor. Especially in view of the +fact that the black still lay securely bound upon the deck. + +It was the faintest straying of his eye beyond me for the barest +fraction of a second that explained his motive for thus dragging out my +interest in his truly absorbing story. + +He lay a little forward of where I stood at the levers, and thus he +faced the stern of the vessel as he addressed me. It was at the end of +his description of the plant men that I caught his eye fixed +momentarily upon something behind me. + +Nor could I be mistaken in the swift gleam of triumph that brightened +those dark orbs for an instant. + +Some time before I had reduced our speed, for we had left the Valley +Dor many miles astern, and I felt comparatively safe. + +I turned an apprehensive glance behind me, and the sight that I saw +froze the new-born hope of freedom that had been springing up within me. + +A great battleship, forging silent and unlighted through the dark +night, loomed close astern. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE DEPTHS OF OMEAN + + +Now I realized why the black pirate had kept me engrossed with his +strange tale. For miles he had sensed the approach of succour, and but +for that single tell-tale glance the battleship would have been +directly above us in another moment, and the boarding party which was +doubtless even now swinging in their harness from the ship's keel, +would have swarmed our deck, placing my rising hope of escape in sudden +and total eclipse. + +I was too old a hand in aerial warfare to be at a loss now for the +right manoeuvre. Simultaneously I reversed the engines and dropped the +little vessel a sheer hundred feet. + +Above my head I could see the dangling forms of the boarding party as +the battleship raced over us. Then I rose at a sharp angle, throwing +my speed lever to its last notch. + +Like a bolt from a crossbow my splendid craft shot its steel prow +straight at the whirring propellers of the giant above us. If I could +but touch them the huge bulk would be disabled for hours and escape +once more possible. + +At the same instant the sun shot above the horizon, disclosing a +hundred grim, black faces peering over the stern of the battleship upon +us. + +At sight of us a shout of rage went up from a hundred throats. Orders +were shouted, but it was too late to save the giant propellers, and +with a crash we rammed them. + +Instantly with the shock of impact I reversed my engine, but my prow +was wedged in the hole it had made in the battleship's stern. Only a +second I hung there before tearing away, but that second was amply long +to swarm my deck with black devils. + +There was no fight. In the first place there was no room to fight. We +were simply submerged by numbers. Then as swords menaced me a command +from Xodar stayed the hands of his fellows. + +"Secure them," he said, "but do not injure them." + +Several of the pirates already had released Xodar. He now personally +attended to my disarming and saw that I was properly bound. At least +he thought that the binding was secure. It would have been had I been +a Martian, but I had to smile at the puny strands that confined my +wrists. When the time came I could snap them as they had been cotton +string. + +The girl they bound also, and then they fastened us together. In the +meantime they had brought our craft alongside the disabled battleship, +and soon we were transported to the latter's deck. + +Fully a thousand black men manned the great engine of destruction. Her +decks were crowded with them as they pressed forward as far as +discipline would permit to get a glimpse of their captives. + +The girl's beauty elicited many brutal comments and vulgar jests. It +was evident that these self-thought supermen were far inferior to the +red men of Barsoom in refinement and in chivalry. + +My close-cropped black hair and thern complexion were the subjects of +much comment. When Xodar told his fellow nobles of my fighting ability +and strange origin they crowded about me with numerous questions. + +The fact that I wore the harness and metal of a thern who had been +killed by a member of my party convinced them that I was an enemy of +their hereditary foes, and placed me on a better footing in their +estimation. + +Without exception the blacks were handsome men, and well built. The +officers were conspicuous through the wondrous magnificence of their +resplendent trappings. Many harnesses were so encrusted with gold, +platinum, silver and precious stones as to entirely hide the leather +beneath. + +The harness of the commanding officer was a solid mass of diamonds. +Against the ebony background of his skin they blazed out with a +peculiarly accentuated effulgence. The whole scene was enchanting. +The handsome men; the barbaric splendour of the accoutrements; the +polished skeel wood of the deck; the gloriously grained sorapus of the +cabins, inlaid with priceless jewels and precious metals in intricate +and beautiful design; the burnished gold of hand rails; the shining +metal of the guns. + +Phaidor and I were taken below decks, where, still fast bound, we were +thrown into a small compartment which contained a single port-hole. As +our escort left us they barred the door behind them. + +We could hear the men working on the broken propellers, and from the +port-hole we could see that the vessel was drifting lazily toward the +south. + +For some time neither of us spoke. Each was occupied with his own +thoughts. For my part I was wondering as to the fate of Tars Tarkas +and the girl, Thuvia. + +Even if they succeeded in eluding pursuit they must eventually fall +into the hands of either red men or green, and as fugitives from the +Valley Dor they could look for but little else than a swift and +terrible death. + +How I wished that I might have accompanied them. It seemed to me that +I could not fail to impress upon the intelligent red men of Barsoom the +wicked deception that a cruel and senseless superstition had foisted +upon them. + +Tardos Mors would believe me. Of that I was positive. And that he +would have the courage of his convictions my knowledge of his character +assured me. Dejah Thoris would believe me. Not a doubt as to that +entered my head. Then there were a thousand of my red and green +warrior friends whom I knew would face eternal damnation gladly for my +sake. Like Tars Tarkas, where I led they would follow. + +My only danger lay in that should I ever escape the black pirates it +might be to fall into the hands of unfriendly red or green men. Then +it would mean short shrift for me. + +Well, there seemed little to worry about on that score, for the +likelihood of my ever escaping the blacks was extremely remote. + +The girl and I were linked together by a rope which permitted us to +move only about three or four feet from each other. When we had +entered the compartment we had seated ourselves upon a low bench +beneath the porthole. The bench was the only furniture of the room. +It was of sorapus wood. The floor, ceiling and walls were of +carborundum aluminum, a light, impenetrable composition extensively +utilized in the construction of Martian fighting ships. + +As I had sat meditating upon the future my eyes had been riveted upon +the port-hole which was just level with them as I sat. Suddenly I +looked toward Phaidor. She was regarding me with a strange expression +I had not before seen upon her face. She was very beautiful then. + +Instantly her white lids veiled her eyes, and I thought I discovered a +delicate flush tingeing her cheek. Evidently she was embarrassed at +having been detected in the act of staring at a lesser creature, I +thought. + +"Do you find the study of the lower orders interesting?" I asked, +laughing. + +She looked up again with a nervous but relieved little laugh. + +"Oh very," she said, "especially when they have such excellent +profiles." + +It was my turn to flush, but I did not. I felt that she was poking fun +at me, and I admired a brave heart that could look for humour on the +road to death, and so I laughed with her. + +"Do you know where we are going?" she said. + +"To solve the mystery of the eternal hereafter, I imagine," I replied. + +"I am going to a worse fate than that," she said, with a little shudder. + +"What do you mean?" + +"I can only guess," she replied, "since no thern damsel of all the +millions that have been stolen away by black pirates during the ages +they have raided our domains has ever returned to narrate her +experiences among them. That they never take a man prisoner lends +strength to the belief that the fate of the girls they steal is worse +than death." + +"Is it not a just retribution?" I could not help but ask. + +"What do you mean?" + +"Do not the therns themselves do likewise with the poor creatures who +take the voluntary pilgrimage down the River of Mystery? Was not +Thuvia for fifteen years a plaything and a slave? Is it less than just +that you should suffer as you have caused others to suffer?" + +"You do not understand," she replied. "We therns are a holy race. It +is an honour to a lesser creature to be a slave among us. Did we not +occasionally save a few of the lower orders that stupidly float down an +unknown river to an unknown end all would become the prey of the plant +men and the apes." + +"But do you not by every means encourage the superstition among those +of the outside world?" I argued. "That is the wickedest of your deeds. +Can you tell me why you foster the cruel deception?" + +"All life on Barsoom," she said, "is created solely for the support of +the race of therns. How else could we live did the outer world not +furnish our labour and our food? Think you that a thern would demean +himself by labour?" + +"It is true then that you eat human flesh?" I asked in horror. + +She looked at me in pitying commiseration for my ignorance. + +"Truly we eat the flesh of the lower orders. Do not you also?" + +"The flesh of beasts, yes," I replied, "but not the flesh of man." + +"As man may eat of the flesh of beasts, so may gods eat of the flesh of +man. The Holy Therns are the gods of Barsoom." + +I was disgusted and I imagine that I showed it. + +"You are an unbeliever now," she continued gently, "but should we be +fortunate enough to escape the clutches of the black pirates and come +again to the court of Matai Shang I think that we shall find an +argument to convince you of the error of your ways. And--," she +hesitated, "perhaps we shall find a way to keep you as--as--one of us." + +Again her eyes dropped to the floor, and a faint colour suffused her +cheek. I could not understand her meaning; nor did I for a long time. +Dejah Thoris was wont to say that in some things I was a veritable +simpleton, and I guess that she was right. + +"I fear that I would ill requite your father's hospitality," I +answered, "since the first thing that I should do were I a thern would +be to set an armed guard at the mouth of the River Iss to escort the +poor deluded voyagers back to the outer world. Also should I devote my +life to the extermination of the hideous plant men and their horrible +companions, the great white apes." + +She looked at me really horror struck. + +"No, no," she cried, "you must not say such terribly sacrilegious +things--you must not even think them. Should they ever guess that you +entertained such frightful thoughts, should we chance to regain the +temples of the therns, they would mete out a frightful death to you. +Not even my--my--" Again she flushed, and started over. "Not even I +could save you." + +I said no more. Evidently it was useless. She was even more steeped +in superstition than the Martians of the outer world. They only +worshipped a beautiful hope for a life of love and peace and happiness +in the hereafter. The therns worshipped the hideous plant men and the +apes, or at least they reverenced them as the abodes of the departed +spirits of their own dead. + +At this point the door of our prison opened to admit Xodar. + +He smiled pleasantly at me, and when he smiled his expression was +kindly--anything but cruel or vindictive. + +"Since you cannot escape under any circumstances," he said, "I cannot +see the necessity for keeping you confined below. I will cut your +bonds and you may come on deck. You will witness something very +interesting, and as you never shall return to the outer world it will +do no harm to permit you to see it. You will see what no other than +the First Born and their slaves know the existence of--the subterranean +entrance to the Holy Land, to the real heaven of Barsoom. + +"It will be an excellent lesson for this daughter of the therns," he +added, "for she shall see the Temple of Issus, and Issus, perchance, +shall embrace her." + +Phaidor's head went high. + +"What blasphemy is this, dog of a pirate?" she cried. "Issus would +wipe out your entire breed an' you ever came within sight of her +temple." + +"You have much to learn, thern," replied Xodar, with an ugly smile, +"nor do I envy you the manner in which you will learn it." + +As we came on deck I saw to my surprise that the vessel was passing +over a great field of snow and ice. As far as the eye could reach in +any direction naught else was visible. + +There could be but one solution to the mystery. We were above the +south polar ice cap. Only at the poles of Mars is there ice or snow +upon the planet. No sign of life appeared below us. Evidently we were +too far south even for the great fur-bearing animals which the Martians +so delight in hunting. + +Xodar was at my side as I stood looking out over the ship's rail. + +"What course?" I asked him. + +"A little west of south," he replied. "You will see the Otz Valley +directly. We shall skirt it for a few hundred miles." + +"The Otz Valley!" I exclaimed; "but, man, is not there where lie the +domains of the therns from which I but just escaped?" + +"Yes," answered Xodar. "You crossed this ice field last night in the +long chase that you led us. The Otz Valley lies in a mighty depression +at the south pole. It is sunk thousands of feet below the level of the +surrounding country, like a great round bowl. A hundred miles from its +northern boundary rise the Otz Mountains which circle the inner Valley +of Dor, in the exact centre of which lies the Lost Sea of Korus. On +the shore of this sea stands the Golden Temple of Issus in the Land of +the First Born. It is there that we are bound." + +As I looked I commenced to realize why it was that in all the ages only +one had escaped from the Valley Dor. My only wonder was that even the +one had been successful. To cross this frozen, wind-swept waste of +bleak ice alone and on foot would be impossible. + +"Only by air boat could the journey be made," I finished aloud. + +"It was thus that one did escape the therns in bygone times; but none +has ever escaped the First Born," said Xodar, with a touch of pride in +his voice. + +We had now reached the southernmost extremity of the great ice barrier. +It ended abruptly in a sheer wall thousands of feet high at the base of +which stretched a level valley, broken here and there by low rolling +hills and little clumps of forest, and with tiny rivers formed by the +melting of the ice barrier at its base. + +Once we passed far above what seemed to be a deep canyon-like rift +stretching from the ice wall on the north across the valley as far as +the eye could reach. "That is the bed of the River Iss," said Xodar. +"It runs far beneath the ice field, and below the level of the Valley +Otz, but its canyon is open here." + +Presently I descried what I took to be a village, and pointing it out +to Xodar asked him what it might be. + +"It is a village of lost souls," he answered, laughing. "This strip +between the ice barrier and the mountains is considered neutral ground. +Some turn off from their voluntary pilgrimage down the Iss, and, +scaling the awful walls of its canyon below us, stop in the valley. +Also a slave now and then escapes from the therns and makes his way +hither. + +"They do not attempt to recapture such, since there is no escape from +this outer valley, and as a matter of fact they fear the patrolling +cruisers of the First Born too much to venture from their own domains. + +"The poor creatures of this outer valley are not molested by us since +they have nothing that we desire, nor are they numerically strong +enough to give us an interesting fight--so we too leave them alone. + +"There are several villages of them, but they have increased in numbers +but little in many years since they are always warring among +themselves." + +Now we swung a little north of west, leaving the valley of lost souls, +and shortly I discerned over our starboard bow what appeared to be a +black mountain rising from the desolate waste of ice. It was not high +and seemed to have a flat top. + +Xodar had left us to attend to some duty on the vessel, and Phaidor and +I stood alone beside the rail. The girl had not once spoken since we +had been brought to the deck. + +"Is what he has been telling me true?" I asked her. + +"In part, yes," she answered. "That about the outer valley is true, +but what he says of the location of the Temple of Issus in the centre +of his country is false. If it is not false--" she hesitated. "Oh it +cannot be true, it cannot be true. For if it were true then for +countless ages have my people gone to torture and ignominious death at +the hands of their cruel enemies, instead of to the beautiful Life +Eternal that we have been taught to believe Issus holds for us." + +"As the lesser Barsoomians of the outer world have been lured by you to +the terrible Valley Dor, so may it be that the therns themselves have +been lured by the First Born to an equally horrid fate," I suggested. +"It would be a stern and awful retribution, Phaidor; but a just one." + +"I cannot believe it," she said. + +"We shall see," I answered, and then we fell silent again for we were +rapidly approaching the black mountains, which in some indefinable way +seemed linked with the answer to our problem. + +As we neared the dark, truncated cone the vessel's speed was diminished +until we barely moved. Then we topped the crest of the mountain and +below us I saw yawning the mouth of a huge circular well, the bottom of +which was lost in inky blackness. + +The diameter of this enormous pit was fully a thousand feet. The walls +were smooth and appeared to be composed of a black, basaltic rock. + +For a moment the vessel hovered motionless directly above the centre of +the gaping void, then slowly she began to settle into the black chasm. +Lower and lower she sank until as darkness enveloped us her lights were +thrown on and in the dim halo of her own radiance the monster +battleship dropped on and on down into what seemed to me must be the +very bowels of Barsoom. + +For quite half an hour we descended and then the shaft terminated +abruptly in the dome of a mighty subterranean world. Below us rose and +fell the billows of a buried sea. A phosphorescent radiance +illuminated the scene. Thousands of ships dotted the bosom of the +ocean. Little islands rose here and there to support the strange and +colourless vegetation of this strange world. + +Slowly and with majestic grace the battleship dropped until she rested +on the water. Her great propellers had been drawn and housed during +our descent of the shaft and in their place had been run out the +smaller but more powerful water propellers. As these commenced to +revolve the ship took up its journey once more, riding the new element +as buoyantly and as safely as she had the air. + +Phaidor and I were dumbfounded. Neither had either heard or dreamed +that such a world existed beneath the surface of Barsoom. + +Nearly all the vessels we saw were war craft. There were a few +lighters and barges, but none of the great merchantmen such as ply the +upper air between the cities of the outer world. + +"Here is the harbour of the navy of the First Born," said a voice +behind us, and turning we saw Xodar watching us with an amused smile on +his lips. + +"This sea," he continued, "is larger than Korus. It receives the +waters of the lesser sea above it. To keep it from filling above a +certain level we have four great pumping stations that force the +oversupply back into the reservoirs far north from which the red men +draw the water which irrigates their farm lands." + +A new light burst on me with this explanation. The red men had always +considered it a miracle that caused great columns of water to spurt +from the solid rock of their reservoir sides to increase the supply of +the precious liquid which is so scarce in the outer world of Mars. + +Never had their learned men been able to fathom the secret of the +source of this enormous volume of water. As ages passed they had +simply come to accept it as a matter of course and ceased to question +its origin. + +We passed several islands on which were strangely shaped circular +buildings, apparently roofless, and pierced midway between the ground +and their tops with small, heavily barred windows. They bore the +earmarks of prisons, which were further accentuated by the armed guards +who squatted on low benches without, or patrolled the short beach lines. + +Few of these islets contained over an acre of ground, but presently we +sighted a much larger one directly ahead. This proved to be our +destination, and the great ship was soon made fast against the steep +shore. + +Xodar signalled us to follow him and with a half-dozen officers and men +we left the battleship and approached a large oval structure a couple +of hundred yards from the shore. + +"You shall soon see Issus," said Xodar to Phaidor. "The few prisoners +we take are presented to her. Occasionally she selects slaves from +among them to replenish the ranks of her handmaidens. None serves +Issus above a single year," and there was a grim smile on the black's +lips that lent a cruel and sinister meaning to his simple statement. + +Phaidor, though loath to believe that Issus was allied to such as +these, had commenced to entertain doubts and fears. She clung very +closely to me, no longer the proud daughter of the Master of Life and +Death upon Barsoom, but a young and frightened girl in the power of +relentless enemies. + +The building which we now entered was entirely roofless. In its centre +was a long tank of water, set below the level of the floor like the +swimming pool of a natatorium. Near one side of the pool floated an +odd-looking black object. Whether it were some strange monster of +these buried waters, or a queer raft, I could not at once perceive. + +We were soon to know, however, for as we reached the edge of the pool +directly above the thing, Xodar cried out a few words in a strange +tongue. Immediately a hatch cover was raised from the surface of the +object, and a black seaman sprang from the bowels of the strange craft. + +Xodar addressed the seaman. + +"Transmit to your officer," he said, "the commands of Dator Xodar. Say +to him that Dator Xodar, with officers and men, escorting two +prisoners, would be transported to the gardens of Issus beside the +Golden Temple." + +"Blessed be the shell of thy first ancestor, most noble Dator," replied +the man. "It shall be done even as thou sayest," and raising both +hands, palms backward, above his head after the manner of salute which +is common to all races of Barsoom, he disappeared once more into the +entrails of his ship. + +A moment later an officer resplendent in the gorgeous trappings of his +rank appeared on deck and welcomed Xodar to the vessel, and in the +latter's wake we filed aboard and below. + +The cabin in which we found ourselves extended entirely across the +ship, having port-holes on either side below the water line. No sooner +were all below than a number of commands were given, in accordance with +which the hatch was closed and secured, and the vessel commenced to +vibrate to the rhythmic purr of its machinery. + +"Where can we be going in such a tiny pool of water?" asked Phaidor. + +"Not up," I replied, "for I noticed particularly that while the +building is roofless it is covered with a strong metal grating." + +"Then where?" she asked again. + +"From the appearance of the craft I judge we are going down," I replied. + +Phaidor shuddered. For such long ages have the waters of Barsoom's +seas been a thing of tradition only that even this daughter of the +therns, born as she had been within sight of Mars' only remaining sea, +had the same terror of deep water as is a common attribute of all +Martians. + +Presently the sensation of sinking became very apparent. We were going +down swiftly. Now we could hear the water rushing past the port-holes, +and in the dim light that filtered through them to the water beyond the +swirling eddies were plainly visible. + +Phaidor grasped my arm. + +"Save me!" she whispered. "Save me and your every wish shall be +granted. Anything within the power of the Holy Therns to give will be +yours. Phaidor--" she stumbled a little here, and then in a very low +voice, "Phaidor already is yours." + +I felt very sorry for the poor child, and placed my hand over hers +where it rested on my arm. I presume my motive was misunderstood, for +with a swift glance about the apartment to assure herself that we were +alone, she threw both her arms about my neck and dragged my face down +to hers. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +ISSUS, GODDESS OF LIFE ETERNAL + + +The confession of love which the girl's fright had wrung from her +touched me deeply; but it humiliated me as well, since I felt that in +some thoughtless word or act I had given her reason to believe that I +reciprocated her affection. + +Never have I been much of a ladies' man, being more concerned with +fighting and kindred arts which have ever seemed to me more befitting a +man than mooning over a scented glove four sizes too small for him, or +kissing a dead flower that has begun to smell like a cabbage. So I was +quite at a loss as to what to do or say. A thousand times rather face +the wild hordes of the dead sea bottoms than meet the eyes of this +beautiful young girl and tell her the thing that I must tell her. + +But there was nothing else to be done, and so I did it. Very clumsily +too, I fear. + +Gently I unclasped her hands from about my neck, and still holding them +in mine I told her the story of my love for Dejah Thoris. That of all +the women of two worlds that I had known and admired during my long +life she alone had I loved. + +The tale did not seem to please her. Like a tigress she sprang, +panting, to her feet. Her beautiful face was distorted in an +expression of horrible malevolence. Her eyes fairly blazed into mine. + +"Dog," she hissed. "Dog of a blasphemer! Think you that Phaidor, +daughter of Matai Shang, supplicates? She commands. What to her is +your puny outer world passion for the vile creature you chose in your +other life? + +"Phaidor has glorified you with her love, and you have spurned her. +Ten thousand unthinkably atrocious deaths could not atone for the +affront that you have put upon me. The thing that you call Dejah +Thoris shall die the most horrible of them all. You have sealed the +warrant for her doom. + +"And you! You shall be the meanest slave in the service of the goddess +you have attempted to humiliate. Tortures and ignominies shall be +heaped upon you until you grovel at my feet asking the boon of death. + +"In my gracious generosity I shall at length grant your prayer, and +from the high balcony of the Golden Cliffs I shall watch the great +white apes tear you asunder." + +She had it all fixed up. The whole lovely programme from start to +finish. It amazed me to think that one so divinely beautiful could at +the same time be so fiendishly vindictive. It occurred to me, however, +that she had overlooked one little factor in her revenge, and so, +without any intent to add to her discomfiture, but rather to permit her +to rearrange her plans along more practical lines, I pointed to the +nearest port-hole. + +Evidently she had entirely forgotten her surroundings and her present +circumstances, for a single glance at the dark, swirling waters without +sent her crumpled upon a low bench, where with her face buried in her +arms she sobbed more like a very unhappy little girl than a proud and +all-powerful goddess. + +Down, down we continued to sink until the heavy glass of the port-holes +became noticeably warm from the heat of the water without. Evidently +we were very far beneath the surface crust of Mars. + +Presently our downward motion ceased, and I could hear the propellers +swirling through the water at our stern and forcing us ahead at high +speed. It was very dark down there, but the light from our port-holes, +and the reflection from what must have been a powerful searchlight on +the submarine's nose showed that we were forging through a narrow +passage, rock-lined, and tube-like. + +After a few minutes the propellers ceased their whirring. We came to a +full stop, and then commenced to rise swiftly toward the surface. Soon +the light from without increased and we came to a stop. + +Xodar entered the cabin with his men. + +"Come," he said, and we followed him through the hatchway which had +been opened by one of the seamen. + +We found ourselves in a small subterranean vault, in the centre of +which was the pool in which lay our submarine, floating as we had first +seen her with only her black back showing. + +Around the edge of the pool was a level platform, and then the walls of +the cave rose perpendicularly for a few feet to arch toward the centre +of the low roof. The walls about the ledge were pierced with a number +of entrances to dimly lighted passageways. + +Toward one of these our captors led us, and after a short walk halted +before a steel cage which lay at the bottom of a shaft rising above us +as far as one could see. + +The cage proved to be one of the common types of elevator cars that I +had seen in other parts of Barsoom. They are operated by means of +enormous magnets which are suspended at the top of the shaft. By an +electrical device the volume of magnetism generated is regulated and +the speed of the car varied. + +In long stretches they move at a sickening speed, especially on the +upward trip, since the small force of gravity inherent to Mars results +in very little opposition to the powerful force above. + +Scarcely had the door of the car closed behind us than we were slowing +up to stop at the landing above, so rapid was our ascent of the long +shaft. + +When we emerged from the little building which houses the upper +terminus of the elevator, we found ourselves in the midst of a +veritable fairyland of beauty. The combined languages of Earth men +hold no words to convey to the mind the gorgeous beauties of the scene. + +One may speak of scarlet sward and ivory-stemmed trees decked with +brilliant purple blooms; of winding walks paved with crushed rubies, +with emerald, with turquoise, even with diamonds themselves; of a +magnificent temple of burnished gold, hand-wrought with marvellous +designs; but where are the words to describe the glorious colours that +are unknown to earthly eyes? where the mind or the imagination that can +grasp the gorgeous scintillations of unheard-of rays as they emanate +from the thousand nameless jewels of Barsoom? + +Even my eyes, for long years accustomed to the barbaric splendours of a +Martian Jeddak's court, were amazed at the glory of the scene. + +Phaidor's eyes were wide in amazement. + +"The Temple of Issus," she whispered, half to herself. + +Xodar watched us with his grim smile, partly of amusement and partly +malicious gloating. + +The gardens swarmed with brilliantly trapped black men and women. +Among them moved red and white females serving their every want. The +places of the outer world and the temples of the therns had been robbed +of their princesses and goddesses that the blacks might have their +slaves. + +Through this scene we moved toward the temple. At the main entrance we +were halted by a cordon of armed guards. Xodar spoke a few words to an +officer who came forward to question us. Together they entered the +temple, where they remained for some time. + +When they returned it was to announce that Issus desired to look upon +the daughter of Matai Shang, and the strange creature from another +world who had been a Prince of Helium. + +Slowly we moved through endless corridors of unthinkable beauty; +through magnificent apartments, and noble halls. At length we were +halted in a spacious chamber in the centre of the temple. One of the +officers who had accompanied us advanced to a large door in the further +end of the chamber. Here he must have made some sort of signal for +immediately the door opened and another richly trapped courtier emerged. + +We were then led up to the door, where we were directed to get down on +our hands and knees with our backs toward the room we were to enter. +The doors were swung open and after being cautioned not to turn our +heads under penalty of instant death we were commanded to back into the +presence of Issus. + +Never have I been in so humiliating a position in my life, and only my +love for Dejah Thoris and the hope which still clung to me that I might +again see her kept me from rising to face the goddess of the First Born +and go down to my death like a gentleman, facing my foes and with their +blood mingling with mine. + +After we had crawled in this disgusting fashion for a matter of a +couple of hundred feet we were halted by our escort. + +"Let them rise," said a voice behind us; a thin, wavering voice, yet +one that had evidently been accustomed to command for many years. + +"Rise," said our escort, "but do not face toward Issus." + +"The woman pleases me," said the thin, wavering voice again after a few +moments of silence. "She shall serve me the allotted time. The man +you may return to the Isle of Shador which lies against the northern +shore of the Sea of Omean. Let the woman turn and look upon Issus, +knowing that those of the lower orders who gaze upon the holy vision of +her radiant face survive the blinding glory but a single year." + +I watched Phaidor from the corner of my eye. She paled to a ghastly +hue. Slowly, very slowly she turned, as though drawn by some invisible +yet irresistible force. She was standing quite close to me, so close +that her bare arm touched mine as she finally faced Issus, Goddess of +Life Eternal. + +I could not see the girl's face as her eyes rested for the first time +on the Supreme Deity of Mars, but felt the shudder that ran through her +in the trembling flesh of the arm that touched mine. + +"It must be dazzling loveliness indeed," thought I, "to cause such +emotion in the breast of so radiant a beauty as Phaidor, daughter of +Matai Shang." + +"Let the woman remain. Remove the man. Go." Thus spoke Issus, and +the heavy hand of the officer fell upon my shoulder. In accordance +with his instructions I dropped to my hands and knees once more and +crawled from the Presence. It had been my first audience with deity, +but I am free to confess that I was not greatly impressed--other than +with the ridiculous figure I cut scrambling about on my marrow bones. + +Once without the chamber the doors closed behind us and I was bid to +rise. Xodar joined me and together we slowly retraced our steps toward +the gardens. + +"You spared my life when you easily might have taken it," he said after +we had proceeded some little way in silence, "and I would aid you if I +might. I can help to make your life here more bearable, but your fate +is inevitable. You may never hope to return to the outer world." + +"What will be my fate?" I asked. + +"That will depend largely upon Issus. So long as she does not send for +you and reveal her face to you, you may live on for years in as mild a +form of bondage as I can arrange for you." + +"Why should she send for me?" I asked. + +"The men of the lower orders she often uses for various purposes of +amusement. Such a fighter as you, for example, would render fine sport +in the monthly rites of the temple. There are men pitted against men, +and against beasts for the edification of Issus and the replenishment +of her larder." + +"She eats human flesh?" I asked. Not in horror, however, for since my +recently acquired knowledge of the Holy Therns I was prepared for +anything in this still less accessible heaven, where all was evidently +dictated by a single omnipotence; where ages of narrow fanaticism and +self-worship had eradicated all the broader humanitarian instincts that +the race might once have possessed. + +They were a people drunk with power and success, looking upon the other +inhabitants of Mars as we look upon the beasts of the field and the +forest. Why then should they not eat of the flesh of the lower orders +whose lives and characters they no more understood than do we the +inmost thoughts and sensibilities of the cattle we slaughter for our +earthly tables. + +"She eats only the flesh of the best bred of the Holy Therns and the +red Barsoomians. The flesh of the others goes to our boards. The +animals are eaten by the slaves. She also eats other dainties." + +I did not understand then that there lay any special significance in +his reference to other dainties. I thought the limit of ghoulishness +already had been reached in the recitation of Issus' menu. I still had +much to learn as to the depths of cruelty and bestiality to which +omnipotence may drag its possessor. + +We had about reached the last of the many chambers and corridors which +led to the gardens when an officer overtook us. + +"Issus would look again upon this man," he said. "The girl has told +her that he is of wondrous beauty and of such prowess that alone he +slew seven of the First Born, and with his bare hands took Xodar +captive, binding him with his own harness." + +Xodar looked uncomfortable. Evidently he did not relish the thought +that Issus had learned of his inglorious defeat. + +Without a word he turned and we followed the officer once again to the +closed doors before the audience chamber of Issus, Goddess of Life +Eternal. + +Here the ceremony of entrance was repeated. Again Issus bid me rise. +For several minutes all was silent as the tomb. The eyes of deity were +appraising me. + +Presently the thin wavering voice broke the stillness, repeating in a +singsong drone the words which for countless ages had sealed the doom +of numberless victims. + +"Let the man turn and look upon Issus, knowing that those of the lower +orders who gaze upon the holy vision of her radiant face survive the +blinding glory but a single year." + +I turned as I had been bid, expecting such a treat as only the +revealment of divine glory to mortal eyes might produce. What I saw +was a solid phalanx of armed men between myself and a dais supporting a +great bench of carved sorapus wood. On this bench, or throne, squatted +a female black. She was evidently very old. Not a hair remained upon +her wrinkled skull. With the exception of two yellow fangs she was +entirely toothless. On either side of her thin, hawk-like nose her +eyes burned from the depths of horribly sunken sockets. The skin of +her face was seamed and creased with a million deepcut furrows. Her +body was as wrinkled as her face, and as repulsive. + +Emaciated arms and legs attached to a torso which seemed to be mostly +distorted abdomen completed the "holy vision of her radiant beauty." + +Surrounding her were a number of female slaves, among them Phaidor, +white and trembling. + +"This is the man who slew seven of the First Born and, bare-handed, +bound Dator Xodar with his own harness?" asked Issus. + +"Most glorious vision of divine loveliness, it is," replied the officer +who stood at my side. + +"Produce Dator Xodar," she commanded. + +Xodar was brought from the adjoining room. + +Issus glared at him, a baleful light in her hideous eyes. + +"And such as you are a Dator of the First Born?" she squealed. "For +the disgrace you have brought upon the Immortal Race you shall be +degraded to a rank below the lowest. No longer be you a Dator, but for +evermore a slave of slaves, to fetch and carry for the lower orders +that serve in the gardens of Issus. Remove his harness. Cowards and +slaves wear no trappings." + +Xodar stood stiffly erect. Not a muscle twitched, nor a tremor shook +his giant frame as a soldier of the guard roughly stripped his gorgeous +trappings from him. + +"Begone," screamed the infuriated little old woman. "Begone, but +instead of the light of the gardens of Issus let you serve as a slave +of this slave who conquered you in the prison on the Isle of Shador in +the Sea of Omean. Take him away out of the sight of my divine eyes." + +Slowly and with high held head the proud Xodar turned and stalked from +the chamber. Issus rose and turned to leave the room by another exit. + +Turning to me, she said: "You shall be returned to Shador for the +present. Later Issus will see the manner of your fighting. Go." Then +she disappeared, followed by her retinue. Only Phaidor lagged behind, +and as I started to follow my guard toward the gardens, the girl came +running after me. + +"Oh, do not leave me in this terrible place," she begged. "Forgive the +things I said to you, my Prince. I did not mean them. Only take me +away with you. Let me share your imprisonment on Shador." Her words +were an almost incoherent volley of thoughts, so rapidly she spoke. +"You did not understand the honour that I did you. Among the therns +there is no marriage or giving in marriage, as among the lower orders +of the outer world. We might have lived together for ever in love and +happiness. We have both looked upon Issus and in a year we die. Let +us live that year at least together in what measure of joy remains for +the doomed." + +"If it was difficult for me to understand you, Phaidor," I replied, +"can you not understand that possibly it is equally difficult for you +to understand the motives, the customs and the social laws that guide +me? I do not wish to hurt you, nor to seem to undervalue the honour +which you have done me, but the thing you desire may not be. +Regardless of the foolish belief of the peoples of the outer world, or +of Holy Thern, or ebon First Born, I am not dead. While I live my +heart beats for but one woman--the incomparable Dejah Thoris, Princess +of Helium. When death overtakes me my heart shall have ceased to beat; +but what comes after that I know not. And in that I am as wise as +Matai Shang, Master of Life and Death upon Barsoom; or Issus, Goddess +of Life Eternal." + +Phaidor stood looking at me intently for a moment. No anger showed in +her eyes this time, only a pathetic expression of hopeless sorrow. + +"I do not understand," she said, and turning walked slowly in the +direction of the door through which Issus and her retinue had passed. +A moment later she had passed from my sight. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE PRISON ISLE OF SHADOR + + +In the outer gardens to which the guard now escorted me, I found Xodar +surrounded by a crowd of noble blacks. They were reviling and cursing +him. The men slapped his face. The women spat upon him. + +When I appeared they turned their attentions toward me. + +"Ah," cried one, "so this is the creature who overcame the great Xodar +bare-handed. Let us see how it was done." + +"Let him bind Thurid," suggested a beautiful woman, laughing. "Thurid +is a noble Dator. Let Thurid show the dog what it means to face a real +man." + +"Yes, Thurid! Thurid!" cried a dozen voices. + +"Here he is now," exclaimed another, and turning in the direction +indicated I saw a huge black weighed down with resplendent ornaments +and arms advancing with noble and gallant bearing toward us. + +"What now?" he cried. "What would you of Thurid?" + +Quickly a dozen voices explained. + +Thurid turned toward Xodar, his eyes narrowing to two nasty slits. + +"Calot!" he hissed. "Ever did I think you carried the heart of a sorak +in your putrid breast. Often have you bested me in the secret councils +of Issus, but now in the field of war where men are truly gauged your +scabby heart hath revealed its sores to all the world. Calot, I spurn +you with my foot," and with the words he turned to kick Xodar. + +My blood was up. For minutes it had been boiling at the cowardly +treatment they had been according this once powerful comrade because he +had fallen from the favour of Issus. I had no love for Xodar, but I +cannot stand the sight of cowardly injustice and persecution without +seeing red as through a haze of bloody mist, and doing things on the +impulse of the moment that I presume I never should do after mature +deliberation. + +I was standing close beside Xodar as Thurid swung his foot for the +cowardly kick. The degraded Dator stood erect and motionless as a +carven image. He was prepared to take whatever his former comrades had +to offer in the way of insults and reproaches, and take them in manly +silence and stoicism. + +But as Thurid's foot swung so did mine, and I caught him a painful blow +upon the shin bone that saved Xodar from this added ignominy. + +For a moment there was tense silence, then Thurid, with a roar of rage +sprang for my throat; just as Xodar had upon the deck of the cruiser. +The results were identical. I ducked beneath his outstretched arms, +and as he lunged past me planted a terrific right on the side of his +jaw. + +The big fellow spun around like a top, his knees gave beneath him and +he crumpled to the ground at my feet. + +The blacks gazed in astonishment, first at the still form of the proud +Dator lying there in the ruby dust of the pathway, then at me as though +they could not believe that such a thing could be. + +"You asked me to bind Thurid," I cried; "behold!" And then I stooped +beside the prostrate form, tore the harness from it, and bound the +fellow's arms and legs securely. + +"As you have done to Xodar, now do you likewise to Thurid. Take him +before Issus, bound in his own harness, that she may see with her own +eyes that there be one among you now who is greater than the First +Born." + +"Who are you?" whispered the woman who had first suggested that I +attempt to bind Thurid. + +"I am a citizen of two worlds; Captain John Carter of Virginia, Prince +of the House of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium. Take this man to your +goddess, as I have said, and tell her, too, that as I have done to +Xodar and Thurid, so also can I do to the mightiest of her Dators. +With naked hands, with long-sword or with short-sword, I challenge the +flower of her fighting-men to combat." + +"Come," said the officer who was guarding me back to Shador; "my orders +are imperative; there is to be no delay. Xodar, come you also." + +There was little of disrespect in the tone that the man used in +addressing either Xodar or myself. It was evident that he felt less +contempt for the former Dator since he had witnessed the ease with +which I disposed of the powerful Thurid. + +That his respect for me was greater than it should have been for a +slave was quite apparent from the fact that during the balance of the +return journey he walked or stood always behind me, a drawn short-sword +in his hand. + +The return to the Sea of Omean was uneventful. We dropped down the +awful shaft in the same car that had brought us to the surface. There +we entered the submarine, taking the long dive to the tunnel far +beneath the upper world. Then through the tunnel and up again to the +pool from which we had had our first introduction to the wonderful +passageway from Omean to the Temple of Issus. + +From the island of the submarine we were transported on a small cruiser +to the distant Isle of Shador. Here we found a small stone prison and +a guard of half a dozen blacks. There was no ceremony wasted in +completing our incarceration. One of the blacks opened the door of the +prison with a huge key, we walked in, the door closed behind us, the +lock grated, and with the sound there swept over me again that terrible +feeling of hopelessness that I had felt in the Chamber of Mystery in +the Golden Cliffs beneath the gardens of the Holy Therns. + +Then Tars Tarkas had been with me, but now I was utterly alone in so +far as friendly companionship was concerned. I fell to wondering about +the fate of the great Thark, and of his beautiful companion, the girl, +Thuvia. Even should they by some miracle have escaped and been +received and spared by a friendly nation, what hope had I of the +succour which I knew they would gladly extend if it lay in their power. + +They could not guess my whereabouts or my fate, for none on all Barsoom +even dream of such a place as this. Nor would it have advantaged me +any had they known the exact location of my prison, for who could hope +to penetrate to this buried sea in the face of the mighty navy of the +First Born? No: my case was hopeless. + +Well, I would make the best of it, and, rising, I swept aside the +brooding despair that had been endeavouring to claim me. With the idea +of exploring my prison, I started to look around. + +Xodar sat, with bowed head, upon a low stone bench near the centre of +the room in which we were. He had not spoken since Issus had degraded +him. + +The building was roofless, the walls rising to a height of about thirty +feet. Half-way up were a couple of small, heavily barred windows. The +prison was divided into several rooms by partitions twenty feet high. +There was no one in the room which we occupied, but two doors which led +to other rooms were opened. I entered one of these rooms, but found it +vacant. Thus I continued through several of the chambers until in the +last one I found a young red Martian boy sleeping upon the stone bench +which constituted the only furniture of any of the prison cells. + +Evidently he was the only other prisoner. As he slept I leaned over +and looked at him. There was something strangely familiar about his +face, and yet I could not place him. + +His features were very regular and, like the proportions of his +graceful limbs and body, beautiful in the extreme. He was very light +in colour for a red man, but in other respects he seemed a typical +specimen of this handsome race. + +I did not awaken him, for sleep in prison is such a priceless boon that +I have seen men transformed into raging brutes when robbed by one of +their fellow-prisoners of a few precious moments of it. + +Returning to my own cell, I found Xodar still sitting in the same +position in which I had left him. + +"Man," I cried, "it will profit you nothing to mope thus. It were no +disgrace to be bested by John Carter. You have seen that in the ease +with which I accounted for Thurid. You knew it before when on the +cruiser's deck you saw me slay three of your comrades." + +"I would that you had dispatched me at the same time," he said. + +"Come, come!" I cried. "There is hope yet. Neither of us is dead. We +are great fighters. Why not win to freedom?" + +He looked at me in amazement. + +"You know not of what you speak," he replied. "Issus is omnipotent. +Issus is omniscient. She hears now the words you speak. She knows the +thoughts you think. It is sacrilege even to dream of breaking her +commands." + +"Rot, Xodar," I ejaculated impatiently. + +He sprang to his feet in horror. + +"The curse of Issus will fall upon you," he cried. "In another instant +you will be smitten down, writhing to your death in horrible agony." + +"Do you believe that, Xodar?" I asked. + +"Of course; who would dare doubt?" + +"I doubt; yes, and further, I deny," I said. "Why, Xodar, you tell me +that she even knows my thoughts. The red men have all had that power +for ages. And another wonderful power. They can shut their minds so +that none may read their thoughts. I learned the first secret years +ago; the other I never had to learn, since upon all Barsoom is none who +can read what passes in the secret chambers of my brain. + +"Your goddess cannot read my thoughts; nor can she read yours when you +are out of sight, unless you will it. Had she been able to read mine, +I am afraid that her pride would have suffered a rather severe shock +when I turned at her command to 'gaze upon the holy vision of her +radiant face.'" + +"What do you mean?" he whispered in an affrighted voice, so low that I +could scarcely hear him. + +"I mean that I thought her the most repulsive and vilely hideous +creature my eyes ever had rested upon." + +For a moment he eyed me in horror-stricken amazement, and then with a +cry of "Blasphemer" he sprang upon me. + +I did not wish to strike him again, nor was it necessary, since he was +unarmed and therefore quite harmless to me. + +As he came I grasped his left wrist with my left hand, and, swinging my +right arm about his left shoulder, caught him beneath the chin with my +elbow and bore him backward across my thigh. + +There he hung helpless for a moment, glaring up at me in impotent rage. + +"Xodar," I said, "let us be friends. For a year, possibly, we may be +forced to live together in the narrow confines of this tiny room. I am +sorry to have offended you, but I could not dream that one who had +suffered from the cruel injustice of Issus still could believe her +divine. + +"I will say a few more words, Xodar, with no intent to wound your +feelings further, but rather that you may give thought to the fact that +while we live we are still more the arbiters of our own fate than is +any god. + +"Issus, you see, has not struck me dead, nor is she rescuing her +faithful Xodar from the clutches of the unbeliever who defamed her fair +beauty. No, Xodar, your Issus is a mortal old woman. Once out of her +clutches and she cannot harm you. + +"With your knowledge of this strange land, and my knowledge of the +outer world, two such fighting-men as you and I should be able to win +our way to freedom. Even though we died in the attempt, would not our +memories be fairer than as though we remained in servile fear to be +butchered by a cruel and unjust tyrant--call her goddess or mortal, as +you will." + +As I finished I raised Xodar to his feet and released him. He did not +renew the attack upon me, nor did he speak. Instead, he walked toward +the bench, and, sinking down upon it, remained lost in deep thought for +hours. + +A long time afterward I heard a soft sound at the doorway leading to +one of the other apartments, and, looking up, beheld the red Martian +youth gazing intently at us. + +"Kaor," I cried, after the red Martian manner of greeting. + +"Kaor," he replied. "What do you here?" + +"I await my death, I presume," I replied with a wry smile. + +He too smiled, a brave and winning smile. + +"I also," he said. "Mine will come soon. I looked upon the radiant +beauty of Issus nearly a year since. It has always been a source of +keen wonder to me that I did not drop dead at the first sight of that +hideous countenance. And her belly! By my first ancestor, but never +was there so grotesque a figure in all the universe. That they should +call such a one Goddess of Life Eternal, Goddess of Death, Mother of +the Nearer Moon, and fifty other equally impossible titles, is quite +beyond me." + +"How came you here?" I asked. + +"It is very simple. I was flying a one-man air scout far to the south +when the brilliant idea occurred to me that I should like to search for +the Lost Sea of Korus which tradition places near to the south pole. I +must have inherited from my father a wild lust for adventure, as well +as a hollow where my bump of reverence should be. + +"I had reached the area of eternal ice when my port propeller jammed, +and I dropped to the ground to make repairs. Before I knew it the air +was black with fliers, and a hundred of these First Born devils were +leaping to the ground all about me. + +"With drawn swords they made for me, but before I went down beneath +them they had tasted of the steel of my father's sword, and I had given +such an account of myself as I know would have pleased my sire had he +lived to witness it." + +"Your father is dead?" I asked. + +"He died before the shell broke to let me step out into a world that +has been very good to me. But for the sorrow that I had never the +honour to know my father, I have been very happy. My only sorrow now +is that my mother must mourn me as she has for ten long years mourned +my father." + +"Who was your father?" I asked. + +He was about to reply when the outer door of our prison opened and a +burly guard entered and ordered him to his own quarters for the night, +locking the door after him as he passed through into the further +chamber. + +"It is Issus' wish that you two be confined in the same room," said the +guard when he had returned to our cell. "This cowardly slave of a +slave is to serve you well," he said to me, indicating Xodar with a +wave of his hand. "If he does not, you are to beat him into +submission. It is Issus' wish that you heap upon him every indignity +and degradation of which you can conceive." + +With these words he left us. + +Xodar still sat with his face buried in his hands. I walked to his +side and placed my hand upon his shoulder. + +"Xodar," I said, "you have heard the commands of Issus, but you need +not fear that I shall attempt to put them into execution. You are a +brave man, Xodar. It is your own affair if you wish to be persecuted +and humiliated; but were I you I should assert my manhood and defy my +enemies." + +"I have been thinking very hard, John Carter," he said, "of all the new +ideas you gave me a few hours since. Little by little I have been +piecing together the things that you said which sounded blasphemous to +me then with the things that I have seen in my past life and dared not +even think about for fear of bringing down upon me the wrath of Issus. + +"I believe now that she is a fraud; no more divine than you or I. More +I am willing to concede--that the First Born are no holier than the +Holy Therns, nor the Holy Therns more holy than the red men. + +"The whole fabric of our religion is based on superstitious belief in +lies that have been foisted upon us for ages by those directly above +us, to whose personal profit and aggrandizement it was to have us +continue to believe as they wished us to believe. + +"I am ready to cast off the ties that have bound me. I am ready to +defy Issus herself; but what will it avail us? Be the First Born gods +or mortals, they are a powerful race, and we are as fast in their +clutches as though we were already dead. There is no escape." + +"I have escaped from bad plights in the past, my friend," I replied; +"nor while life is in me shall I despair of escaping from the Isle of +Shador and the Sea of Omean." + +"But we cannot escape even from the four walls of our prison," urged +Xodar. "Test this flint-like surface," he cried, smiting the solid +rock that confined us. "And look upon this polished surface; none +could cling to it to reach the top." + +I smiled. + +"That is the least of our troubles, Xodar," I replied. "I will +guarantee to scale the wall and take you with me, if you will help with +your knowledge of the customs here to appoint the best time for the +attempt, and guide me to the shaft that lets from the dome of this +abysmal sea to the light of God's pure air above." + +"Night time is the best and offers the only slender chance we have, for +then men sleep, and only a dozing watch nods in the tops of the +battleships. No watch is kept upon the cruisers and smaller craft. +The watchers upon the larger vessels see to all about them. It is +night now." + +"But," I exclaimed, "it is not dark! How can it be night, then?" + +He smiled. + +"You forget," he said, "that we are far below ground. The light of the +sun never penetrates here. There are no moons and no stars reflected +in the bosom of Omean. The phosphorescent light you now see pervading +this great subterranean vault emanates from the rocks that form its +dome; it is always thus upon Omean, just as the billows are always as +you see them--rolling, ever rolling over a windless sea. + +"At the appointed hour of night upon the world above, the men whose +duties hold them here sleep, but the light is ever the same." + +"It will make escape more difficult," I said, and then I shrugged my +shoulders; for what, pray, is the pleasure of doing an easy thing? + +"Let us sleep on it to-night," said Xodar. "A plan may come with our +awakening." + +So we threw ourselves upon the hard stone floor of our prison and slept +the sleep of tired men. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +WHEN HELL BROKE LOOSE + + +Early the next morning Xodar and I commenced work upon our plans for +escape. First I had him sketch upon the stone floor of our cell as +accurate a map of the south polar regions as was possible with the +crude instruments at our disposal--a buckle from my harness, and the +sharp edge of the wondrous gem I had taken from Sator Throg. + +From this I computed the general direction of Helium and the distance +at which it lay from the opening which led to Omean. + +Then I had him draw a map of Omean, indicating plainly the position of +Shador and of the opening in the dome which led to the outer world. + +These I studied until they were indelibly imprinted in my memory. From +Xodar I learned the duties and customs of the guards who patrolled +Shador. It seemed that during the hours set aside for sleep only one +man was on duty at a time. He paced a beat that passed around the +prison, at a distance of about a hundred feet from the building. + +The pace of the sentries, Xodar said, was very slow, requiring nearly +ten minutes to make a single round. This meant that for practically +five minutes at a time each side of the prison was unguarded as the +sentry pursued his snail-like pace upon the opposite side. + +"This information you ask," said Xodar, "will be all very valuable +AFTER we get out, but nothing that you have asked has any bearing on +that first and most important consideration." + +"We will get out all right," I replied, laughing. "Leave that to me." + +"When shall we make the attempt?" he asked. + +"The first night that finds a small craft moored near the shore of +Shador," I replied. + +"But how will you know that any craft is moored near Shador? The +windows are far beyond our reach." + +"Not so, friend Xodar; look!" + +With a bound I sprang to the bars of the window opposite us, and took a +quick survey of the scene without. + +Several small craft and two large battleships lay within a hundred +yards of Shador. + +"To-night," I thought, and was just about to voice my decision to +Xodar, when, without warning, the door of our prison opened and a guard +stepped in. + +If the fellow saw me there our chances of escape might quickly go +glimmering, for I knew that they would put me in irons if they had the +slightest conception of the wonderful agility which my earthly muscles +gave me upon Mars. + +The man had entered and was standing facing the centre of the room, so +that his back was toward me. Five feet above me was the top of a +partition wall separating our cell from the next. + +There was my only chance to escape detection. If the fellow turned, I +was lost; nor could I have dropped to the floor undetected, since he +was so nearly below me that I would have struck him had I done so. + +"Where is the white man?" cried the guard of Xodar. "Issus commands +his presence." He started to turn to see if I were in another part of +the cell. + +I scrambled up the iron grating of the window until I could catch a +good footing on the sill with one foot; then I let go my hold and +sprang for the partition top. + +"What was that?" I heard the deep voice of the black bellow as my metal +grated against the stone wall as I slipped over. Then I dropped +lightly to the floor of the cell beyond. + +"Where is the white slave?" again cried the guard. + +"I know not," replied Xodar. "He was here even as you entered. I am +not his keeper--go find him." + +The black grumbled something that I could not understand, and then I +heard him unlocking the door into one of the other cells on the further +side. Listening intently, I caught the sound as the door closed behind +him. Then I sprang once more to the top of the partition and dropped +into my own cell beside the astonished Xodar. + +"Do you see now how we will escape?" I asked him in a whisper. + +"I see how you may," he replied, "but I am no wiser than before as to +how I am to pass these walls. Certain it is that I cannot bounce over +them as you do." + +We heard the guard moving about from cell to cell, and finally, his +rounds completed, he again entered ours. When his eyes fell upon me +they fairly bulged from his head. + +"By the shell of my first ancestor!" he roared. "Where have you been?" + +"I have been in prison since you put me here yesterday," I answered. +"I was in this room when you entered. You had better look to your +eyesight." + +He glared at me in mingled rage and relief. + +"Come," he said. "Issus commands your presence." + +He conducted me outside the prison, leaving Xodar behind. There we +found several other guards, and with them the red Martian youth who +occupied another cell upon Shador. + +The journey I had taken to the Temple of Issus on the preceding day was +repeated. The guards kept the red boy and myself separated, so that we +had no opportunity to continue the conversation that had been +interrupted the previous night. + +The youth's face had haunted me. Where had I seen him before. There +was something strangely familiar in every line of him; in his carriage, +his manner of speaking, his gestures. I could have sworn that I knew +him, and yet I knew too that I had never seen him before. + +When we reached the gardens of Issus we were led away from the temple +instead of toward it. The way wound through enchanted parks to a +mighty wall that towered a hundred feet in air. + +Massive gates gave egress upon a small plain, surrounded by the same +gorgeous forests that I had seen at the foot of the Golden Cliffs. + +Crowds of blacks were strolling in the same direction that our guards +were leading us, and with them mingled my old friends the plant men and +great white apes. + +The brutal beasts moved among the crowd as pet dogs might. If they +were in the way the blacks pushed them roughly to one side, or whacked +them with the flat of a sword, and the animals slunk away as in great +fear. + +Presently we came upon our destination, a great amphitheatre situated +at the further edge of the plain, and about half a mile beyond the +garden walls. + +Through a massive arched gateway the blacks poured in to take their +seats, while our guards led us to a smaller entrance near one end of +the structure. + +Through this we passed into an enclosure beneath the seats, where we +found a number of other prisoners herded together under guard. Some of +them were in irons, but for the most part they seemed sufficiently awed +by the presence of their guards to preclude any possibility of +attempted escape. + +During the trip from Shador I had had no opportunity to talk with my +fellow-prisoner, but now that we were safely within the barred paddock +our guards abated their watchfulness, with the result that I found +myself able to approach the red Martian youth for whom I felt such a +strange attraction. + +"What is the object of this assembly?" I asked him. "Are we to fight +for the edification of the First Born, or is it something worse than +that?" + +"It is a part of the monthly rites of Issus," he replied, "in which +black men wash the sins from their souls in the blood of men from the +outer world. If, perchance, the black is killed, it is evidence of his +disloyalty to Issus--the unpardonable sin. If he lives through the +contest he is held acquitted of the charge that forced the sentence of +the rites, as it is called, upon him. + +"The forms of combat vary. A number of us may be pitted together +against an equal number, or twice the number of blacks; or singly we +may be sent forth to face wild beasts, or some famous black warrior." + +"And if we are victorious," I asked, "what then--freedom?" + +He laughed. + +"Freedom, forsooth. The only freedom for us death. None who enters +the domains of the First Born ever leave. If we prove able fighters we +are permitted to fight often. If we are not mighty fighters--" He +shrugged his shoulders. "Sooner or later we die in the arena." + +"And you have fought often?" I asked. + +"Very often," he replied. "It is my only pleasure. Some hundred black +devils have I accounted for during nearly a year of the rites of Issus. +My mother would be very proud could she only know how well I have +maintained the traditions of my father's prowess." + +"Your father must have been a mighty warrior!" I said. "I have known +most of the warriors of Barsoom in my time; doubtless I knew him. Who +was he?" + +"My father was--" + +"Come, calots!" cried the rough voice of a guard. "To the slaughter +with you," and roughly we were hustled to the steep incline that led to +the chambers far below which let out upon the arena. + +The amphitheatre, like all I had ever seen upon Barsoom, was built in a +large excavation. Only the highest seats, which formed the low wall +surrounding the pit, were above the level of the ground. The arena +itself was far below the surface. + +Just beneath the lowest tier of seats was a series of barred cages on a +level with the surface of the arena. Into these we were herded. But, +unfortunately, my youthful friend was not of those who occupied a cage +with me. + +Directly opposite my cage was the throne of Issus. Here the horrid +creature squatted, surrounded by a hundred slave maidens sparkling in +jewelled trappings. Brilliant cloths of many hues and strange patterns +formed the soft cushion covering of the dais upon which they reclined +about her. + +On four sides of the throne and several feet below it stood three solid +ranks of heavily armed soldiery, elbow to elbow. In front of these +were the high dignitaries of this mock heaven--gleaming blacks bedecked +with precious stones, upon their foreheads the insignia of their rank +set in circles of gold. + +On both sides of the throne stretched a solid mass of humanity from top +to bottom of the amphitheatre. There were as many women as men, and +each was clothed in the wondrously wrought harness of his station and +his house. With each black was from one to three slaves, drawn from +the domains of the therns and from the outer world. The blacks are all +"noble." There is no peasantry among the First Born. Even the lowest +soldier is a god, and has his slaves to wait upon him. + +The First Born do no work. The men fight--that is a sacred privilege +and duty; to fight and die for Issus. The women do nothing, absolutely +nothing. Slaves wash them, slaves dress them, slaves feed them. There +are some, even, who have slaves that talk for them, and I saw one who +sat during the rites with closed eyes while a slave narrated to her the +events that were transpiring within the arena. + +The first event of the day was the Tribute to Issus. It marked the end +of those poor unfortunates who had looked upon the divine glory of the +goddess a full year before. There were ten of them--splendid beauties +from the proud courts of mighty Jeddaks and from the temples of the +Holy Therns. For a year they had served in the retinue of Issus; +to-day they were to pay the price of this divine preferment with their +lives; tomorrow they would grace the tables of the court functionaries. + +A huge black entered the arena with the young women. Carefully he +inspected them, felt of their limbs and poked them in the ribs. +Presently he selected one of their number whom he led before the throne +of Issus. He addressed some words to the goddess which I could not +hear. Issus nodded her head. The black raised his hands above his +head in token of salute, grasped the girl by the wrist, and dragged her +from the arena through a small doorway below the throne. + +"Issus will dine well to-night," said a prisoner beside me. + +"What do you mean?" I asked. + +"That was her dinner that old Thabis is taking to the kitchens. Didst +not note how carefully he selected the plumpest and tenderest of the +lot?" + +I growled out my curses on the monster sitting opposite us on the +gorgeous throne. + +"Fume not," admonished my companion; "you will see far worse than that +if you live even a month among the First Born." + +I turned again in time to see the gate of a nearby cage thrown open and +three monstrous white apes spring into the arena. The girls shrank in +a frightened group in the centre of the enclosure. + +One was on her knees with imploring hands outstretched toward Issus; +but the hideous deity only leaned further forward in keener +anticipation of the entertainment to come. At length the apes spied +the huddled knot of terror-stricken maidens and with demoniacal shrieks +of bestial frenzy, charged upon them. + +A wave of mad fury surged over me. The cruel cowardliness of the +power-drunk creature whose malignant mind conceived such frightful +forms of torture stirred to their uttermost depths my resentment and my +manhood. The blood-red haze that presaged death to my foes swam before +my eyes. + +The guard lolled before the unbarred gate of the cage which confined +me. What need of bars, indeed, to keep those poor victims from rushing +into the arena which the edict of the gods had appointed as their death +place! + +A single blow sent the black unconscious to the ground. Snatching up +his long-sword, I sprang into the arena. The apes were almost upon the +maidens, but a couple of mighty bounds were all my earthly muscles +required to carry me to the centre of the sand-strewn floor. + +For an instant silence reigned in the great amphitheatre, then a wild +shout arose from the cages of the doomed. My long-sword circled +whirring through the air, and a great ape sprawled, headless, at the +feet of the fainting girls. + +The other apes turned now upon me, and as I stood facing them a sullen +roar from the audience answered the wild cheers from the cages. From +the tail of my eye I saw a score of guards rushing across the +glistening sand toward me. Then a figure broke from one of the cages +behind them. It was the youth whose personality so fascinated me. + +He paused a moment before the cages, with upraised sword. + +"Come, men of the outer world!" he shouted. "Let us make our deaths +worth while, and at the back of this unknown warrior turn this day's +Tribute to Issus into an orgy of revenge that will echo through the +ages and cause black skins to blanch at each repetition of the rites of +Issus. Come! The racks without your cages are filled with blades." + +Without waiting to note the outcome of his plea, he turned and bounded +toward me. From every cage that harboured red men a thunderous shout +went up in answer to his exhortation. The inner guards went down +beneath howling mobs, and the cages vomited forth their inmates hot +with the lust to kill. + +The racks that stood without were stripped of the swords with which the +prisoners were to have been armed to enter their allotted combats, and +a swarm of determined warriors sped to our support. + +The great apes, towering in all their fifteen feet of height, had gone +down before my sword while the charging guards were still some distance +away. Close behind them pursued the youth. At my back were the young +girls, and as it was in their service that I fought, I remained +standing there to meet my inevitable death, but with the determination +to give such an account of myself as would long be remembered in the +land of the First Born. + +I noted the marvellous speed of the young red man as he raced after the +guards. Never had I seen such speed in any Martian. His leaps and +bounds were little short of those which my earthly muscles had produced +to create such awe and respect on the part of the green Martians into +whose hands I had fallen on that long-gone day that had seen my first +advent upon Mars. + +The guards had not reached me when he fell upon them from the rear, and +as they turned, thinking from the fierceness of his onslaught that a +dozen were attacking them, I rushed them from my side. + +In the rapid fighting that followed I had little chance to note aught +else than the movements of my immediate adversaries, but now and again +I caught a fleeting glimpse of a purring sword and a lightly springing +figure of sinewy steel that filled my heart with a strange yearning and +a mighty but unaccountable pride. + +On the handsome face of the boy a grim smile played, and ever and anon +he threw a taunting challenge to the foes that faced him. In this and +other ways his manner of fighting was similar to that which had always +marked me on the field of combat. + +Perhaps it was this vague likeness which made me love the boy, while +the awful havoc that his sword played amongst the blacks filled my soul +with a tremendous respect for him. + +For my part, I was fighting as I had fought a thousand times +before--now sidestepping a wicked thrust, now stepping quickly in to +let my sword's point drink deep in a foeman's heart, before it buried +itself in the throat of his companion. + +We were having a merry time of it, we two, when a great body of Issus' +own guards were ordered into the arena. On they came with fierce +cries, while from every side the armed prisoners swarmed upon them. + +For half an hour it was as though all hell had broken loose. In the +walled confines of the arena we fought in an inextricable +mass--howling, cursing, blood-streaked demons; and ever the sword of +the young red man flashed beside me. + +Slowly and by repeated commands I had succeeded in drawing the +prisoners into a rough formation about us, so that at last we fought +formed into a rude circle in the centre of which were the doomed maids. + +Many had gone down on both sides, but by far the greater havoc had been +wrought in the ranks of the guards of Issus. I could see messengers +running swiftly through the audience, and as they passed the nobles +there unsheathed their swords and sprang into the arena. They were +going to annihilate us by force of numbers--that was quite evidently +their plan. + +I caught a glimpse of Issus leaning far forward upon her throne, her +hideous countenance distorted in a horrid grimace of hate and rage, in +which I thought I could distinguish an expression of fear. It was that +face that inspired me to the thing that followed. + +Quickly I ordered fifty of the prisoners to drop back behind us and +form a new circle about the maidens. + +"Remain and protect them until I return," I commanded. + +Then, turning to those who formed the outer line, I cried, "Down with +Issus! Follow me to the throne; we will reap vengeance where vengeance +is deserved." + +The youth at my side was the first to take up the cry of "Down with +Issus!" and then at my back and from all sides rose a hoarse shout, "To +the throne! To the throne!" + +As one man we moved, an irresistible fighting mass, over the bodies of +dead and dying foes toward the gorgeous throne of the Martian deity. +Hordes of the doughtiest fighting-men of the First Born poured from the +audience to check our progress. We mowed them down before us as they +had been paper men. + +"To the seats, some of you!" I cried as we approached the arena's +barrier wall. "Ten of us can take the throne," for I had seen that +Issus' guards had for the most part entered the fray within the arena. + +On both sides of me the prisoners broke to left and right for the +seats, vaulting the low wall with dripping swords lusting for the +crowded victims who awaited them. + +In another moment the entire amphitheatre was filled with the shrieks +of the dying and the wounded, mingled with the clash of arms and +triumphant shouts of the victors. + +Side by side the young red man and I, with perhaps a dozen others, +fought our way to the foot of the throne. The remaining guards, +reinforced by the high dignitaries and nobles of the First Born, closed +in between us and Issus, who sat leaning far forward upon her carved +sorapus bench, now screaming high-pitched commands to her following, +now hurling blighting curses upon those who sought to desecrate her +godhood. + +The frightened slaves about her trembled in wide-eyed expectancy, +knowing not whether to pray for our victory or our defeat. Several +among them, proud daughters no doubt of some of Barsoom's noblest +warriors, snatched swords from the hands of the fallen and fell upon +the guards of Issus, but they were soon cut down; glorious martyrs to a +hopeless cause. + +The men with us fought well, but never since Tars Tarkas and I fought +out that long, hot afternoon shoulder to shoulder against the hordes of +Warhoon in the dead sea bottom before Thark, had I seen two men fight +to such good purpose and with such unconquerable ferocity as the young +red man and I fought that day before the throne of Issus, Goddess of +Death, and of Life Eternal. + +Man by man those who stood between us and the carven sorapus wood bench +went down before our blades. Others swarmed in to fill the breach, but +inch by inch, foot by foot we won nearer and nearer to our goal. + +Presently a cry went up from a section of the stands near by--"Rise +slaves!" "Rise slaves!" it rose and fell until it swelled to a mighty +volume of sound that swept in great billows around the entire +amphitheatre. + +For an instant, as though by common assent, we ceased our fighting to +look for the meaning of this new note nor did it take but a moment to +translate its significance. In all parts of the structure the female +slaves were falling upon their masters with whatever weapon came first +to hand. A dagger snatched from the harness of her mistress was waved +aloft by some fair slave, its shimmering blade crimson with the +lifeblood of its owner; swords plucked from the bodies of the dead +about them; heavy ornaments which could be turned into bludgeons--such +were the implements with which these fair women wreaked the long-pent +vengeance which at best could but partially recompense them for the +unspeakable cruelties and indignities which their black masters had +heaped upon them. And those who could find no other weapons used their +strong fingers and their gleaming teeth. + +It was at once a sight to make one shudder and to cheer; but in a brief +second we were engaged once more in our own battle with only the +unquenchable battle cry of the women to remind us that they still +fought--"Rise slaves!" "Rise slaves!" + +Only a single thin rank of men now stood between us and Issus. Her +face was blue with terror. Foam flecked her lips. She seemed too +paralysed with fear to move. Only the youth and I fought now. The +others all had fallen, and I was like to have gone down too from a +nasty long-sword cut had not a hand reached out from behind my +adversary and clutched his elbow as the blade was falling upon me. The +youth sprang to my side and ran his sword through the fellow before he +could recover to deliver another blow. + +I should have died even then but for that as my sword was tight wedged +in the breastbone of a Dator of the First Born. As the fellow went +down I snatched his sword from him and over his prostrate body looked +into the eyes of the one whose quick hand had saved me from the first +cut of his sword--it was Phaidor, daughter of Matai Shang. + +"Fly, my Prince!" she cried. "It is useless to fight them longer. All +within the arena are dead. All who charged the throne are dead but you +and this youth. Only among the seats are there left any of your +fighting-men, and they and the slave women are fast being cut down. +Listen! You can scarce hear the battle-cry of the women now for nearly +all are dead. For each one of you there are ten thousand blacks within +the domains of the First Born. Break for the open and the sea of +Korus. With your mighty sword arm you may yet win to the Golden Cliffs +and the templed gardens of the Holy Therns. There tell your story to +Matai Shang, my father. He will keep you, and together you may find a +way to rescue me. Fly while there is yet a bare chance for flight." + +But that was not my mission, nor could I see much to be preferred in +the cruel hospitality of the Holy Therns to that of the First Born. + +"Down with Issus!" I shouted, and together the boy and I took up the +fight once more. Two blacks went down with our swords in their vitals, +and we stood face to face with Issus. As my sword went up to end her +horrid career her paralysis left her, and with an ear-piercing shriek +she turned to flee. Directly behind her a black gulf suddenly yawned +in the flooring of the dais. She sprang for the opening with the youth +and I close at her heels. Her scattered guard rallied at her cry and +rushed for us. A blow fell upon the head of the youth. He staggered +and would have fallen, but I caught him in my left arm and turned to +face an infuriated mob of religious fanatics crazed by the affront I +had put upon their goddess, just as Issus disappeared into the black +depths beneath me. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +DOOMED TO DIE + + +For an instant I stood there before they fell upon me, but the first +rush of them forced me back a step or two. My foot felt for the floor +but found only empty space. I had backed into the pit which had +received Issus. For a second I toppled there upon the brink. Then I +too with the boy still tightly clutched in my arms pitched backward +into the black abyss. + +We struck a polished chute, the opening above us closed as magically as +it had opened, and we shot down, unharmed, into a dimly lighted +apartment far below the arena. + +As I rose to my feet the first thing I saw was the malignant +countenance of Issus glaring at me through the heavy bars of a grated +door at one side of the chamber. + +"Rash mortal!" she shrilled. "You shall pay the awful penalty for your +blasphemy in this secret cell. Here you shall lie alone and in +darkness with the carcass of your accomplice festering in its +rottenness by your side, until crazed by loneliness and hunger you feed +upon the crawling maggots that were once a man." + +That was all. In another instant she was gone, and the dim light which +had filled the cell faded into Cimmerian blackness. + +"Pleasant old lady," said a voice at my side. + +"Who speaks?" I asked. + +"'Tis I, your companion, who has had the honour this day of fighting +shoulder to shoulder with the greatest warrior that ever wore metal +upon Barsoom." + +"I thank God that you are not dead," I said. "I feared for that nasty +cut upon your head." + +"It but stunned me," he replied. "A mere scratch." + +"Maybe it were as well had it been final," I said. "We seem to be in a +pretty fix here with a splendid chance of dying of starvation and +thirst." + +"Where are we?" + +"Beneath the arena," I replied. "We tumbled down the shaft that +swallowed Issus as she was almost at our mercy." + +He laughed a low laugh of pleasure and relief, and then reaching out +through the inky blackness he sought my shoulder and pulled my ear +close to his mouth. + +"Nothing could be better," he whispered. "There are secrets within the +secrets of Issus of which Issus herself does not dream." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I laboured with the other slaves a year since in the remodelling of +these subterranean galleries, and at that time we found below these an +ancient system of corridors and chambers that had been sealed up for +ages. The blacks in charge of the work explored them, taking several +of us along to do whatever work there might be occasion for. I know +the entire system perfectly. + +"There are miles of corridors honeycombing the ground beneath the +gardens and the temple itself, and there is one passage that leads down +to and connects with the lower regions that open on the water shaft +that gives passage to Omean. + +"If we can reach the submarine undetected we may yet make the sea in +which there are many islands where the blacks never go. There we may +live for a time, and who knows what may transpire to aid us to escape?" + +He had spoken all in a low whisper, evidently fearing spying ears even +here, and so I answered him in the same subdued tone. + +"Lead back to Shador, my friend," I whispered. "Xodar, the black, is +there. We were to attempt our escape together, so I cannot desert him." + +"No," said the boy, "one cannot desert a friend. It were better to be +recaptured ourselves than that." + +Then he commenced groping his way about the floor of the dark chamber +searching for the trap that led to the corridors beneath. At length he +summoned me by a low, "S-s-t," and I crept toward the sound of his +voice to find him kneeling on the brink of an opening in the floor. + +"There is a drop here of about ten feet," he whispered. "Hang by your +hands and you will alight safely on a level floor of soft sand." + +Very quietly I lowered myself from the inky cell above into the inky +pit below. So utterly dark was it that we could not see our hands at +an inch from our noses. Never, I think, have I known such complete +absence of light as existed in the pits of Issus. + +For an instant I hung in mid air. There is a strange sensation +connected with an experience of that nature which is quite difficult to +describe. When the feet tread empty air and the distance below is +shrouded in darkness there is a feeling akin to panic at the thought of +releasing the hold and taking the plunge into unknown depths. + +Although the boy had told me that it was but ten feet to the floor +below I experienced the same thrills as though I were hanging above a +bottomless pit. Then I released my hold and dropped--four feet to a +soft cushion of sand. + +The boy followed me. + +"Raise me to your shoulders," he said, "and I will replace the trap." + +This done he took me by the hand, leading me very slowly, with much +feeling about and frequent halts to assure himself that he did not +stray into wrong passageways. + +Presently we commenced the descent of a very steep incline. + +"It will not be long," he said, "before we shall have light. At the +lower levels we meet the same stratum of phosphorescent rock that +illuminates Omean." + +Never shall I forget that trip through the pits of Issus. While it was +devoid of important incidents yet it was filled for me with a strange +charm of excitement and adventure which I think must have hinged +principally on the unguessable antiquity of these long-forgotten +corridors. The things which the Stygian darkness hid from my objective +eye could not have been half so wonderful as the pictures which my +imagination wrought as it conjured to life again the ancient peoples of +this dying world and set them once more to the labours, the intrigues, +the mysteries and the cruelties which they had practised to make their +last stand against the swarming hordes of the dead sea bottoms that had +driven them step by step to the uttermost pinnacle of the world where +they were now intrenched behind an impenetrable barrier of superstition. + +In addition to the green men there had been three principal races upon +Barsoom. The blacks, the whites, and a race of yellow men. As the +waters of the planet dried and the seas receded, all other resources +dwindled until life upon the planet became a constant battle for +survival. + +The various races had made war upon one another for ages, and the three +higher types had easily bested the green savages of the water places of +the world, but now that the receding seas necessitated constant +abandonment of their fortified cities and forced upon them a more or +less nomadic life in which they became separated into smaller +communities they soon fell prey to the fierce hordes of green men. The +result was a partial amalgamation of the blacks, whites and yellows, +the result of which is shown in the present splendid race of red men. + +I had always supposed that all traces of the original races had +disappeared from the face of Mars, yet within the past four days I had +found both whites and blacks in great multitudes. Could it be possible +that in some far-off corner of the planet there still existed a remnant +of the ancient race of yellow men? + +My reveries were broken in upon by a low exclamation from the boy. + +"At last, the lighted way," he cried, and looking up I beheld at a long +distance before us a dim radiance. + +As we advanced the light increased until presently we emerged into +well-lighted passageways. From then on our progress was rapid until we +came suddenly to the end of a corridor that let directly upon the ledge +surrounding the pool of the submarine. + +The craft lay at her moorings with uncovered hatch. Raising his finger +to his lips and then tapping his sword in a significant manner, the +youth crept noiselessly toward the vessel. I was close at his heels. + +Silently we dropped to the deserted deck, and on hands and knees +crawled toward the hatchway. A stealthy glance below revealed no guard +in sight, and so with the quickness and the soundlessness of cats we +dropped together into the main cabin of the submarine. Even here was +no sign of life. Quickly we covered and secured the hatch. + +Then the boy stepped into the pilot house, touched a button and the +boat sank amid swirling waters toward the bottom of the shaft. Even +then there was no scurrying of feet as we had expected, and while the +boy remained to direct the boat I slid from cabin to cabin in futile +search for some member of the crew. The craft was entirely deserted. +Such good fortune seemed almost unbelievable. + +When I returned to the pilot house to report the good news to my +companion he handed me a paper. + +"This may explain the absence of the crew," he said. + +It was a radio-aerial message to the commander of the submarine: + + +"The slaves have risen. Come with what men you have and those that you +can gather on the way. Too late to get aid from Omean. They are +massacring all within the amphitheatre. Issus is threatened. Haste. + +"ZITHAD" + + +"Zithad is Dator of the guards of Issus," explained the youth. "We +gave them a bad scare--one that they will not soon forget." + +"Let us hope that it is but the beginning of the end of Issus," I said. + +"Only our first ancestor knows," he replied. + +We reached the submarine pool in Omean without incident. Here we +debated the wisdom of sinking the craft before leaving her, but finally +decided that it would add nothing to our chances for escape. There +were plenty of blacks on Omean to thwart us were we apprehended; +however many more might come from the temples and gardens of Issus +would not in any way decrease our chances. + +We were now in a quandary as to how to pass the guards who patrolled +the island about the pool. At last I hit upon a plan. + +"What is the name or title of the officer in charge of these guards?" I +asked the boy. + +"A fellow named Torith was on duty when we entered this morning," he +replied. + +"Good. And what is the name of the commander of the submarine?" + +"Yersted." + +I found a dispatch blank in the cabin and wrote the following order: + + +"Dator Torith: Return these two slaves at once to Shador. + +"YERSTED" + + +"That will be the simpler way to return," I said, smiling, as I handed +the forged order to the boy. "Come, we shall see now how well it +works." + +"But our swords!" he exclaimed. "What shall we say to explain them?" + +"Since we cannot explain them we shall have to leave them behind us," I +replied. + +"Is it not the extreme of rashness to thus put ourselves again, +unarmed, in the power of the First Born?" + +"It is the only way," I answered. "You may trust me to find a way out +of the prison of Shador, and I think, once out, that we shall find no +great difficulty in arming ourselves once more in a country which +abounds so plentifully in armed men." + +"As you say," he replied with a smile and shrug. "I could not follow +another leader who inspired greater confidence than you. Come, let us +put your ruse to the test." + +Boldly we emerged from the hatchway of the craft, leaving our swords +behind us, and strode to the main exit which led to the sentry's post +and the office of the Dator of the guard. + +At sight of us the members of the guard sprang forward in surprise, and +with levelled rifles halted us. I held out the message to one of them. +He took it and seeing to whom it was addressed turned and handed it to +Torith who was emerging from his office to learn the cause of the +commotion. + +The black read the order, and for a moment eyed us with evident +suspicion. + +"Where is Dator Yersted?" he asked, and my heart sank within me, as I +cursed myself for a stupid fool in not having sunk the submarine to +make good the lie that I must tell. + +"His orders were to return immediately to the temple landing," I +replied. + +Torith took a half step toward the entrance to the pool as though to +corroborate my story. For that instant everything hung in the balance, +for had he done so and found the empty submarine still lying at her +wharf the whole weak fabric of my concoction would have tumbled about +our heads; but evidently he decided the message must be genuine, nor +indeed was there any good reason to doubt it since it would scarce have +seemed credible to him that two slaves would voluntarily have given +themselves into custody in any such manner as this. It was the very +boldness of the plan which rendered it successful. + +"Were you connected with the rising of the slaves?" asked Torith. "We +have just had meagre reports of some such event." + +"All were involved," I replied. "But it amounted to little. The +guards quickly overcame and killed the majority of us." + +He seemed satisfied with this reply. "Take them to Shador," he +ordered, turning to one of his subordinates. We entered a small boat +lying beside the island, and in a few minutes were disembarking upon +Shador. Here we were returned to our respective cells; I with Xodar, +the boy by himself; and behind locked doors we were again prisoners of +the First Born. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A BREAK FOR LIBERTY + + +Xodar listened in incredulous astonishment to my narration of the +events which had transpired within the arena at the rites of Issus. He +could scarce conceive, even though he had already professed his doubt +as to the deity of Issus, that one could threaten her with sword in +hand and not be blasted into a thousand fragments by the mere fury of +her divine wrath. + +"It is the final proof," he said, at last. "No more is needed to +completely shatter the last remnant of my superstitious belief in the +divinity of Issus. She is only a wicked old woman, wielding a mighty +power for evil through machinations that have kept her own people and +all Barsoom in religious ignorance for ages." + +"She is still all-powerful here, however," I replied. "So it behooves +us to leave at the first moment that appears at all propitious." + +"I hope that you may find a propitious moment," he said, with a laugh, +"for it is certain that in all my life I have never seen one in which a +prisoner of the First Born might escape." + +"To-night will do as well as any," I replied. + +"It will soon be night," said Xodar. "How may I aid in the adventure?" + +"Can you swim?" I asked him. + +"No slimy silian that haunts the depths of Korus is more at home in +water than is Xodar," he replied. + +"Good. The red one in all probability cannot swim," I said, "since +there is scarce enough water in all their domains to float the tiniest +craft. One of us therefore will have to support him through the sea to +the craft we select. I had hoped that we might make the entire +distance below the surface, but I fear that the red youth could not +thus perform the trip. Even the bravest of the brave among them are +terrorized at the mere thought of deep water, for it has been ages +since their forebears saw a lake, a river or a sea." + +"The red one is to accompany us?" asked Xodar. + +"Yes." + +"It is well. Three swords are better than two. Especially when the +third is as mighty as this fellow's. I have seen him battle in the +arena at the rites of Issus many times. Never, until I saw you fight, +had I seen one who seemed unconquerable even in the face of great odds. +One might think you two master and pupil, or father and son. Come to +recall his face there is a resemblance between you. It is very marked +when you fight--there is the same grim smile, the same maddening +contempt for your adversary apparent in every movement of your bodies +and in every changing expression of your faces." + +"Be that as it may, Xodar, he is a great fighter. I think that we will +make a trio difficult to overcome, and if my friend Tars Tarkas, Jeddak +of Thark, were but one of us we could fight our way from one end of +Barsoom to the other even though the whole world were pitted against +us." + +"It will be," said Xodar, "when they find from whence you have come. +That is but one of the superstitions which Issus has foisted upon a +credulous humanity. She works through the Holy Therns who are as +ignorant of her real self as are the Barsoomians of the outer world. +Her decrees are borne to the therns written in blood upon a strange +parchment. The poor deluded fools think that they are receiving the +revelations of a goddess through some supernatural agency, since they +find these messages upon their guarded altars to which none could have +access without detection. I myself have borne these messages for Issus +for many years. There is a long tunnel from the temple of Issus to the +principal temple of Matai Shang. It was dug ages ago by the slaves of +the First Born in such utter secrecy that no thern ever guessed its +existence. + +"The therns for their part have temples dotted about the entire +civilized world. Here priests whom the people never see communicate +the doctrine of the Mysterious River Iss, the Valley Dor, and the Lost +Sea of Korus to persuade the poor deluded creatures to take the +voluntary pilgrimage that swells the wealth of the Holy Therns and adds +to the numbers of their slaves. + +"Thus the therns are used as the principal means for collecting the +wealth and labour that the First Born wrest from them as they need it. +Occasionally the First Born themselves make raids upon the outer world. +It is then that they capture many females of the royal houses of the +red men, and take the newest in battleships and the trained artisans +who build them, that they may copy what they cannot create. + +"We are a non-productive race, priding ourselves upon our +non-productiveness. It is criminal for a First Born to labour or +invent. That is the work of the lower orders, who live merely that the +First Born may enjoy long lives of luxury and idleness. With us +fighting is all that counts; were it not for that there would be more +of the First Born than all the creatures of Barsoom could support, for +in so far as I know none of us ever dies a natural death. Our females +would live for ever but for the fact that we tire of them and remove +them to make place for others. Issus alone of all is protected against +death. She has lived for countless ages." + +"Would not the other Barsoomians live for ever but for the doctrine of +the voluntary pilgrimage which drags them to the bosom of Iss at or +before their thousandth year?" I asked him. + +"I feel now that there is no doubt but that they are precisely the same +species of creature as the First Born, and I hope that I shall live to +fight for them in atonement of the sins I have committed against them +through the ignorance born of generations of false teaching." + +As he ceased speaking a weird call rang out across the waters of Omean. +I had heard it at the same time the previous evening and knew that it +marked the ending of the day, when the men of Omean spread their silks +upon the deck of battleship and cruiser and fall into the dreamless +sleep of Mars. + +Our guard entered to inspect us for the last time before the new day +broke upon the world above. His duty was soon performed and the heavy +door of our prison closed behind him--we were alone for the night. + +I gave him time to return to his quarters, as Xodar said he probably +would do, then I sprang to the grated window and surveyed the nearby +waters. At a little distance from the island, a quarter of a mile +perhaps, lay a monster battleship, while between her and the shore were +a number of smaller cruisers and one-man scouts. Upon the battleship +alone was there a watch. I could see him plainly in the upper works of +the ship, and as I watched I saw him spread his sleeping silks upon the +tiny platform in which he was stationed. Soon he threw himself at full +length upon his couch. The discipline on Omean was lax indeed. But it +is not to be wondered at since no enemy guessed the existence upon +Barsoom of such a fleet, or even of the First Born, or the Sea of +Omean. Why indeed should they maintain a watch? + +Presently I dropped to the floor again and talked with Xodar, +describing the various craft I had seen. + +"There is one there," he said, "my personal property, built to carry +five men, that is the swiftest of the swift. If we can board her we +can at least make a memorable run for liberty," and then he went on to +describe to me the equipment of the boat; her engines, and all that +went to make her the flier that she was. + +In his explanation I recognized a trick of gearing that Kantos Kan had +taught me that time we sailed under false names in the navy of Zodanga +beneath Sab Than, the Prince. And I knew then that the First Born had +stolen it from the ships of Helium, for only they are thus geared. And +I knew too that Xodar spoke the truth when he lauded the speed of his +little craft, for nothing that cleaves the thin air of Mars can +approximate the speed of the ships of Helium. + +We decided to wait for an hour at least until all the stragglers had +sought their silks. In the meantime I was to fetch the red youth to +our cell so that we would be in readiness to make our rash break for +freedom together. + +I sprang to the top of our partition wall and pulled myself up on to +it. There I found a flat surface about a foot in width and along this +I walked until I came to the cell in which I saw the boy sitting upon +his bench. He had been leaning back against the wall looking up at the +glowing dome above Omean, and when he spied me balancing upon the +partition wall above him his eyes opened wide in astonishment. Then a +wide grin of appreciative understanding spread across his countenance. + +As I stooped to drop to the floor beside him he motioned me to wait, +and coming close below me whispered: "Catch my hand; I can almost leap +to the top of that wall myself. I have tried it many times, and each +day I come a little closer. Some day I should have been able to make +it." + +I lay upon my belly across the wall and reached my hand far down toward +him. With a little run from the centre of the cell he sprang up until +I grasped his outstretched hand, and thus I pulled him to the wall's +top beside me. + +"You are the first jumper I ever saw among the red men of Barsoom," I +said. + +He smiled. "It is not strange. I will tell you why when we have more +time." + +Together we returned to the cell in which Xodar sat; descending to talk +with him until the hour had passed. + +There we made our plans for the immediate future, binding ourselves by +a solemn oath to fight to the death for one another against whatsoever +enemies should confront us, for we knew that even should we succeed in +escaping the First Born we might still have a whole world against +us--the power of religious superstition is mighty. + +It was agreed that I should navigate the craft after we had reached +her, and that if we made the outer world in safety we should attempt to +reach Helium without a stop. + +"Why Helium?" asked the red youth. + +"I am a prince of Helium," I replied. + +He gave me a peculiar look, but said nothing further on the subject. I +wondered at the time what the significance of his expression might be, +but in the press of other matters it soon left my mind, nor did I have +occasion to think of it again until later. + +"Come," I said at length, "now is as good a time as any. Let us go." + +Another moment found me at the top of the partition wall again with the +boy beside me. Unbuckling my harness I snapped it together with a +single long strap which I lowered to the waiting Xodar below. He +grasped the end and was soon sitting beside us. + +"How simple," he laughed. + +"The balance should be even simpler," I replied. Then I raised myself +to the top of the outer wall of the prison, just so that I could peer +over and locate the passing sentry. For a matter of five minutes I +waited and then he came in sight on his slow and snail-like beat about +the structure. + +I watched him until he had made the turn at the end of the building +which carried him out of sight of the side of the prison that was to +witness our dash for freedom. The moment his form disappeared I +grasped Xodar and drew him to the top of the wall. Placing one end of +my harness strap in his hands I lowered him quickly to the ground +below. Then the boy grasped the strap and slid down to Xodar's side. + +In accordance with our arrangement they did not wait for me, but walked +slowly toward the water, a matter of a hundred yards, directly past the +guard-house filled with sleeping soldiers. + +They had taken scarce a dozen steps when I too dropped to the ground +and followed them leisurely toward the shore. As I passed the +guard-house the thought of all the good blades lying there gave me +pause, for if ever men were to have need of swords it was my companions +and I on the perilous trip upon which we were about to embark. + +I glanced toward Xodar and the youth and saw that they had slipped over +the edge of the dock into the water. In accordance with our plan they +were to remain there clinging to the metal rings which studded the +concrete-like substance of the dock at the water's level, with only +their mouths and noses above the surface of the sea, until I should +join them. + +The lure of the swords within the guard-house was strong upon me, and I +hesitated a moment, half inclined to risk the attempt to take the few +we needed. That he who hesitates is lost proved itself a true aphorism +in this instance, for another moment saw me creeping stealthily toward +the door of the guard-house. + +Gently I pressed it open a crack; enough to discover a dozen blacks +stretched upon their silks in profound slumber. At the far side of the +room a rack held the swords and firearms of the men. Warily I pushed +the door a trifle wider to admit my body. A hinge gave out a resentful +groan. One of the men stirred, and my heart stood still. I cursed +myself for a fool to have thus jeopardized our chances for escape; but +there was nothing for it now but to see the adventure through. + +With a spring as swift and as noiseless as a tiger's I lit beside the +guardsman who had moved. My hands hovered about his throat awaiting +the moment that his eyes should open. For what seemed an eternity to +my overwrought nerves I remained poised thus. Then the fellow turned +again upon his side and resumed the even respiration of deep slumber. + +Carefully I picked my way between and over the soldiers until I had +gained the rack at the far side of the room. Here I turned to survey +the sleeping men. All were quiet. Their regular breathing rose and +fell in a soothing rhythm that seemed to me the sweetest music I ever +had heard. + +Gingerly I drew a long-sword from the rack. The scraping of the +scabbard against its holder as I withdrew it sounded like the filing of +cast iron with a great rasp, and I looked to see the room immediately +filled with alarmed and attacking guardsmen. But none stirred. + +The second sword I withdrew noiselessly, but the third clanked in its +scabbard with a frightful din. I knew that it must awaken some of the +men at least, and was on the point of forestalling their attack by a +rapid charge for the doorway, when again, to my intense surprise, not a +black moved. Either they were wondrous heavy sleepers or else the +noises that I made were really much less than they seemed to me. + +I was about to leave the rack when my attention was attracted by the +revolvers. I knew that I could not carry more than one away with me, +for I was already too heavily laden to move quietly with any degree of +safety or speed. As I took one of them from its pin my eye fell for +the first time on an open window beside the rack. Ah, here was a +splendid means of escape, for it let directly upon the dock, not twenty +feet from the water's edge. + +And as I congratulated myself, I heard the door opposite me open, and +there looking me full in the face stood the officer of the guard. He +evidently took in the situation at a glance and appreciated the gravity +of it as quickly as I, for our revolvers came up simultaneously and the +sounds of the two reports were as one as we touched the buttons on the +grips that exploded the cartridges. + +I felt the wind of his bullet as it whizzed past my ear, and at the +same instant I saw him crumple to the ground. Where I hit him I do not +know, nor if I killed him, for scarce had he started to collapse when I +was through the window at my rear. In another second the waters of +Omean closed above my head, and the three of us were making for the +little flier a hundred yards away. + +Xodar was burdened with the boy, and I with the three long-swords. The +revolver I had dropped, so that while we were both strong swimmers it +seemed to me that we moved at a snail's pace through the water. I was +swimming entirely beneath the surface, but Xodar was compelled to rise +often to let the youth breathe, so it was a wonder that we were not +discovered long before we were. + +In fact we reached the boat's side and were all aboard before the watch +upon the battleship, aroused by the shots, detected us. Then an alarm +gun bellowed from a ship's bow, its deep boom reverberating in +deafening tones beneath the rocky dome of Omean. + +Instantly the sleeping thousands were awake. The decks of a thousand +monster craft teemed with fighting-men, for an alarm on Omean was a +thing of rare occurrence. + +We cast away before the sound of the first gun had died, and another +second saw us rising swiftly from the surface of the sea. I lay at +full length along the deck with the levers and buttons of control +before me. Xodar and the boy were stretched directly behind me, prone +also that we might offer as little resistance to the air as possible. + +"Rise high," whispered Xodar. "They dare not fire their heavy guns +toward the dome--the fragments of the shells would drop back among +their own craft. If we are high enough our keel plates will protect us +from rifle fire." + +I did as he bade. Below us we could see the men leaping into the water +by hundreds, and striking out for the small cruisers and one-man fliers +that lay moored about the big ships. The larger craft were getting +under way, following us rapidly, but not rising from the water. + +"A little to your right," cried Xodar, for there are no points of +compass upon Omean where every direction is due north. + +The pandemonium that had broken out below us was deafening. Rifles +cracked, officers shouted orders, men yelled directions to one another +from the water and from the decks of myriad boats, while through all +ran the purr of countless propellers cutting water and air. + +I had not dared pull my speed lever to the highest for fear of +overrunning the mouth of the shaft that passed from Omean's dome to the +world above, but even so we were hitting a clip that I doubt has ever +been equalled on the windless sea. + +The smaller fliers were commencing to rise toward us when Xodar +shouted: "The shaft! The shaft! Dead ahead," and I saw the opening, +black and yawning in the glowing dome of this underworld. + +A ten-man cruiser was rising directly in front to cut off our escape. +It was the only vessel that stood in our way, but at the rate that it +was traveling it would come between us and the shaft in plenty of time +to thwart our plans. + +It was rising at an angle of about forty-five degrees dead ahead of us, +with the evident intention of combing us with grappling hooks from +above as it skimmed low over our deck. + +There was but one forlorn hope for us, and I took it. It was useless +to try to pass over her, for that would have allowed her to force us +against the rocky dome above, and we were already too near that as it +was. To have attempted to dive below her would have put us entirely at +her mercy, and precisely where she wanted us. On either side a hundred +other menacing craft were hastening toward us. The alternative was +filled with risk--in fact it was all risk, with but a slender chance of +success. + +As we neared the cruiser I rose as though to pass above her, so that +she would do just what she did do, rise at a steeper angle to force me +still higher. Then as we were almost upon her I yelled to my +companions to hold tight, and throwing the little vessel into her +highest speed I deflected her bows at the same instant until we were +running horizontally and at terrific velocity straight for the +cruiser's keel. + +Her commander may have seen my intentions then, but it was too late. +Almost at the instant of impact I turned my bows upward, and then with +a shattering jolt we were in collision. What I had hoped for happened. +The cruiser, already tilted at a perilous angle, was carried completely +over backward by the impact of my smaller vessel. Her crew fell +twisting and screaming through the air to the water far below, while +the cruiser, her propellers still madly churning, dived swiftly +headforemost after them to the bottom of the Sea of Omean. + +The collision crushed our steel bows, and notwithstanding every effort +on our part came near to hurling us from the deck. As it was we landed +in a wildly clutching heap at the very extremity of the flier, where +Xodar and I succeeded in grasping the hand-rail, but the boy would have +plunged overboard had I not fortunately grasped his ankle as he was +already partially over. + +Unguided, our vessel careened wildly in its mad flight, rising ever +nearer the rocks above. It took but an instant, however, for me to +regain the levers, and with the roof barely fifty feet above I turned +her nose once more into the horizontal plane and headed her again for +the black mouth of the shaft. + +The collision had retarded our progress and now a hundred swift scouts +were close upon us. Xodar had told me that ascending the shaft by +virtue of our repulsive rays alone would give our enemies their best +chance to overtake us, since our propellers would be idle and in rising +we would be outclassed by many of our pursuers. The swifter craft are +seldom equipped with large buoyancy tanks, since the added bulk of them +tends to reduce a vessel's speed. + +As many boats were now quite close to us it was inevitable that we +would be quickly overhauled in the shaft, and captured or killed in +short order. + +To me there always seems a way to gain the opposite side of an +obstacle. If one cannot pass over it, or below it, or around it, why +then there is but a single alternative left, and that is to pass +through it. I could not get around the fact that many of these other +boats could rise faster than ours by the fact of their greater +buoyancy, but I was none the less determined to reach the outer world +far in advance of them or die a death of my own choosing in event of +failure. + +"Reverse?" screamed Xodar, behind me. "For the love of your first +ancestor, reverse. We are at the shaft." + +"Hold tight!" I screamed in reply. "Grasp the boy and hold tight--we +are going straight up the shaft." + +The words were scarce out of my mouth as we swept beneath the +pitch-black opening. I threw the bow hard up, dragged the speed lever +to its last notch, and clutching a stanchion with one hand and the +steering-wheel with the other hung on like grim death and consigned my +soul to its author. + +I heard a little exclamation of surprise from Xodar, followed by a grim +laugh. The boy laughed too and said something which I could not catch +for the whistling of the wind of our awful speed. + +I looked above my head, hoping to catch the gleam of stars by which I +could direct our course and hold the hurtling thing that bore us true +to the centre of the shaft. To have touched the side at the speed we +were making would doubtless have resulted in instant death for us all. +But not a star showed above--only utter and impenetrable darkness. + +Then I glanced below me, and there I saw a rapidly diminishing circle +of light--the mouth of the opening above the phosphorescent radiance of +Omean. By this I steered, endeavouring to keep the circle of light +below me ever perfect. At best it was but a slender cord that held us +from destruction, and I think that I steered that night more by +intuition and blind faith than by skill or reason. + +We were not long in the shaft, and possibly the very fact of our +enormous speed saved us, for evidently we started in the right +direction and so quickly were we out again that we had no time to alter +our course. Omean lies perhaps two miles below the surface crust of +Mars. Our speed must have approximated two hundred miles an hour, for +Martian fliers are swift, so that at most we were in the shaft not over +forty seconds. + +We must have been out of it for some seconds before I realised that we +had accomplished the impossible. Black darkness enshrouded all about +us. There were neither moons nor stars. Never before had I seen such +a thing upon Mars, and for the moment I was nonplussed. Then the +explanation came to me. It was summer at the south pole. The ice cap +was melting and those meteoric phenomena, clouds, unknown upon the +greater part of Barsoom, were shutting out the light of heaven from +this portion of the planet. + +Fortunate indeed it was for us, nor did it take me long to grasp the +opportunity for escape which this happy condition offered us. Keeping +the boat's nose at a stiff angle I raced her for the impenetrable +curtain which Nature had hung above this dying world to shut us out +from the sight of our pursuing enemies. + +We plunged through the cold damp fog without diminishing our speed, and +in a moment emerged into the glorious light of the two moons and the +million stars. I dropped into a horizontal course and headed due +north. Our enemies were a good half-hour behind us with no conception +of our direction. We had performed the miraculous and come through a +thousand dangers unscathed--we had escaped from the land of the First +Born. No other prisoners in all the ages of Barsoom had done this +thing, and now as I looked back upon it it did not seem to have been so +difficult after all. + +I said as much to Xodar, over my shoulder. + +"It is very wonderful, nevertheless," he replied. "No one else could +have accomplished it but John Carter." + +At the sound of that name the boy jumped to his feet. + +"John Carter!" he cried. "John Carter! Why, man, John Carter, Prince +of Helium, has been dead for years. I am his son." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE EYES IN THE DARK + + +My son! I could not believe my ears. Slowly I rose and faced the +handsome youth. Now that I looked at him closely I commenced to see +why his face and personality had attracted me so strongly. There was +much of his mother's incomparable beauty in his clear-cut features, but +it was strongly masculine beauty, and his grey eyes and the expression +of them were mine. + +The boy stood facing me, half hope and half uncertainty in his look. + +"Tell me of your mother," I said. "Tell me all you can of the years +that I have been robbed by a relentless fate of her dear companionship." + +With a cry of pleasure he sprang toward me and threw his arms about my +neck, and for a brief moment as I held my boy close to me the tears +welled to my eyes and I was like to have choked after the manner of +some maudlin fool--but I do not regret it, nor am I ashamed. A long +life has taught me that a man may seem weak where women and children +are concerned and yet be anything but a weakling in the sterner avenues +of life. + +"Your stature, your manner, the terrible ferocity of your +swordsmanship," said the boy, "are as my mother has described them to +me a thousand times--but even with such evidence I could scarce credit +the truth of what seemed so improbable to me, however much I desired it +to be true. Do you know what thing it was that convinced me more than +all the others?" + +"What, my boy?" I asked. + +"Your first words to me--they were of my mother. None else but the man +who loved her as she has told me my father did would have thought first +of her." + +"For long years, my son, I can scarce recall a moment that the radiant +vision of your mother's face has not been ever before me. Tell me of +her." + +"Those who have known her longest say that she has not changed, unless +it be to grow more beautiful--were that possible. Only, when she +thinks I am not about to see her, her face grows very sad, and, oh, so +wistful. She thinks ever of you, my father, and all Helium mourns with +her and for her. Her grandfather's people love her. They loved you +also, and fairly worship your memory as the saviour of Barsoom. + +"Each year that brings its anniversary of the day that saw you racing +across a near dead world to unlock the secret of that awful portal +behind which lay the mighty power of life for countless millions a +great festival is held in your honour; but there are tears mingled with +the thanksgiving--tears of real regret that the author of the happiness +is not with them to share the joy of living he died to give them. Upon +all Barsoom there is no greater name than John Carter." + +"And by what name has your mother called you, my boy?" I asked. + +"The people of Helium asked that I be named with my father's name, but +my mother said no, that you and she had chosen a name for me together, +and that your wish must be honoured before all others, so the name that +she called me is the one that you desired, a combination of hers and +yours--Carthoris." + +Xodar had been at the wheel as I talked with my son, and now he called +me. + +"She is dropping badly by the head, John Carter," he said. "So long as +we were rising at a stiff angle it was not noticeable, but now that I +am trying to keep a horizontal course it is different. The wound in +her bow has opened one of her forward ray tanks." + +It was true, and after I had examined the damage I found it a much +graver matter than I had anticipated. Not only was the forced angle at +which we were compelled to maintain the bow in order to keep a +horizontal course greatly impeding our speed, but at the rate that we +were losing our repulsive rays from the forward tanks it was but a +question of an hour or more when we would be floating stern up and +helpless. + +We had slightly reduced our speed with the dawning of a sense of +security, but now I took the helm once more and pulled the noble little +engine wide open, so that again we raced north at terrific velocity. +In the meantime Carthoris and Xodar with tools in hand were puttering +with the great rent in the bow in a hopeless endeavour to stem the tide +of escaping rays. + +It was still dark when we passed the northern boundary of the ice cap +and the area of clouds. Below us lay a typical Martian landscape. +Rolling ochre sea bottom of long dead seas, low surrounding hills, with +here and there the grim and silent cities of the dead past; great piles +of mighty architecture tenanted only by age-old memories of a once +powerful race, and by the great white apes of Barsoom. + +It was becoming more and more difficult to maintain our little vessel +in a horizontal position. Lower and lower sagged the bow until it +became necessary to stop the engine to prevent our flight terminating +in a swift dive to the ground. + +As the sun rose and the light of a new day swept away the darkness of +night our craft gave a final spasmodic plunge, turned half upon her +side, and then with deck tilting at a sickening angle swung in a slow +circle, her bow dropping further below her stern each moment. + +To hand-rail and stanchion we clung, and finally as we saw the end +approaching, snapped the buckles of our harness to the rings at her +sides. In another moment the deck reared at an angle of ninety degrees +and we hung in our leather with feet dangling a thousand yards above +the ground. + +I was swinging quite close to the controlling devices, so I reached out +to the lever that directed the rays of repulsion. The boat responded +to the touch, and very gently we began to sink toward the ground. + +It was fully half an hour before we touched. Directly north of us rose +a rather lofty range of hills, toward which we decided to make our way, +since they afforded greater opportunity for concealment from the +pursuers we were confident might stumble in this direction. + +An hour later found us in the time-rounded gullies of the hills, amid +the beautiful flowering plants that abound in the arid waste places of +Barsoom. There we found numbers of huge milk-giving shrubs--that +strange plant which serves in great part as food and drink for the wild +hordes of green men. It was indeed a boon to us, for we all were +nearly famished. + +Beneath a cluster of these which afforded perfect concealment from +wandering air scouts, we lay down to sleep--for me the first time in +many hours. This was the beginning of my fifth day upon Barsoom since +I had found myself suddenly translated from my cottage on the Hudson to +Dor, the valley beautiful, the valley hideous. In all this time I had +slept but twice, though once the clock around within the storehouse of +the therns. + +It was mid-afternoon when I was awakened by some one seizing my hand +and covering it with kisses. With a start I opened my eyes to look +into the beautiful face of Thuvia. + +"My Prince! My Prince!" she cried, in an ecstasy of happiness. "'Tis +you whom I had mourned as dead. My ancestors have been good to me; I +have not lived in vain." + +The girl's voice awoke Xodar and Carthoris. The boy gazed upon the +woman in surprise, but she did not seem to realize the presence of +another than I. She would have thrown her arms about my neck and +smothered me with caresses, had I not gently but firmly disengaged +myself. + +"Come, come, Thuvia," I said soothingly; "you are overwrought by the +danger and hardships you have passed through. You forget yourself, as +you forget that I am the husband of the Princess of Helium." + +"I forget nothing, my Prince," she replied. "You have spoken no word +of love to me, nor do I expect that you ever shall; but nothing can +prevent me loving you. I would not take the place of Dejah Thoris. My +greatest ambition is to serve you, my Prince, for ever as your slave. +No greater boon could I ask, no greater honour could I crave, no +greater happiness could I hope." + +As I have before said, I am no ladies' man, and I must admit that I +seldom have felt so uncomfortable and embarrassed as I did that moment. +While I was quite familiar with the Martian custom which allows female +slaves to Martian men, whose high and chivalrous honour is always ample +protection for every woman in his household, yet I had never myself +chosen other than men as my body servants. + +"And I ever return to Helium, Thuvia," I said, "you shall go with me, +but as an honoured equal, and not as a slave. There you shall find +plenty of handsome young nobles who would face Issus herself to win a +smile from you, and we shall have you married in short order to one of +the best of them. Forget your foolish gratitude-begotten infatuation, +which your innocence has mistaken for love. I like your friendship +better, Thuvia." + +"You are my master; it shall be as you say," she replied simply, but +there was a note of sadness in her voice. + +"How came you here, Thuvia?" I asked. "And where is Tars Tarkas?" + +"The great Thark, I fear, is dead," she replied sadly. "He was a +mighty fighter, but a multitude of green warriors of another horde than +his overwhelmed him. The last that I saw of him they were bearing him, +wounded and bleeding, to the deserted city from which they had sallied +to attack us." + +"You are not sure that he is dead, then?" I asked. "And where is this +city of which you speak?" + +"It is just beyond this range of hills. The vessel in which you so +nobly resigned a place that we might find escape defied our small skill +in navigation, with the result that we drifted aimlessly about for two +days. Then we decided to abandon the craft and attempt to make our way +on foot to the nearest waterway. Yesterday we crossed these hills and +came upon the dead city beyond. We had passed within its streets and +were walking toward the central portion, when at an intersecting avenue +we saw a body of green warriors approaching. + +"Tars Tarkas was in advance, and they saw him, but me they did not see. +The Thark sprang back to my side and forced me into an adjacent +doorway, where he told me to remain in hiding until I could escape, +making my way to Helium if possible. + +"'There will be no escape for me now,' he said, 'for these be the +Warhoon of the South. When they have seen my metal it will be to the +death.' + +"Then he stepped out to meet them. Ah, my Prince, such fighting! For +an hour they swarmed about him, until the Warhoon dead formed a hill +where he had stood; but at last they overwhelmed him, those behind +pushing the foremost upon him until there remained no space to swing +his great sword. Then he stumbled and went down and they rolled over +him like a huge wave. When they carried him away toward the heart of +the city, he was dead, I think, for I did not see him move." + +"Before we go farther we must be sure," I said. "I cannot leave Tars +Tarkas alive among the Warhoons. To-night I shall enter the city and +make sure." + +"And I shall go with you," spoke Carthoris. + +"And I," said Xodar. + +"Neither one of you shall go," I replied. "It is work that requires +stealth and strategy, not force. One man alone may succeed where more +would invite disaster. I shall go alone. If I need your help, I will +return for you." + +They did not like it, but both were good soldiers, and it had been +agreed that I should command. The sun already was low, so that I did +not have long to wait before the sudden darkness of Barsoom engulfed us. + +With a parting word of instructions to Carthoris and Xodar, in case I +should not return, I bade them all farewell and set forth at a rapid +dogtrot toward the city. + +As I emerged from the hills the nearer moon was winging its wild flight +through the heavens, its bright beams turning to burnished silver the +barbaric splendour of the ancient metropolis. The city had been built +upon the gently rolling foothills that in the dim and distant past had +sloped down to meet the sea. It was due to this fact that I had no +difficulty in entering the streets unobserved. + +The green hordes that use these deserted cities seldom occupy more than +a few squares about the central plaza, and as they come and go always +across the dead sea bottoms that the cities face, it is usually a +matter of comparative ease to enter from the hillside. + +Once within the streets, I kept close in the dense shadows of the +walls. At intersections I halted a moment to make sure that none was +in sight before I sprang quickly to the shadows of the opposite side. +Thus I made the journey to the vicinity of the plaza without detection. +As I approached the purlieus of the inhabited portion of the city I was +made aware of the proximity of the warriors' quarters by the squealing +and grunting of the thoats and zitidars corralled within the hollow +courtyards formed by the buildings surrounding each square. + +These old familiar sounds that are so distinctive of green Martian life +sent a thrill of pleasure surging through me. It was as one might feel +on coming home after a long absence. It was amid such sounds that I +had first courted the incomparable Dejah Thoris in the age-old marble +halls of the dead city of Korad. + +As I stood in the shadows at the far corner of the first square which +housed members of the horde, I saw warriors emerging from several of +the buildings. They all went in the same direction, toward a great +building which stood in the centre of the plaza. My knowledge of green +Martian customs convinced me that this was either the quarters of the +principal chieftain or contained the audience chamber wherein the +Jeddak met his jeds and lesser chieftains. In either event, it was +evident that something was afoot which might have a bearing on the +recent capture of Tars Tarkas. + +To reach this building, which I now felt it imperative that I do, I +must needs traverse the entire length of one square and cross a broad +avenue and a portion of the plaza. From the noises of the animals +which came from every courtyard about me, I knew that there were many +people in the surrounding buildings--probably several communities of +the great horde of the Warhoons of the South. + +To pass undetected among all these people was in itself a difficult +task, but if I was to find and rescue the great Thark I must expect +even more formidable obstacles before success could be mine. I had +entered the city from the south and now stood on the corner of the +avenue through which I had passed and the first intersecting avenue +south of the plaza. The buildings upon the south side of this square +did not appear to be inhabited, as I could see no lights, and so I +decided to gain the inner courtyard through one of them. + +Nothing occurred to interrupt my progress through the deserted pile I +chose, and I came into the inner court close to the rear walls of the +east buildings without detection. Within the court a great herd of +thoats and zitidars moved restlessly about, cropping the moss-like +ochre vegetation which overgrows practically the entire uncultivated +area of Mars. What breeze there was came from the north-west, so there +was little danger that the beasts would scent me. Had they, their +squealing and grunting would have grown to such a volume as to attract +the attention of the warriors within the buildings. + +Close to the east wall, beneath the overhanging balconies of the second +floors, I crept in dense shadows the full length of the courtyard, +until I came to the buildings at the north end. These were lighted for +about three floors up, but above the third floor all was dark. + +To pass through the lighted rooms was, of course, out of the question, +since they swarmed with green Martian men and women. My only path lay +through the upper floors, and to gain these it was necessary to scale +the face of the wall. The reaching of the balcony of the second floor +was a matter of easy accomplishment--an agile leap gave my hands a +grasp upon the stone hand-rail above. In another instant I had drawn +myself up on the balcony. + +Here through the open windows I saw the green folk squatting upon their +sleeping silks and furs, grunting an occasional monosyllable, which, in +connection with their wondrous telepathic powers, is ample for their +conversational requirements. As I drew closer to listen to their words +a warrior entered the room from the hall beyond. + +"Come, Tan Gama," he cried, "we are to take the Thark before Kab Kadja. +Bring another with you." + +The warrior addressed arose and, beckoning to a fellow squatting near, +the three turned and left the apartment. + +If I could but follow them the chance might come to free Tars Tarkas at +once. At least I would learn the location of his prison. + +At my right was a door leading from the balcony into the building. It +was at the end of an unlighted hall, and on the impulse of the moment I +stepped within. The hall was broad and led straight through to the +front of the building. On either side were the doorways of the various +apartments which lined it. + +I had no more than entered the corridor than I saw the three warriors +at the other end--those whom I had just seen leaving the apartment. +Then a turn to the right took them from my sight again. Quickly I +hastened along the hallway in pursuit. My gait was reckless, but I +felt that Fate had been kind indeed to throw such an opportunity within +my grasp, and I could not afford to allow it to elude me now. + +At the far end of the corridor I found a spiral stairway leading to the +floors above and below. The three had evidently left the floor by this +avenue. That they had gone down and not up I was sure from my +knowledge of these ancient buildings and the methods of the Warhoons. + +I myself had once been a prisoner of the cruel hordes of northern +Warhoon, and the memory of the underground dungeon in which I lay still +is vivid in my memory. And so I felt certain that Tars Tarkas lay in +the dark pits beneath some nearby building, and that in that direction +I should find the trail of the three warriors leading to his cell. + +Nor was I wrong. At the bottom of the runway, or rather at the landing +on the floor below, I saw that the shaft descended into the pits +beneath, and as I glanced down the flickering light of a torch revealed +the presence of the three I was trailing. + +Down they went toward the pits beneath the structure, and at a safe +distance behind I followed the flicker of their torch. The way led +through a maze of tortuous corridors, unlighted save for the wavering +light they carried. We had gone perhaps a hundred yards when the party +turned abruptly through a doorway at their right. I hastened on as +rapidly as I dared through the darkness until I reached the point at +which they had left the corridor. There, through an open door, I saw +them removing the chains that secured the great Thark, Tars Tarkas, to +the wall. + +Hustling him roughly between them, they came immediately from the +chamber, so quickly in fact that I was near to being apprehended. But +I managed to run along the corridor in the direction I had been going +in my pursuit of them far enough to be without the radius of their +meagre light as they emerged from the cell. + +I had naturally assumed that they would return with Tars Tarkas the +same way that they had come, which would have carried them away from +me; but, to my chagrin, they wheeled directly in my direction as they +left the room. There was nothing for me but to hasten on in advance +and keep out of the light of their torch. I dared not attempt to halt +in the darkness of any of the many intersecting corridors, for I knew +nothing of the direction they might take. Chance was as likely as not +to carry me into the very corridor they might choose to enter. + +The sensation of moving rapidly through these dark passages was far +from reassuring. I knew not at what moment I might plunge headlong +into some terrible pit or meet with some of the ghoulish creatures that +inhabit these lower worlds beneath the dead cities of dying Mars. +There filtered to me a faint radiance from the torch of the men +behind--just enough to permit me to trace the direction of the winding +passageways directly before me, and so keep me from dashing myself +against the walls at the turns. + +Presently I came to a place where five corridors diverged from a common +point. I had hastened along one of them for some little distance when +suddenly the faint light of the torch disappeared from behind me. I +paused to listen for sounds of the party behind me, but the silence was +as utter as the silence of the tomb. + +Quickly I realized that the warriors had taken one of the other +corridors with their prisoner, and so I hastened back with a feeling of +considerable relief to take up a much safer and more desirable position +behind them. It was much slower work returning, however, than it had +been coming, for now the darkness was as utter as the silence. + +It was necessary to feel every foot of the way back with my hand +against the side wall, that I might not pass the spot where the five +roads radiated. After what seemed an eternity to me, I reached the +place and recognized it by groping across the entrances to the several +corridors until I had counted five of them. In not one, however, +showed the faintest sign of light. + +I listened intently, but the naked feet of the green men sent back no +guiding echoes, though presently I thought I detected the clank of side +arms in the far distance of the middle corridor. Up this, then, I +hastened, searching for the light, and stopping to listen occasionally +for a repetition of the sound; but soon I was forced to admit that I +must have been following a blind lead, as only darkness and silence +rewarded my efforts. + +Again I retraced my steps toward the parting of the ways, when to my +surprise I came upon the entrance to three diverging corridors, any one +of which I might have traversed in my hasty dash after the false clue I +had been following. Here was a pretty fix, indeed! Once back at the +point where the five passageways met, I might wait with some assurance +for the return of the warriors with Tars Tarkas. My knowledge of their +customs lent colour to the belief that he was but being escorted to the +audience chamber to have sentence passed upon him. I had not the +slightest doubt but that they would preserve so doughty a warrior as +the great Thark for the rare sport he would furnish at the Great Games. + +But unless I could find my way back to that point the chances were most +excellent that I would wander for days through the awful blackness, +until, overcome by thirst and hunger, I lay down to die, or--What was +that! + +A faint shuffling sounded behind me, and as I cast a hasty glance over +my shoulder my blood froze in my veins for the thing I saw there. It +was not so much fear of the present danger as it was the horrifying +memories it recalled of that time I near went mad over the corpse of +the man I had killed in the dungeons of the Warhoons, when blazing eyes +came out of the dark recesses and dragged the thing that had been a man +from my clutches and I heard it scraping over the stone of my prison as +they bore it away to their terrible feast. + +And now in these black pits of the other Warhoons I looked into those +same fiery eyes, blazing at me through the terrible darkness, revealing +no sign of the beast behind them. I think that the most fearsome +attribute of these awesome creatures is their silence and the fact that +one never sees them--nothing but those baleful eyes glaring +unblinkingly out of the dark void behind. + +Grasping my long-sword tightly in my hand, I backed slowly along the +corridor away from the thing that watched me, but ever as I retreated +the eyes advanced, nor was there any sound, not even the sound of +breathing, except the occasional shuffling sound as of the dragging of +a dead limb, that had first attracted my attention. + +On and on I went, but I could not escape my sinister pursuer. Suddenly +I heard the shuffling noise at my right, and, looking, saw another pair +of eyes, evidently approaching from an intersecting corridor. As I +started to renew my slow retreat I heard the noise repeated behind me, +and then before I could turn I heard it again at my left. + +The things were all about me. They had me surrounded at the +intersection of two corridors. Retreat was cut off in all directions, +unless I chose to charge one of the beasts. Even then I had no doubt +but that the others would hurl themselves upon my back. I could not +even guess the size or nature of the weird creatures. That they were +of goodly proportions I guessed from the fact that the eyes were on a +level with my own. + +Why is it that darkness so magnifies our dangers? By day I would have +charged the great banth itself, had I thought it necessary, but hemmed +in by the darkness of these silent pits I hesitated before a pair of +eyes. + +Soon I saw that the matter shortly would be taken entirely from my +hands, for the eyes at my right were moving slowly nearer me, as were +those at my left and those behind and before me. Gradually they were +closing in upon me--but still that awful stealthy silence! + +For what seemed hours the eyes approached gradually closer and closer, +until I felt that I should go mad for the horror of it. I had been +constantly turning this way and that to prevent any sudden rush from +behind, until I was fairly worn out. At length I could endure it no +longer, and, taking a fresh grasp upon my long-sword, I turned suddenly +and charged down upon one of my tormentors. + +As I was almost upon it the thing retreated before me, but a sound from +behind caused me to wheel in time to see three pairs of eyes rushing at +me from the rear. With a cry of rage I turned to meet the cowardly +beasts, but as I advanced they retreated as had their fellow. Another +glance over my shoulder discovered the first eyes sneaking on me again. +And again I charged, only to see the eyes retreat before me and hear +the muffled rush of the three at my back. + +Thus we continued, the eyes always a little closer in the end than they +had been before, until I thought that I should go mad with the terrible +strain of the ordeal. That they were waiting to spring upon my back +seemed evident, and that it would not be long before they succeeded was +equally apparent, for I could not endure the wear of this repeated +charge and countercharge indefinitely. In fact, I could feel myself +weakening from the mental and physical strain I had been undergoing. + +At that moment I caught another glimpse from the corner of my eye of +the single pair of eyes at my back making a sudden rush upon me. I +turned to meet the charge; there was a quick rush of the three from the +other direction; but I determined to pursue the single pair until I +should have at least settled my account with one of the beasts and thus +be relieved of the strain of meeting attacks from both directions. + +There was no sound in the corridor, only that of my own breathing, yet +I knew that those three uncanny creatures were almost upon me. The +eyes in front were not retreating so rapidly now; I was almost within +sword reach of them. I raised my sword arm to deal the blow that +should free me, and then I felt a heavy body upon my back. A cold, +moist, slimy something fastened itself upon my throat. I stumbled and +went down. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +FLIGHT AND PURSUIT + + +I could not have been unconscious more than a few seconds, and yet I +know that I was unconscious, for the next thing I realized was that a +growing radiance was illuminating the corridor about me and the eyes +were gone. + +I was unharmed except for a slight bruise upon my forehead where it had +struck the stone flagging as I fell. + +I sprang to my feet to ascertain the cause of the light. It came from +a torch in the hand of one of a party of four green warriors, who were +coming rapidly down the corridor toward me. They had not yet seen me, +and so I lost no time in slipping into the first intersecting corridor +that I could find. This time, however, I did not advance so far away +from the main corridor as on the other occasion that had resulted in my +losing Tars Tarkas and his guards. + +The party came rapidly toward the opening of the passageway in which I +crouched against the wall. As they passed by I breathed a sigh of +relief. I had not been discovered, and, best of all, the party was the +same that I had followed into the pits. It consisted of Tars Tarkas +and his three guards. + +I fell in behind them and soon we were at the cell in which the great +Thark had been chained. Two of the warriors remained without while the +man with the keys entered with the Thark to fasten his irons upon him +once more. The two outside started to stroll slowly in the direction +of the spiral runway which led to the floors above, and in a moment +were lost to view beyond a turn in the corridor. + +The torch had been stuck in a socket beside the door, so that its rays +illuminated both the corridor and the cell at the same time. As I saw +the two warriors disappear I approached the entrance to the cell, with +a well-defined plan already formulated. + +While I disliked the thought of carrying out the thing that I had +decided upon, there seemed no alternative if Tars Tarkas and I were to +go back together to my little camp in the hills. + +Keeping near the wall, I came quite close to the door to Tars Tarkas' +cell, and there I stood with my longsword above my head, grasped with +both hands, that I might bring it down in one quick cut upon the skull +of the jailer as he emerged. + +I dislike to dwell upon what followed after I heard the footsteps of +the man as he approached the doorway. It is enough that within another +minute or two, Tars Tarkas, wearing the metal of a Warhoon chief, was +hurrying down the corridor toward the spiral runway, bearing the +Warhoon's torch to light his way. A dozen paces behind him followed +John Carter, Prince of Helium. + +The two companions of the man who lay now beside the door of the cell +that had been Tars Tarkas' had just started to ascend the runway as the +Thark came in view. + +"Why so long, Tan Gama?" cried one of the men. + +"I had trouble with a lock," replied Tars Tarkas. "And now I find that +I have left my short-sword in the Thark's cell. Go you on, I'll return +and fetch it." + +"As you will, Tan Gama," replied he who had before spoken. "We shall +see you above directly." + +"Yes," replied Tars Tarkas, and turned as though to retrace his steps +to the cell, but he only waited until the two had disappeared at the +floor above. Then I joined him, we extinguished the torch, and +together we crept toward the spiral incline that led to the upper +floors of the building. + +At the first floor we found that the hallway ran but halfway through, +necessitating the crossing of a rear room full of green folk, ere we +could reach the inner courtyard, so there was but one thing left for us +to do, and that was to gain the second floor and the hallway through +which I had traversed the length of the building. + +Cautiously we ascended. We could hear the sounds of conversation +coming from the room above, but the hall still was unlighted, nor was +any one in sight as we gained the top of the runway. Together we +threaded the long hall and reached the balcony overlooking the +courtyard, without being detected. + +At our right was the window letting into the room in which I had seen +Tan Gama and the other warriors as they started to Tars Tarkas' cell +earlier in the evening. His companions had returned here, and we now +overheard a portion of their conversation. + +"What can be detaining Tan Gama?" asked one. + +"He certainly could not be all this time fetching his shortsword from +the Thark's cell," spoke another. + +"His short-sword?" asked a woman. "What mean you?" + +"Tan Gama left his short-sword in the Thark's cell," explained the +first speaker, "and left us at the runway, to return and get it." + +"Tan Gama wore no short-sword this night," said the woman. "It was +broken in to-day's battle with the Thark, and Tan Gama gave it to me to +repair. See, I have it here," and as she spoke she drew Tan Gama's +short-sword from beneath her sleeping silks and furs. + +The warriors sprang to their feet. + +"There is something amiss here," cried one. + +"'Tis even what I myself thought when Tan Gama left us at the runway," +said another. "Methought then that his voice sounded strangely." + +"Come! let us hasten to the pits." + +We waited to hear no more. Slinging my harness into a long single +strap, I lowered Tars Tarkas to the courtyard beneath, and an instant +later dropped to his side. + +We had spoken scarcely a dozen words since I had felled Tan Gama at the +cell door and seen in the torch's light the expression of utter +bewilderment upon the great Thark's face. + +"By this time," he had said, "I should have learned to wonder at +nothing which John Carter accomplishes." That was all. He did not +need to tell me that he appreciated the friendship which had prompted +me to risk my life to rescue him, nor did he need to say that he was +glad to see me. + +This fierce green warrior had been the first to greet me that day, now +twenty years gone, which had witnessed my first advent upon Mars. He +had met me with levelled spear and cruel hatred in his heart as he +charged down upon me, bending low at the side of his mighty thoat as I +stood beside the incubator of his horde upon the dead sea bottom beyond +Korad. And now among the inhabitants of two worlds I counted none a +better friend than Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of the Tharks. + +As we reached the courtyard we stood in the shadows beneath the balcony +for a moment to discuss our plans. + +"There be five now in the party, Tars Tarkas," I said; "Thuvia, Xodar, +Carthoris, and ourselves. We shall need five thoats to bear us." + +"Carthoris!" he cried. "Your son?" + +"Yes. I found him in the prison of Shador, on the Sea of Omean, in the +land of the First Born." + +"I know not any of these places, John Carter. Be they upon Barsoom?" + +"Upon and below, my friend; but wait until we shall have made good our +escape, and you shall hear the strangest narrative that ever a +Barsoomian of the outer world gave ear to. Now we must steal our +thoats and be well away to the north before these fellows discover how +we have tricked them." + +In safety we reached the great gates at the far end of the courtyard, +through which it was necessary to take our thoats to the avenue beyond. +It is no easy matter to handle five of these great, fierce beasts, +which by nature are as wild and ferocious as their masters and held in +subjection by cruelty and brute force alone. + +As we approached them they sniffed our unfamiliar scent and with +squeals of rage circled about us. Their long, massive necks upreared +raised their great, gaping mouths high above our heads. They are +fearsome appearing brutes at best, but when they are aroused they are +fully as dangerous as they look. The thoat stands a good ten feet at +the shoulder. His hide is sleek and hairless, and of a dark slate +colour on back and sides, shading down his eight legs to a vivid yellow +at the huge, padded, nailless feet; the belly is pure white. A broad, +flat tail, larger at the tip than at the root, completes the picture of +this ferocious green Martian mount--a fit war steed for these warlike +people. + +As the thoats are guided by telepathic means alone, there is no need +for rein or bridle, and so our object now was to find two that would +obey our unspoken commands. As they charged about us we succeeded in +mastering them sufficiently to prevent any concerted attack upon us, +but the din of their squealing was certain to bring investigating +warriors into the courtyard were it to continue much longer. + +At length I was successful in reaching the side of one great brute, and +ere he knew what I was about I was firmly seated astride his glossy +back. A moment later Tars Tarkas had caught and mounted another, and +then between us we herded three or four more toward the great gates. + +Tars Tarkas rode ahead and, leaning down to the latch, threw the +barriers open, while I held the loose thoats from breaking back to the +herd. Then together we rode through into the avenue with our stolen +mounts and, without waiting to close the gates, hurried off toward the +southern boundary of the city. + +Thus far our escape had been little short of marvellous, nor did our +good fortune desert us, for we passed the outer purlieus of the dead +city and came to our camp without hearing even the faintest sound of +pursuit. + +Here a low whistle, the prearranged signal, apprised the balance of our +party that I was returning, and we were met by the three with every +manifestation of enthusiastic rejoicing. + +But little time was wasted in narration of our adventure. Tars Tarkas +and Carthoris exchanged the dignified and formal greetings common upon +Barsoom, but I could tell intuitively that the Thark loved my boy and +that Carthoris reciprocated his affection. + +Xodar and the green Jeddak were formally presented to each other. Then +Thuvia was lifted to the least fractious thoat, Xodar and Carthoris +mounted two others, and we set out at a rapid pace toward the east. At +the far extremity of the city we circled toward the north, and under +the glorious rays of the two moons we sped noiselessly across the dead +sea bottom, away from the Warhoons and the First Born, but to what new +dangers and adventures we knew not. + +Toward noon of the following day we halted to rest our mounts and +ourselves. The beasts we hobbled, that they might move slowly about +cropping the ochre moss-like vegetation which constitutes both food and +drink for them on the march. Thuvia volunteered to remain on watch +while the balance of the party slept for an hour. + +It seemed to me that I had but closed my eyes when I felt her hand upon +my shoulder and heard her soft voice warning me of a new danger. + +"Arise, O Prince," she whispered. "There be that behind us which has +the appearance of a great body of pursuers." + +The girl stood pointing in the direction from whence we had come, and +as I arose and looked, I, too, thought that I could detect a thin dark +line on the far horizon. I awoke the others. Tars Tarkas, whose giant +stature towered high above the rest of us, could see the farthest. + +"It is a great body of mounted men," he said, "and they are travelling +at high speed." + +There was no time to be lost. We sprang to our hobbled thoats, freed +them, and mounted. Then we turned our faces once more toward the north +and took our flight again at the highest speed of our slowest beast. + +For the balance of the day and all the following night we raced across +that ochre wilderness with the pursuers at our back ever gaining upon +us. Slowly but surely they were lessening the distance between us. +Just before dark they had been close enough for us to plainly +distinguish that they were green Martians, and all during the long +night we distinctly heard the clanking of their accoutrements behind us. + +As the sun rose on the second day of our flight it disclosed the +pursuing horde not a half-mile in our rear. As they saw us a fiendish +shout of triumph rose from their ranks. + +Several miles in advance lay a range of hills--the farther shore of the +dead sea we had been crossing. Could we but reach these hills our +chances of escape would be greatly enhanced, but Thuvia's mount, +although carrying the lightest burden, already was showing signs of +exhaustion. I was riding beside her when suddenly her animal staggered +and lurched against mine. I saw that he was going down, but ere he +fell I snatched the girl from his back and swung her to a place upon my +own thoat, behind me, where she clung with her arms about me. + +This double burden soon proved too much for my already overtaxed beast, +and thus our speed was terribly diminished, for the others would +proceed no faster than the slowest of us could go. In that little +party there was not one who would desert another; yet we were of +different countries, different colours, different races, different +religions--and one of us was of a different world. + +We were quite close to the hills, but the Warhoons were gaining so +rapidly that we had given up all hope of reaching them in time. Thuvia +and I were in the rear, for our beast was lagging more and more. +Suddenly I felt the girl's warm lips press a kiss upon my shoulder. +"For thy sake, O my Prince," she murmured. Then her arms slipped from +about my waist and she was gone. + +I turned and saw that she had deliberately slipped to the ground in the +very path of the cruel demons who pursued us, thinking that by +lightening the burden of my mount it might thus be enabled to bear me +to the safety of the hills. Poor child! She should have known John +Carter better than that. + +Turning my thoat, I urged him after her, hoping to reach her side and +bear her on again in our hopeless flight. Carthoris must have glanced +behind him at about the same time and taken in the situation, for by +the time I had reached Thuvia's side he was there also, and, springing +from his mount, he threw her upon its back and, turning the animal's +head toward the hills, gave the beast a sharp crack across the rump +with the flat of his sword. Then he attempted to do the same with mine. + +The brave boy's act of chivalrous self-sacrifice filled me with pride, +nor did I care that it had wrested from us our last frail chance for +escape. The Warhoons were now close upon us. Tars Tarkas and Xodar +had discovered our absence and were charging rapidly to our support. +Everything pointed toward a splendid ending of my second journey to +Barsoom. I hated to go out without having seen my divine Princess, and +held her in my arms once again; but if it were not writ upon the book +of Fate that such was to be, then would I take the most that was coming +to me, and in these last few moments that were to be vouchsafed me +before I passed over into that unguessed future I could at least give +such an account of myself in my chosen vocation as would leave the +Warhoons of the South food for discourse for the next twenty +generations. + +As Carthoris was not mounted, I slipped from the back of my own mount +and took my place at his side to meet the charge of the howling devils +bearing down upon us. A moment later Tars Tarkas and Xodar ranged +themselves on either hand, turning their thoats loose that we might all +be on an equal footing. + +The Warhoons were perhaps a hundred yards from us when a loud explosion +sounded from above and behind us, and almost at the same instant a +shell burst in their advancing ranks. At once all was confusion. A +hundred warriors toppled to the ground. Riderless thoats plunged +hither and thither among the dead and dying. Dismounted warriors were +trampled underfoot in the stampede which followed. All semblance of +order had left the ranks of the green men, and as they looked far above +our heads to trace the origin of this unexpected attack, disorder +turned to retreat and retreat to a wild panic. In another moment they +were racing as madly away from us as they had before been charging down +upon us. + +We turned to look in the direction from whence the first report had +come, and there we saw, just clearing the tops of the nearer hills, a +great battleship swinging majestically through the air. Her bow gun +spoke again even as we looked, and another shell burst among the +fleeing Warhoons. + +As she drew nearer I could not repress a wild cry of elation, for upon +her bows I saw the device of Helium. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +UNDER ARREST + + +As Carthoris, Xodar, Tars Tarkas, and I stood gazing at the magnificent +vessel which meant so much to all of us, we saw a second and then a +third top the summit of the hills and glide gracefully after their +sister. + +Now a score of one-man air scouts were launching from the upper decks +of the nearer vessel, and in a moment more were speeding in long, swift +dives to the ground about us. + +In another instant we were surrounded by armed sailors, and an officer +had stepped forward to address us, when his eyes fell upon Carthoris. +With an exclamation of surprised pleasure he sprang forward, and, +placing his hands upon the boy's shoulder, called him by name. + +"Carthoris, my Prince," he cried, "Kaor! Kaor! Hor Vastus greets the +son of Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, and of her husband, John +Carter. Where have you been, O my Prince? All Helium has been plunged +in sorrow. Terrible have been the calamities that have befallen your +great-grandsire's mighty nation since the fatal day that saw you leave +our midst." + +"Grieve not, my good Hor Vastus," cried Carthoris, "since I bring not +back myself alone to cheer my mother's heart and the hearts of my +beloved people, but also one whom all Barsoom loved best--her greatest +warrior and her saviour--John Carter, Prince of Helium!" + +Hor Vastus turned in the direction indicated by Carthoris, and as his +eyes fell upon me he was like to have collapsed from sheer surprise. + +"John Carter!" he exclaimed, and then a sudden troubled look came into +his eyes. "My Prince," he started, "where hast thou--" and then he +stopped, but I knew the question that his lips dared not frame. The +loyal fellow would not be the one to force from mine a confession of +the terrible truth that I had returned from the bosom of the Iss, the +River of Mystery, back from the shore of the Lost Sea of Korus, and the +Valley Dor. + +"Ah, my Prince," he continued, as though no thought had interrupted his +greeting, "that you are back is sufficient, and let Hor Vastus' sword +have the high honour of being first at thy feet." With these words the +noble fellow unbuckled his scabbard and flung his sword upon the ground +before me. + +Could you know the customs and the character of red Martians you would +appreciate the depth of meaning that that simple act conveyed to me and +to all about us who witnessed it. The thing was equivalent to saying, +"My sword, my body, my life, my soul are yours to do with as you wish. +Until death and after death I look to you alone for authority for my +every act. Be you right or wrong, your word shall be my only truth. +Whoso raises his hand against you must answer to my sword." + +It is the oath of fealty that men occasionally pay to a Jeddak whose +high character and chivalrous acts have inspired the enthusiastic love +of his followers. Never had I known this high tribute paid to a lesser +mortal. There was but one response possible. I stooped and lifted the +sword from the ground, raised the hilt to my lips, and then, stepping +to Hor Vastus, I buckled the weapon upon him with my own hands. + +"Hor Vastus," I said, placing my hand upon his shoulder, "you know best +the promptings of your own heart. That I shall need your sword I have +little doubt, but accept from John Carter upon his sacred honour the +assurance that he will never call upon you to draw this sword other +than in the cause of truth, justice, and righteousness." + +"That I knew, my Prince," he replied, "ere ever I threw my beloved +blade at thy feet." + +As we spoke other fliers came and went between the ground and the +battleship, and presently a larger boat was launched from above, one +capable of carrying a dozen persons, perhaps, and dropped lightly near +us. As she touched, an officer sprang from her deck to the ground, +and, advancing to Hor Vastus, saluted. + +"Kantos Kan desires that this party whom we have rescued be brought +immediately to the deck of the _Xavarian_," he said. + +As we approached the little craft I looked about for the members of my +party and for the first time noticed that Thuvia was not among them. +Questioning elicited the fact that none had seen her since Carthoris +had sent her thoat galloping madly toward the hills, in the hope of +carrying her out of harm's way. + +Immediately Hor Vastus dispatched a dozen air scouts in as many +directions to search for her. It could not be possible that she had +gone far since we had last seen her. We others stepped to the deck of +the craft that had been sent to fetch us, and a moment later were upon +the _Xavarian_. + +The first man to greet me was Kantos Kan himself. My old friend had +won to the highest place in the navy of Helium, but he was still to me +the same brave comrade who had shared with me the privations of a +Warhoon dungeon, the terrible atrocities of the Great Games, and later +the dangers of our search for Dejah Thoris within the hostile city of +Zodanga. + +Then I had been an unknown wanderer upon a strange planet, and he a +simple padwar in the navy of Helium. To-day he commanded all Helium's +great terrors of the skies, and I was a Prince of the House of Tardos +Mors, Jeddak of Helium. + +He did not ask me where I had been. Like Hor Vastus, he too dreaded +the truth and would not be the one to wrest a statement from me. That +it must come some time he well knew, but until it came he seemed +satisfied to but know that I was with him once more. He greeted +Carthoris and Tars Tarkas with the keenest delight, but he asked +neither where he had been. He could scarcely keep his hands off the +boy. + +"You do not know, John Carter," he said to me, "how we of Helium love +this son of yours. It is as though all the great love we bore his +noble father and his poor mother had been centred in him. When it +became known that he was lost, ten million people wept." + +"What mean you, Kantos Kan," I whispered, "by 'his poor mother'?" for +the words had seemed to carry a sinister meaning which I could not +fathom. + +He drew me to one side. + +"For a year," he said, "Ever since Carthoris disappeared, Dejah Thoris +has grieved and mourned for her lost boy. The blow of years ago, when +you did not return from the atmosphere plant, was lessened to some +extent by the duties of motherhood, for your son broke his white shell +that very night." + +"That she suffered terribly then, all Helium knew, for did not all +Helium suffer with her the loss of her lord! But with the boy gone +there was nothing left, and after expedition upon expedition returned +with the same hopeless tale of no clue as to his whereabouts, our +beloved Princess drooped lower and lower, until all who saw her felt +that it could be but a matter of days ere she went to join her loved +ones within the precincts of the Valley Dor. + +"As a last resort, Mors Kajak, her father, and Tardos Mors, her +grandfather, took command of two mighty expeditions, and a month ago +sailed away to explore every inch of ground in the northern hemisphere +of Barsoom. For two weeks no word has come back from them, but rumours +were rife that they had met with a terrible disaster and that all were +dead. + +"About this time Zat Arrras renewed his importunities for her hand in +marriage. He has been for ever after her since you disappeared. She +hated him and feared him, but with both her father and grandfather +gone, Zat Arrras was very powerful, for he is still Jed of Zodanga, to +which position, you will remember, Tardos Mors appointed him after you +had refused the honour. + +"He had a secret audience with her six days ago. What took place none +knows, but the next day Dejah Thoris had disappeared, and with her had +gone a dozen of her household guard and body servants, including Sola +the green woman--Tars Tarkas' daughter, you recall. No word left they +of their intentions, but it is always thus with those who go upon the +voluntary pilgrimage from which none returns. We cannot think aught +than that Dejah Thoris has sought the icy bosom of Iss, and that her +devoted servants have chosen to accompany her. + +"Zat Arrras was at Helium when she disappeared. He commands this fleet +which has been searching for her since. No trace of her have we found, +and I fear that it be a futile quest." + +While we talked, Hor Vastus' fliers were returning to the _Xavarian_. +Not one, however, had discovered a trace of Thuvia. I was much +depressed over the news of Dejah Thoris' disappearance, and now there +was added the further burden of apprehension concerning the fate of +this girl whom I believed to be the daughter of some proud Barsoomian +house, and it had been my intention to make every effort to return her +to her people. + +I was about to ask Kantos Kan to prosecute a further search for her +when a flier from the flagship of the fleet arrived at the _Xavarian_ +with an officer bearing a message to Kantos Kan from Arrras. + +My friend read the dispatch and then turned to me. + +"Zat Arrras commands me to bring our 'prisoners' before him. There is +naught else to do. He is supreme in Helium, yet it would be far more +in keeping with chivalry and good taste were he to come hither and +greet the saviour of Barsoom with the honours that are his due." + +"You know full well, my friend," I said, smiling, "that Zat Arrras has +good cause to hate me. Nothing would please him better than to +humiliate me and then to kill me. Now that he has so excellent an +excuse, let us go and see if he has the courage to take advantage of +it." + +Summoning Carthoris, Tars Tarkas, and Xodar, we entered the small flier +with Kantos Kan and Zat Arrras' officer, and in a moment were stepping +to the deck of Zat Arrras' flagship. + +As we approached the Jed of Zodanga no sign of greeting or recognition +crossed his face; not even to Carthoris did he vouchsafe a friendly +word. His attitude was cold, haughty, and uncompromising. + +"Kaor, Zat Arrras," I said in greeting, but he did not respond. + +"Why were these prisoners not disarmed?" he asked to Kantos Kan. + +"They are not prisoners, Zat Arrras," replied the officer. + +"Two of them are of Helium's noblest family. Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of +Thark, is Tardos Mors' best beloved ally. The other is a friend and +companion of the Prince of Helium--that is enough for me to know." + +"It is not enough for me, however," retorted Zat Arrras. "More must I +hear from those who have taken the pilgrimage than their names. Where +have you been, John Carter?" + +"I have just come from the Valley Dor and the Land of the First Born, +Zat Arrras," I replied. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed in evident pleasure, "you do not deny it, then? You +have returned from the bosom of Iss?" + +"I have come back from a land of false hope, from a valley of torture +and death; with my companions I have escaped from the hideous clutches +of lying fiends. I have come back to the Barsoom that I saved from a +painless death to again save her, but this time from death in its most +frightful form." + +"Cease, blasphemer!" cried Zat Arrras. "Hope not to save thy cowardly +carcass by inventing horrid lies to--" But he got no further. One does +not call John Carter "coward" and "liar" thus lightly, and Zat Arrras +should have known it. Before a hand could be raised to stop me, I was +at his side and one hand grasped his throat. + +"Come I from heaven or hell, Zat Arrras, you will find me still the same +John Carter that I have always been; nor did ever man call me such +names and live--without apologizing." And with that I commenced to bend +him back across my knee and tighten my grip upon his throat. + +"Seize him!" cried Zat Arrras, and a dozen officers sprang forward to +assist him. + +Kantos Kan came close and whispered to me. + +"Desist, I beg of you. It will but involve us all, for I cannot see +these men lay hands upon you without aiding you. My officers and men +will join me and we shall have a mutiny then that may lead to the +revolution. For the sake of Tardos Mors and Helium, desist." + +At his words I released Zat Arrras and, turning my back upon him, walked +toward the ship's rail. + +"Come, Kantos Kan," I said, "the Prince of Helium would return to the +_Xavarian_." + +None interfered. Zat Arrras stood white and trembling amidst his +officers. Some there were who looked upon him with scorn and drew +toward me, while one, a man long in the service and confidence of +Tardos Mors, spoke to me in a low tone as I passed him. + +"You may count my metal among your fighting-men, John Carter," he said. + +I thanked him and passed on. In silence we embarked, and shortly after +stepped once more upon the deck of the _Xavarian_. Fifteen minutes later +we received orders from the flagship to proceed toward Helium. + +Our journey thither was uneventful. Carthoris and I were wrapped in +the gloomiest of thoughts. Kantos Kan was sombre in contemplation of +the further calamity that might fall upon Helium should Zat Arrras +attempt to follow the age-old precedent that allotted a terrible death +to fugitives from the Valley Dor. Tars Tarkas grieved for the loss of +his daughter. Xodar alone was care-free--a fugitive and outlaw, he +could be no worse off in Helium than elsewhere. + +"Let us hope that we may at least go out with good red blood upon our +blades," he said. It was a simple wish and one most likely to be +gratified. + +Among the officers of the _Xavarian_ I thought I could discern division +into factions ere we had reached Helium. There were those who gathered +about Carthoris and myself whenever the opportunity presented, while +about an equal number held aloof from us. They offered us only the +most courteous treatment, but were evidently bound by their +superstitious belief in the doctrine of Dor and Iss and Korus. I could +not blame them, for I knew how strong a hold a creed, however +ridiculous it may be, may gain upon an otherwise intelligent people. + +By returning from Dor we had committed a sacrilege; by recounting our +adventures there, and stating the facts as they existed we had outraged +the religion of their fathers. We were blasphemers--lying heretics. +Even those who still clung to us from personal love and loyalty I think +did so in the face of the fact that at heart they questioned our +veracity--it is very hard to accept a new religion for an old, no +matter how alluring the promises of the new may be; but to reject the +old as a tissue of falsehoods without being offered anything in its +stead is indeed a most difficult thing to ask of any people. + +Kantos Kan would not talk of our experiences among the therns and the +First Born. + +"It is enough," he said, "that I jeopardize my life here and hereafter +by countenancing you at all--do not ask me to add still further to my +sins by listening to what I have always been taught was the rankest +heresy." + +I knew that sooner or later the time must come when our friends and +enemies would be forced to declare themselves openly. When we reached +Helium there must be an accounting, and if Tardos Mors had not returned +I feared that the enmity of Zat Arrras might weigh heavily against us, +for he represented the government of Helium. To take sides against him +were equivalent to treason. The majority of the troops would doubtless +follow the lead of their officers, and I knew that many of the highest +and most powerful men of both land and air forces would cleave to John +Carter in the face of god, man, or devil. + +On the other hand, the majority of the populace unquestionably would +demand that we pay the penalty of our sacrilege. The outlook seemed +dark from whatever angle I viewed it, but my mind was so torn with +anguish at the thought of Dejah Thoris that I realize now that I gave +the terrible question of Helium's plight but scant attention at that +time. + +There was always before me, day and night, a horrible nightmare of the +frightful scenes through which I knew my Princess might even then be +passing--the horrid plant men--the ferocious white apes. At times I +would cover my face with my hands in a vain effort to shut out the +fearful thing from my mind. + +It was in the forenoon that we arrived above the mile-high scarlet +tower which marks greater Helium from her twin city. As we descended +in great circles toward the navy docks a mighty multitude could be seen +surging in the streets beneath. Helium had been notified by +radio-aerogram of our approach. + +From the deck of the _Xavarian_ we four, Carthoris, Tars Tarkas, Xodar, +and I, were transferred to a lesser flier to be transported to quarters +within the Temple of Reward. It is here that Martian justice is meted +to benefactor and malefactor. Here the hero is decorated. Here the +felon is condemned. We were taken into the temple from the landing +stage upon the roof, so that we did not pass among the people at all, +as is customary. Always before I had seen prisoners of note, or +returned wanderers of eminence, paraded from the Gate of Jeddaks to the +Temple of Reward up the broad Avenue of Ancestors through dense crowds +of jeering or cheering citizens. + +I knew that Zat Arrras dared not trust the people near to us, for he +feared that their love for Carthoris and myself might break into a +demonstration which would wipe out their superstitious horror of the +crime we were to be charged with. What his plans were I could only +guess, but that they were sinister was evidenced by the fact that only +his most trusted servitors accompanied us upon the flier to the Temple +of Reward. + +We were lodged in a room upon the south side of the temple, overlooking +the Avenue of Ancestors down which we could see the full length to the +Gate of Jeddaks, five miles away. The people in the temple plaza and +in the streets for a distance of a full mile were standing as close +packed as it was possible for them to get. They were very +orderly--there were neither scoffs nor plaudits, and when they saw us +at the window above them there were many who buried their faces in +their arms and wept. + +Late in the afternoon a messenger arrived from Zat Arrras to inform us +that we would be tried by an impartial body of nobles in the great hall +of the temple at the 1st zode* on the following day, or about 8:40 A.M. +Earth time. + + +*Wherever Captain Carter has used Martian measurements of time, +distance, weight, and the like I have translated them into as nearly +their equivalent in earthly values as is possible. His notes contain +many Martian tables, and a great volume of scientific data, but since +the International Astronomic Society is at present engaged in +classifying, investigating, and verifying this vast fund of remarkable +and valuable information, I have felt that it will add nothing to the +interest of Captain Carter's story or to the sum total of human +knowledge to maintain a strict adherence to the original manuscript in +these matters, while it might readily confuse the reader and detract +from the interest of the history. For those who may be interested, +however, I will explain that the Martian day is a trifle over 24 hours +37 minutes duration (Earth time). This the Martians divide into ten +equal parts, commencing the day at about 6 A.M. Earth time. The zodes +are divided into fifty shorter periods, each of which in turn is +composed of 200 brief periods of time, about equivalent to the earthly +second. The Barsoomian Table of Time as here given is but a part of +the full table appearing in Captain Carter's notes. + + TABLE + + 200 tals . . . . . . . . . 1 xat + 50 xats . . . . . . . . . 1 zode + 10 zodes . . . . . . . . 1 revolution of Mars upon its axis. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE DEATH SENTENCE + + +A few moments before the appointed time on the following morning a +strong guard of Zat Arrras' officers appeared at our quarters to conduct +us to the great hall of the temple. + +In twos we entered the chamber and marched down the broad Aisle of +Hope, as it is called, to the platform in the centre of the hall. +Before and behind us marched armed guards, while three solid ranks of +Zodangan soldiery lined either side of the aisle from the entrance to +the rostrum. + +As we reached the raised enclosure I saw our judges. As is the custom +upon Barsoom there were thirty-one, supposedly selected by lot from men +of the noble class, for nobles were on trial. But to my amazement I +saw no single friendly face among them. Practically all were +Zodangans, and it was I to whom Zodanga owed her defeat at the hands of +the green hordes and her subsequent vassalage to Helium. There could +be little justice here for John Carter, or his son, or for the great +Thark who had commanded the savage tribesmen who overran Zodanga's +broad avenues, looting, burning, and murdering. + +About us the vast circular coliseum was packed to its full capacity. +All classes were represented--all ages, and both sexes. As we entered +the hall the hum of subdued conversation ceased until as we halted upon +the platform, or Throne of Righteousness, the silence of death +enveloped the ten thousand spectators. + +The judges were seated in a great circle about the periphery of the +circular platform. We were assigned seats with our backs toward a +small platform in the exact centre of the larger one. This placed us +facing the judges and the audience. Upon the smaller platform each +would take his place while his case was being heard. + +Zat Arrras himself sat in the golden chair of the presiding magistrate. +As we were seated and our guards retired to the foot of the stairway +leading to the platform, he arose and called my name. + +"John Carter," he cried, "take your place upon the Pedestal of Truth to +be judged impartially according to your acts and here to know the +reward you have earned thereby." Then turning to and fro toward the +audience he narrated the acts upon the value of which my reward was to +be determined. + +"Know you, O judges and people of Helium," he said, "that John Carter, +one time Prince of Helium, has returned by his own statement from the +Valley Dor and even from the Temple of Issus itself. That, in the +presence of many men of Helium he has blasphemed against the Sacred +Iss, and against the Valley Dor, and the Lost Sea of Korus, and the +Holy Therns themselves, and even against Issus, Goddess of Death, and +of Life Eternal. And know you further by witness of thine own eyes +that see him here now upon the Pedestal of Truth that he has indeed +returned from these sacred precincts in the face of our ancient +customs, and in violation of the sanctity of our ancient religion. + +"He who be once dead may not live again. He who attempts it must be +made dead for ever. Judges, your duty lies plain before you--here can +be no testimony in contravention of truth. What reward shall be meted +to John Carter in accordance with the acts he has committed?" + +"Death!" shouted one of the judges. + +And then a man sprang to his feet in the audience, and raising his hand +on high, cried: "Justice! Justice! Justice!" It was Kantos Kan, and +as all eyes turned toward him he leaped past the Zodangan soldiery and +sprang upon the platform. + +"What manner of justice be this?" he cried to Zat Arrras. "The +defendant has not been heard, nor has he had an opportunity to call +others in his behalf. In the name of the people of Helium I demand +fair and impartial treatment for the Prince of Helium." + +A great cry arose from the audience then: "Justice! Justice! +Justice!" and Zat Arrras dared not deny them. + +"Speak, then," he snarled, turning to me; "but blaspheme not against +the things that are sacred upon Barsoom." + +"Men of Helium," I cried, turning to the spectators, and speaking over +the heads of my judges, "how can John Carter expect justice from the +men of Zodanga? He cannot nor does he ask it. It is to the men of +Helium that he states his case; nor does he appeal for mercy to any. +It is not in his own cause that he speaks now--it is in thine. In the +cause of your wives and daughters, and of wives and daughters yet +unborn. It is to save them from the unthinkably atrocious indignities +that I have seen heaped upon the fair women of Barsoom in the place men +call the Temple of Issus. It is to save them from the sucking embrace +of the plant men, from the fangs of the great white apes of Dor, from +the cruel lust of the Holy Therns, from all that the cold, dead Iss +carries them to from homes of love and life and happiness. + +"Sits there no man here who does not know the history of John Carter. +How he came among you from another world and rose from a prisoner among +the green men, through torture and persecution, to a place high among +the highest of Barsoom. Nor ever did you know John Carter to lie in +his own behalf, or to say aught that might harm the people of Barsoom, +or to speak lightly of the strange religion which he respected without +understanding. + +"There be no man here, or elsewhere upon Barsoom to-day who does not +owe his life directly to a single act of mine, in which I sacrificed +myself and the happiness of my Princess that you might live. And so, +men of Helium, I think that I have the right to demand that I be heard, +that I be believed, and that you let me serve you and save you from the +false hereafter of Dor and Issus as I saved you from the real death +that other day. + +"It is to you of Helium that I speak now. When I am done let the men +of Zodanga have their will with me. Zat Arrras has taken my sword from +me, so the men of Zodanga no longer fear me. Will you listen?" + +"Speak, John Carter, Prince of Helium," cried a great noble from the +audience, and the multitude echoed his permission, until the building +rocked with the noise of their demonstration. + +Zat Arrras knew better than to interfere with such a sentiment as was +expressed that day in the Temple of Reward, and so for two hours I +talked with the people of Helium. + +But when I had finished, Zat Arrras arose and, turning to the judges, +said in a low tone: "My nobles, you have heard John Carter's plea; +every opportunity has been given him to prove his innocence if he be +not guilty; but instead he has but utilized the time in further +blasphemy. What, gentlemen, is your verdict?" + +"Death to the blasphemer!" cried one, springing to his feet, and in an +instant the entire thirty-one judges were on their feet with upraised +swords in token of the unanimity of their verdict. + +If the people did not hear Zat Arrras' charge, they certainly did hear +the verdict of the tribunal. A sullen murmur rose louder and louder +about the packed coliseum, and then Kantos Kan, who had not left the +platform since first he had taken his place near me, raised his hand +for silence. When he could be heard he spoke to the people in a cool +and level voice. + +"You have heard the fate that the men of Zodanga would mete to Helium's +noblest hero. It may be the duty of the men of Helium to accept the +verdict as final. Let each man act according to his own heart. Here +is the answer of Kantos Kan, head of the navy of Helium, to Zat Arrras +and his judges," and with that he unbuckled his scabbard and threw his +sword at my feet. + +In an instant soldiers and citizens, officers and nobles were crowding +past the soldiers of Zodanga and forcing their way to the Throne of +Righteousness. A hundred men surged up on the platform, and a hundred +blades rattled and clanked to the floor at my feet. Zat Arrras and his +officers were furious, but they were helpless. One by one I raised the +swords to my lips and buckled them again upon their owners. + +"Come," said Kantos Kan, "we will escort John Carter and his party to +his own palace," and they formed about us and started toward the stairs +leading to the Aisle of Hope. + +"Stop!" cried Zat Arrras. "Soldiers of Helium, let no prisoner leave +the Throne of Righteousness." + +The soldiery from Zodanga were the only organized body of Heliumetic +troops within the temple, so Zat Arrras was confident that his orders +would be obeyed, but I do not think that he looked for the opposition +that was raised the moment the soldiers advanced toward the throne. + +From every quarter of the coliseum swords flashed and men rushed +threateningly upon the Zodangans. Some one raised a cry: "Tardos Mors +is dead--a thousand years to John Carter, Jeddak of Helium." As I heard +that and saw the ugly attitude of the men of Helium toward the soldiers +of Zat Arrras, I knew that only a miracle could avert a clash that would +end in civil war. + +"Hold!" I cried, leaping to the Pedestal of Truth once more. "Let no +man move till I am done. A single sword thrust here to-day may plunge +Helium into a bitter and bloody war the results of which none can +foresee. It will turn brother against brother and father against son. +No man's life is worth that sacrifice. Rather would I submit to the +biased judgment of Zat Arrras than be the cause of civil strife in +Helium. + +"Let us each give in a point to the other, and let this entire matter +rest until Tardos Mors returns, or Mors Kajak, his son. If neither be +back at the end of a year a second trial may be held--the thing has a +precedent." And then turning to Zat Arrras, I said in a low voice: +"Unless you be a bigger fool than I take you to be, you will grasp the +chance I am offering you ere it is too late. Once that multitude of +swords below is drawn against your soldiery no man upon Barsoom--not +even Tardos Mors himself--can avert the consequences. What say you? +Speak quickly." + +The Jed of Zodangan Helium raised his voice to the angry sea beneath us. + +"Stay your hands, men of Helium," he shouted, his voice trembling with +rage. "The sentence of the court is passed, but the day of retribution +has not been set. I, Zat Arrras, Jed of Zodanga, appreciating the royal +connections of the prisoner and his past services to Helium and +Barsoom, grant a respite of one year, or until the return of Mors +Kajak, or Tardos Mors to Helium. Disperse quietly to your houses. Go." + +No one moved. Instead, they stood in tense silence with their eyes +fastened upon me, as though waiting for a signal to attack. + +"Clear the temple," commanded Zat Arrras, in a low tone to one of his +officers. + +Fearing the result of an attempt to carry out this order by force, I +stepped to the edge of the platform and, pointing toward the main +entrance, bid them pass out. As one man they turned at my request and +filed, silent and threatening, past the soldiers of Zat Arrras, Jed of +Zodanga, who stood scowling in impotent rage. + +Kantos Kan with the others who had sworn allegiance to me still stood +upon the Throne of Righteousness with me. + +"Come," said Kantos Kan to me, "we will escort you to your palace, my +Prince. Come, Carthoris and Xodar. Come, Tars Tarkas." And with a +haughty sneer for Zat Arrras upon his handsome lips, he turned and +strode to the throne steps and up the Aisle of Hope. We four and the +hundred loyal ones followed behind him, nor was a hand raised to stay +us, though glowering eyes followed our triumphal march through the +temple. + +In the avenues we found a press of people, but they opened a pathway +for us, and many were the swords that were flung at my feet as I passed +through the city of Helium toward my palace upon the outskirts. Here +my old slaves fell upon their knees and kissed my hands as I greeted +them. They cared not where I had been. It was enough that I had +returned to them. + +"Ah, master," cried one, "if our divine Princess were but here this +would be a day indeed." + +Tears came to my eyes, so that I was forced to turn away that I might +hide my emotions. Carthoris wept openly as the slaves pressed about +him with expressions of affection, and words of sorrow for our common +loss. It was now that Tars Tarkas for the first time learned that his +daughter, Sola, had accompanied Dejah Thoris upon the last long +pilgrimage. I had not had the heart to tell him what Kantos Kan had +told me. With the stoicism of the green Martian he showed no sign of +suffering, yet I knew that his grief was as poignant as my own. In +marked contrast to his kind, he had in well-developed form the kindlier +human characteristics of love, friendship, and charity. + +It was a sad and sombre party that sat at the feast of welcome in the +great dining hall of the palace of the Prince of Helium that day. We +were over a hundred strong, not counting the members of my little +court, for Dejah Thoris and I had maintained a household consistent +with our royal rank. + +The board, according to red Martian custom, was triangular, for there +were three in our family. Carthoris and I presided in the centre of +our sides of the table--midway of the third side Dejah Thoris' +high-backed, carven chair stood vacant except for her gorgeous wedding +trappings and jewels which were draped upon it. Behind stood a slave +as in the days when his mistress had occupied her place at the board, +ready to do her bidding. It was the way upon Barsoom, so I endured the +anguish of it, though it wrung my heart to see that silent chair where +should have been my laughing and vivacious Princess keeping the great +hall ringing with her merry gaiety. + +At my right sat Kantos Kan, while to the right of Dejah Thoris' empty +place Tars Tarkas sat in a huge chair before a raised section of the +board which years ago I had had constructed to meet the requirements of +his mighty bulk. The place of honour at a Martian hoard is always at +the hostess's right, and this place was ever reserved by Dejah Thoris +for the great Thark upon the occasions that he was in Helium. + +Hor Vastus sat in the seat of honour upon Carthoris' side of the table. +There was little general conversation. It was a quiet and saddened +party. The loss of Dejah Thoris was still fresh in the minds of all, +and to this was added fear for the safety of Tardos Mors and Mors +Kajak, as well as doubt and uncertainty as to the fate of Helium, +should it prove true that she was permanently deprived of her great +Jeddak. + +Suddenly our attention was attracted by the sound of distant shouting, +as of many people raising their voices at once, but whether in anger or +rejoicing, we could not tell. Nearer and nearer came the tumult. A +slave rushed into the dining hall to cry that a great concourse of +people was swarming through the palace gates. A second burst upon the +heels of the first alternately laughing and shrieking as a madman. + +"Dejah Thoris is found!" he cried. "A messenger from Dejah Thoris!" + +I waited to hear no more. The great windows of the dining hall +overlooked the avenue leading to the main gates--they were upon the +opposite side of the hall from me with the table intervening. I did +not waste time in circling the great board--with a single leap I +cleared table and diners and sprang upon the balcony beyond. Thirty +feet below lay the scarlet sward of the lawn and beyond were many +people crowding about a great thoat which bore a rider headed toward +the palace. I vaulted to the ground below and ran swiftly toward the +advancing party. + +As I came near to them I saw that the figure on the thoat was Sola. + +"Where is the Princess of Helium?" I cried. + +The green girl slid from her mighty mount and ran toward me. + +"O my Prince! My Prince!" she cried. "She is gone for ever. Even now +she may be a captive upon the lesser moon. The black pirates of +Barsoom have stolen her." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +SOLA'S STORY + + +Once within the palace, I drew Sola to the dining hall, and, when she +had greeted her father after the formal manner of the green men, she +told the story of the pilgrimage and capture of Dejah Thoris. + +"Seven days ago, after her audience with Zat Arrras, Dejah Thoris +attempted to slip from the palace in the dead of night. Although I had +not heard the outcome of her interview with Zat Arrras I knew that +something had occurred then to cause her the keenest mental agony, and +when I discovered her creeping from the palace I did not need to be +told her destination. + +"Hastily arousing a dozen of her most faithful guards, I explained my +fears to them, and as one they enlisted with me to follow our beloved +Princess in her wanderings, even to the Sacred Iss and the Valley Dor. +We came upon her but a short distance from the palace. With her was +faithful Woola the hound, but none other. When we overtook her she +feigned anger, and ordered us back to the palace, but for once we +disobeyed her, and when she found that we would not let her go upon the +last long pilgrimage alone, she wept and embraced us, and together we +went out into the night toward the south. + +"The following day we came upon a herd of small thoats, and thereafter +we were mounted and made good time. We travelled very fast and very +far due south until the morning of the fifth day we sighted a great +fleet of battleships sailing north. They saw us before we could seek +shelter, and soon we were surrounded by a horde of black men. The +Princess's guard fought nobly to the end, but they were soon overcome +and slain. Only Dejah Thoris and I were spared. + +"When she realized that she was in the clutches of the black pirates, +she attempted to take her own life, but one of the blacks tore her +dagger from her, and then they bound us both so that we could not use +our hands. + +"The fleet continued north after capturing us. There were about twenty +large battleships in all, besides a number of small swift cruisers. +That evening one of the smaller cruisers that had been far in advance +of the fleet returned with a prisoner--a young red woman whom they had +picked up in a range of hills under the very noses, they said, of a +fleet of three red Martian battleships. + +"From scraps of conversation which we overheard it was evident that the +black pirates were searching for a party of fugitives that had escaped +them several days prior. That they considered the capture of the young +woman important was evident from the long and earnest interview the +commander of the fleet held with her when she was brought to him. +Later she was bound and placed in the compartment with Dejah Thoris and +myself. + +"The new captive was a very beautiful girl. She told Dejah Thoris that +many years ago she had taken the voluntary pilgrimage from the court of +her father, the Jeddak of Ptarth. She was Thuvia, the Princess of +Ptarth. And then she asked Dejah Thoris who she might be, and when she +heard she fell upon her knees and kissed Dejah Thoris' fettered hands, +and told her that that very morning she had been with John Carter, +Prince of Helium, and Carthoris, her son. + +"Dejah Thoris could not believe her at first, but finally when the girl +had narrated all the strange adventures that had befallen her since she +had met John Carter, and told her of the things John Carter, and +Carthoris, and Xodar had narrated of their adventures in the Land of +the First Born, Dejah Thoris knew that it could be none other than the +Prince of Helium; 'For who,' she said, 'upon all Barsoom other than +John Carter could have done the deeds you tell of.' And when Thuvia +told Dejah Thoris of her love for John Carter, and his loyalty and +devotion to the Princess of his choice, Dejah Thoris broke down and +wept--cursing Zat Arrras and the cruel fate that had driven her from +Helium but a few brief days before the return of her beloved lord. + +"'I do not blame you for loving him, Thuvia,' she said; 'and that your +affection for him is pure and sincere I can well believe from the +candour of your avowal of it to me.' + +"The fleet continued north nearly to Helium, but last night they +evidently realized that John Carter had indeed escaped them and so they +turned toward the south once more. Shortly thereafter a guard entered +our compartment and dragged me to the deck. + +"'There is no place in the Land of the First Born for a green one,' he +said, and with that he gave me a terrific shove that carried me +toppling from the deck of the battleship. Evidently this seemed to him +the easiest way of ridding the vessel of my presence and killing me at +the same time. + +"But a kind fate intervened, and by a miracle I escaped with but slight +bruises. The ship was moving slowly at the time, and as I lunged +overboard into the darkness beneath I shuddered at the awful plunge I +thought awaited me, for all day the fleet had sailed thousands of feet +above the ground; but to my utter surprise I struck upon a soft mass of +vegetation not twenty feet from the deck of the ship. In fact, the +keel of the vessel must have been grazing the surface of the ground at +the time. + +"I lay all night where I had fallen and the next morning brought an +explanation of the fortunate coincidence that had saved me from a +terrible death. As the sun rose I saw a vast panorama of sea bottom +and distant hills lying far below me. I was upon the highest peak of a +lofty range. The fleet in the darkness of the preceding night had +barely grazed the crest of the hills, and in the brief span that they +hovered close to the surface the black guard had pitched me, as he +supposed, to my death. + +"A few miles west of me was a great waterway. When I reached it I +found to my delight that it belonged to Helium. Here a thoat was +procured for me--the rest you know." + +For many minutes none spoke. Dejah Thoris in the clutches of the First +Born! I shuddered at the thought, but of a sudden the old fire of +unconquerable self-confidence surged through me. I sprang to my feet, +and with back-thrown shoulders and upraised sword took a solemn vow to +reach, rescue, and revenge my Princess. + +A hundred swords leaped from a hundred scabbards, and a hundred +fighting-men sprang to the table-top and pledged me their lives and +fortunes to the expedition. Already my plans were formulated. I +thanked each loyal friend, and leaving Carthoris to entertain them, +withdrew to my own audience chamber with Kantos Kan, Tars Tarkas, +Xodar, and Hor Vastus. + +Here we discussed the details of our expedition until long after dark. +Xodar was positive that Issus would choose both Dejah Thoris and Thuvia +to serve her for a year. + +"For that length of time at least they will be comparatively safe," he +said, "and we will at least know where to look for them." + +In the matter of equipping a fleet to enter Omean the details were left +to Kantos Kan and Xodar. The former agreed to take such vessels as we +required into dock as rapidly as possible, where Xodar would direct +their equipment with water propellers. + +For many years the black had been in charge of the refitting of +captured battleships that they might navigate Omean, and so was +familiar with the construction of the propellers, housings, and the +auxiliary gearing required. + +It was estimated that it would require six months to complete our +preparations in view of the fact that the utmost secrecy must be +maintained to keep the project from the ears of Zat Arrras. Kantos Kan +was confident now that the man's ambitions were fully aroused and that +nothing short of the title of Jeddak of Helium would satisfy him. + +"I doubt," he said, "if he would even welcome Dejah Thoris' return, for +it would mean another nearer the throne than he. With you and +Carthoris out of the way there would be little to prevent him from +assuming the title of Jeddak, and you may rest assured that so long as +he is supreme here there is no safety for either of you." + +"There is a way," cried Hor Vastus, "to thwart him effectually and for +ever." + +"What?" I asked. + +He smiled. + +"I shall whisper it here, but some day I shall stand upon the dome of +the Temple of Reward and shout it to cheering multitudes below." + +"What do you mean?" asked Kantos Kan. + +"John Carter, Jeddak of Helium," said Hor Vastus in a low voice. + +The eyes of my companions lighted, and grim smiles of pleasure and +anticipation overspread their faces, as each eye turned toward me +questioningly. But I shook my head. + +"No, my friends," I said, smiling, "I thank you, but it cannot be. Not +yet, at least. When we know that Tardos Mors and Mors Kajak are gone +to return no more; if I be here, then I shall join you all to see that +the people of Helium are permitted to choose fairly their next Jeddak. +Whom they choose may count upon the loyalty of my sword, nor shall I +seek the honour for myself. Until then Tardos Mors is Jeddak of +Helium, and Zat Arrras is his representative." + +"As you will, John Carter," said Hor Vastus, "but--What was that?" he +whispered, pointing toward the window overlooking the gardens. + +The words were scarce out of his mouth ere he had sprung to the balcony +without. + +"There he goes!" he cried excitedly. "The guards! Below there! The +guards!" + +We were close behind him, and all saw the figure of a man run quickly +across a little piece of sward and disappear in the shrubbery beyond. + +"He was on the balcony when I first saw him," cried Hor Vastus. +"Quick! Let us follow him!" + +Together we ran to the gardens, but even though we scoured the grounds +with the entire guard for hours, no trace could we find of the night +marauder. + +"What do you make of it, Kantos Kan?" asked Tars Tarkas. + +"A spy sent by Zat Arrras," he replied. "It was ever his way." + +"He will have something interesting to report to his master then," +laughed Hor Vastus. + +"I hope he heard only our references to a new Jeddak," I said. "If he +overheard our plans to rescue Dejah Thoris, it will mean civil war, for +he will attempt to thwart us, and in that I will not be thwarted. +There would I turn against Tardos Mors himself, were it necessary. If +it throws all Helium into a bloody conflict, I shall go on with these +plans to save my Princess. Nothing shall stay me now short of death, +and should I die, my friends, will you take oath to prosecute the +search for her and bring her back in safety to her grandfather's court?" + +Upon the hilt of his sword each of them swore to do as I had asked. + +It was agreed that the battleships that were to be remodelled should be +ordered to Hastor, another Heliumetic city, far to the south-west. +Kantos Kan thought that the docks there, in addition to their regular +work, would accommodate at least six battleships at a time. As he was +commander-in-chief of the navy, it would be a simple matter for him to +order the vessels there as they could be handled, and thereafter keep +the remodelled fleet in remote parts of the empire until we should be +ready to assemble it for the dash upon Omean. + +It was late that night before our conference broke up, but each man +there had his particular duties outlined, and the details of the entire +plan had been mapped out. + +Kantos Kan and Xodar were to attend to the remodelling of the ships. +Tars Tarkas was to get into communication with Thark and learn the +sentiments of his people toward his return from Dor. If favourable, he +was to repair immediately to Thark and devote his time to the +assembling of a great horde of green warriors whom it was our plan to +send in transports directly to the Valley Dor and the Temple of Issus, +while the fleet entered Omean and destroyed the vessels of the First +Born. + +Upon Hor Vastus devolved the delicate mission of organising a secret +force of fighting-men sworn to follow John Carter wherever he might +lead. As we estimated that it would require over a million men to man +the thousand great battleships we intended to use on Omean and the +transports for the green men as well as the ships that were to convoy +the transports, it was no trifling job that Hor Vastus had before him. + +After they had left I bid Carthoris good-night, for I was very tired, +and going to my own apartments, bathed and lay down upon my sleeping +silks and furs for the first good night's sleep I had had an +opportunity to look forward to since I had returned to Barsoom. But +even now I was to be disappointed. + +How long I slept I do not know. When I awoke suddenly it was to find a +half-dozen powerful men upon me, a gag already in my mouth, and a +moment later my arms and legs securely bound. So quickly had they +worked and to such good purpose, that I was utterly beyond the power to +resist them by the time I was fully awake. + +Never a word spoke they, and the gag effectually prevented me speaking. +Silently they lifted me and bore me toward the door of my chamber. As +they passed the window through which the farther moon was casting its +brilliant beams, I saw that each of the party had his face swathed in +layers of silk--I could not recognize one of them. + +When they had come into the corridor with me, they turned toward a +secret panel in the wall which led to the passage that terminated in +the pits beneath the palace. That any knew of this panel outside my +own household, I was doubtful. Yet the leader of the band did not +hesitate a moment. He stepped directly to the panel, touched the +concealed button, and as the door swung open he stood aside while his +companions entered with me. Then he closed the panel behind him and +followed us. + +Down through the passageways to the pits we went. The leader rapped +upon it with the hilt of his sword--three quick, sharp blows, a pause, +then three more, another pause, and then two. A second later the wall +swung in, and I was pushed within a brilliantly lighted chamber in +which sat three richly trapped men. + +One of them turned toward me with a sardonic smile upon his thin, cruel +lips--it was Zat Arrras. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +BLACK DESPAIR + + +"Ah," said Zat Arrras, "to what kindly circumstance am I indebted for +the pleasure of this unexpected visit from the Prince of Helium?" + +While he was speaking, one of my guards had removed the gag from my +mouth, but I made no reply to Zat Arrras: simply standing there in +silence with level gaze fixed upon the Jed of Zodanga. And I doubt not +that my expression was coloured by the contempt I felt for the man. + +The eyes of those within the chamber were fixed first upon me and then +upon Zat Arrras, until finally a flush of anger crept slowly over his +face. + +"You may go," he said to those who had brought me, and when only his +two companions and ourselves were left in the chamber, he spoke to me +again in a voice of ice--very slowly and deliberately, with many +pauses, as though he would choose his words cautiously. + +"John Carter," he said, "by the edict of custom, by the law of our +religion, and by the verdict of an impartial court, you are condemned +to die. The people cannot save you--I alone may accomplish that. You +are absolutely in my power to do with as I wish--I may kill you, or I +may free you, and should I elect to kill you, none would be the wiser. + +"Should you go free in Helium for a year, in accordance with the +conditions of your reprieve, there is little fear that the people would +ever insist upon the execution of the sentence imposed upon you. + +"You may go free within two minutes, upon one condition. Tardos Mors +will never return to Helium. Neither will Mors Kajak, nor Dejah +Thoris. Helium must select a new Jeddak within the year. Zat Arrras +would be Jeddak of Helium. Say that you will espouse my cause. This +is the price of your freedom. I am done." + +I knew it was within the scope of Zat Arrras' cruel heart to destroy me, +and if I were dead I could see little reason to doubt that he might +easily become Jeddak of Helium. Free, I could prosecute the search for +Dejah Thoris. Were I dead, my brave comrades might not be able to +carry out our plans. So, by refusing to accede to his request, it was +quite probable that not only would I not prevent him from becoming +Jeddak of Helium, but that I would be the means of sealing Dejah +Thoris' fate--of consigning her, through my refusal, to the horrors of +the arena of Issus. + +For a moment I was perplexed, but for a moment only. The proud +daughter of a thousand Jeddaks would choose death to a dishonorable +alliance such as this, nor could John Carter do less for Helium than +his Princess would do. + +Then I turned to Zat Arrras. + +"There can be no alliance," I said, "between a traitor to Helium and a +prince of the House of Tardos Mors. I do not believe, Zat Arrras, that +the great Jeddak is dead." + +Zat Arrras shrugged his shoulders. + +"It will not be long, John Carter," he said, "that your opinions will +be of interest even to yourself, so make the best of them while you +can. Zat Arrras will permit you in due time to reflect further upon the +magnanimous offer he has made you. Into the silence and darkness of +the pits you will enter upon your reflection this night with the +knowledge that should you fail within a reasonable time to agree to the +alternative which has been offered you, never shall you emerge from the +darkness and the silence again. Nor shall you know at what minute the +hand will reach out through the darkness and the silence with the keen +dagger that shall rob you of your last chance to win again the warmth +and the freedom and joyousness of the outer world." + +Zat Arrras clapped his hands as he ceased speaking. The guards returned. + +Zat Arrras waved his hand in my direction. + +"To the pits," he said. That was all. Four men accompanied me from +the chamber, and with a radium hand-light to illumine the way, escorted +me through seemingly interminable tunnels, down, ever down beneath the +city of Helium. + +At length they halted within a fair-sized chamber. There were rings +set in the rocky walls. To them chains were fastened, and at the ends +of many of the chains were human skeletons. One of these they kicked +aside, and, unlocking the huge padlock that had held a chain about what +had once been a human ankle, they snapped the iron band about my own +leg. Then they left me, taking the light with them. + +Utter darkness prevailed. For a few minutes I could hear the clanking +of accoutrements, but even this grew fainter and fainter, until at last +the silence was as complete as the darkness. I was alone with my +gruesome companions--with the bones of dead men whose fate was likely +but the index of my own. + +How long I stood listening in the darkness I do not know, but the +silence was unbroken, and at last I sunk to the hard floor of my +prison, where, leaning my head against the stony wall, I slept. + +It must have been several hours later that I awakened to find a young +man standing before me. In one hand he bore a light, in the other a +receptacle containing a gruel-like mixture--the common prison fare of +Barsoom. + +"Zat Arrras sends you greetings," said the young man, "and commands me +to inform you that though he is fully advised of the plot to make you +Jeddak of Helium, he is, however, not inclined to withdraw the offer +which he has made you. To gain your freedom you have but to request me +to advise Zat Arrras that you accept the terms of his proposition." + +I but shook my head. The youth said no more, and, after placing the +food upon the floor at my side, returned up the corridor, taking the +light with him. + +Twice a day for many days this youth came to my cell with food, and +ever the same greetings from Zat Arrras. For a long time I tried to +engage him in conversation upon other matters, but he would not talk, +and so, at length, I desisted. + +For months I sought to devise methods to inform Carthoris of my +whereabouts. For months I scraped and scraped upon a single link of +the massive chain which held me, hoping eventually to wear it through, +that I might follow the youth back through the winding tunnels to a +point where I could make a break for liberty. + +I was beside myself with anxiety for knowledge of the progress of the +expedition which was to rescue Dejah Thoris. I felt that Carthoris +would not let the matter drop, were he free to act, but in so far as I +knew, he also might be a prisoner in Zat Arrras' pits. + +That Zat Arrras' spy had overheard our conversation relative to the +selection of a new Jeddak, I knew, and scarcely a half-dozen minutes +prior we had discussed the details of the plan to rescue Dejah Thoris. +The chances were that that matter, too, was well known to him. +Carthoris, Kantos Kan, Tars Tarkas, Hor Vastus, and Xodar might even +now be the victims of Zat Arrras' assassins, or else his prisoners. + +I determined to make at least one more effort to learn something, and +to this end I adopted strategy when next the youth came to my cell. I +had noticed that he was a handsome fellow, about the size and age of +Carthoris. And I had also noticed that his shabby trappings but illy +comported with his dignified and noble bearing. + +It was with these observations as a basis that I opened my negotiations +with him upon his next subsequent visit. + +"You have been very kind to me during my imprisonment here," I said to +him, "and as I feel that I have at best but a very short time to live, +I wish, ere it is too late, to furnish substantial testimony of my +appreciation of all that you have done to render my imprisonment +bearable. + +"Promptly you have brought my food each day, seeing that it was pure +and of sufficient quantity. Never by word or deed have you attempted +to take advantage of my defenceless condition to insult or torture me. +You have been uniformly courteous and considerate--it is this more than +any other thing which prompts my feeling of gratitude and my desire to +give you some slight token of it. + +"In the guard-room of my palace are many fine trappings. Go thou there +and select the harness which most pleases you--it shall be yours. All +I ask is that you wear it, that I may know that my wish has been +realized. Tell me that you will do it." + +The boy's eyes had lighted with pleasure as I spoke, and I saw him +glance from his rusty trappings to the magnificence of my own. For a +moment he stood in thought before he spoke, and for that moment my +heart fairly ceased beating--so much for me there was which hung upon +the substance of his answer. + +"And I went to the palace of the Prince of Helium with any such demand, +they would laugh at me and, into the bargain, would more than likely +throw me headforemost into the avenue. No, it cannot be, though I +thank you for the offer. Why, if Zat Arrras even dreamed that I +contemplated such a thing he would have my heart cut out of me." + +"There can be no harm in it, my boy," I urged. "By night you may go to +my palace with a note from me to Carthoris, my son. You may read the +note before you deliver it, that you may know that it contains nothing +harmful to Zat Arrras. My son will be discreet, and so none but us +three need know. It is very simple, and such a harmless act that it +could be condemned by no one." + +Again he stood silently in deep thought. + +"And there is a jewelled short-sword which I took from the body of a +northern Jeddak. When you get the harness, see that Carthoris gives +you that also. With it and the harness which you may select there will +be no more handsomely accoutred warrior in all Zodanga. + +"Bring writing materials when you come next to my cell, and within a +few hours we shall see you garbed in a style befitting your birth and +carriage." + +Still in thought, and without speaking, he turned and left me. I could +not guess what his decision might be, and for hours I sat fretting over +the outcome of the matter. + +If he accepted a message to Carthoris it would mean to me that +Carthoris still lived and was free. If the youth returned wearing the +harness and the sword, I would know that Carthoris had received my note +and that he knew that I still lived. That the bearer of the note was a +Zodangan would be sufficient to explain to Carthoris that I was a +prisoner of Zat Arrras. + +It was with feelings of excited expectancy which I could scarce hide +that I heard the youth's approach upon the occasion of his next regular +visit. I did not speak beyond my accustomed greeting of him. As he +placed the food upon the floor by my side he also deposited writing +materials at the same time. + +My heart fairly bounded for joy. I had won my point. For a moment I +looked at the materials in feigned surprise, but soon I permitted an +expression of dawning comprehension to come into my face, and then, +picking them up, I penned a brief order to Carthoris to deliver to +Parthak a harness of his selection and the short-sword which I +described. That was all. But it meant everything to me and to +Carthoris. + +I laid the note open upon the floor. Parthak picked it up and, without +a word, left me. + +As nearly as I could estimate, I had at this time been in the pits for +three hundred days. If anything was to be done to save Dejah Thoris it +must be done quickly, for, were she not already dead, her end must soon +come, since those whom Issus chose lived but a single year. + +The next time I heard approaching footsteps I could scarce await to see +if Parthak wore the harness and the sword, but judge, if you can, my +chagrin and disappointment when I saw that he who bore my food was not +Parthak. + +"What has become of Parthak?" I asked, but the fellow would not answer, +and as soon as he had deposited my food, turned and retraced his steps +to the world above. + +Days came and went, and still my new jailer continued his duties, nor +would he ever speak a word to me, either in reply to the simplest +question or of his own initiative. + +I could only speculate on the cause of Parthak's removal, but that it +was connected in some way directly with the note I had given him was +most apparent to me. After all my rejoicing, I was no better off than +before, for now I did not even know that Carthoris lived, for if +Parthak had wished to raise himself in the estimation of Zat Arrras he +would have permitted me to go on precisely as I did, so that he could +carry my note to his master, in proof of his own loyalty and devotion. + +Thirty days had passed since I had given the youth the note. Three +hundred and thirty days had passed since my incarceration. As closely +as I could figure, there remained a bare thirty days ere Dejah Thoris +would be ordered to the arena for the rites of Issus. + +As the terrible picture forced itself vividly across my imagination, I +buried my face in my arms, and only with the greatest difficulty was it +that I repressed the tears that welled to my eyes despite my every +effort. To think of that beautiful creature torn and rended by the +cruel fangs of the hideous white apes! It was unthinkable. Such a +horrid fact could not be; and yet my reason told me that within thirty +days my incomparable Princess would be fought over in the arena of the +First Born by those very wild beasts; that her bleeding corpse would be +dragged through the dirt and the dust, until at last a part of it would +be rescued to be served as food upon the tables of the black nobles. + +I think that I should have gone crazy but for the sound of my +approaching jailer. It distracted my attention from the terrible +thoughts that had been occupying my entire mind. Now a new and grim +determination came to me. I would make one super-human effort to +escape. Kill my jailer by a ruse, and trust to fate to lead me to the +outer world in safety. + +With the thought came instant action. I threw myself upon the floor of +my cell close by the wall, in a strained and distorted posture, as +though I were dead after a struggle or convulsions. When he should +stoop over me I had but to grasp his throat with one hand and strike +him a terrific blow with the slack of my chain, which I gripped firmly +in my right hand for the purpose. + +Nearer and nearer came the doomed man. Now I heard him halt before me. +There was a muttered exclamation, and then a step as he came to my +side. I felt him kneel beside me. My grip tightened upon the chain. +He leaned close to me. I must open my eyes to find his throat, grasp +it, and strike one mighty final blow all at the same instant. + +The thing worked just as I had planned. So brief was the interval +between the opening of my eyes and the fall of the chain that I could +not check it, though in that minute interval I recognized the face so +close to mine as that of my son, Carthoris. + +God! What cruel and malign fate had worked to such a frightful end! +What devious chain of circumstances had led my boy to my side at this +one particular minute of our lives when I could strike him down and +kill him, in ignorance of his identity! A benign though tardy +Providence blurred my vision and my mind as I sank into unconsciousness +across the lifeless body of my only son. + +When I regained consciousness it was to feel a cool, firm hand pressed +upon my forehead. For an instant I did not open my eyes. I was +endeavouring to gather the loose ends of many thoughts and memories +which flitted elusively through my tired and overwrought brain. + +At length came the cruel recollection of the thing that I had done in +my last conscious act, and then I dared not to open my eyes for fear of +what I should see lying beside me. I wondered who it could be who +ministered to me. Carthoris must have had a companion whom I had not +seen. Well, I must face the inevitable some time, so why not now, and +with a sigh I opened my eyes. + +Leaning over me was Carthoris, a great bruise upon his forehead where +the chain had struck, but alive, thank God, alive! There was no one +with him. Reaching out my arms, I took my boy within them, and if ever +there arose from any planet a fervent prayer of gratitude, it was there +beneath the crust of dying Mars as I thanked the Eternal Mystery for my +son's life. + +The brief instant in which I had seen and recognized Carthoris before +the chain fell must have been ample to check the force of the blow. He +told me that he had lain unconscious for a time--how long he did not +know. + +"How came you here at all?" I asked, mystified that he had found me +without a guide. + +"It was by your wit in apprising me of your existence and imprisonment +through the youth, Parthak. Until he came for his harness and his +sword, we had thought you dead. When I had read your note I did as you +had bid, giving Parthak his choice of the harnesses in the guardroom, +and later bringing the jewelled short-sword to him; but the minute that +I had fulfilled the promise you evidently had made him, my obligation +to him ceased. Then I commenced to question him, but he would give me +no information as to your whereabouts. He was intensely loyal to Zat +Arrras. + +"Finally I gave him a fair choice between freedom and the pits beneath +the palace--the price of freedom to be full information as to where you +were imprisoned and directions which would lead us to you; but still he +maintained his stubborn partisanship. Despairing, I had him removed to +the pits, where he still is. + +"No threats of torture or death, no bribes, however fabulous, would +move him. His only reply to all our importunities was that whenever +Parthak died, were it to-morrow or a thousand years hence, no man could +truly say, 'A traitor is gone to his deserts.' + +"Finally, Xodar, who is a fiend for subtle craftiness, evolved a plan +whereby we might worm the information from him. And so I caused Hor +Vastus to be harnessed in the metal of a Zodangan soldier and chained +in Parthak's cell beside him. For fifteen days the noble Hor Vastus +has languished in the darkness of the pits, but not in vain. Little by +little he won the confidence and friendship of the Zodangan, until only +to-day Parthak, thinking that he was speaking not only to a countryman, +but to a dear friend, revealed to Hor Vastus the exact cell in which +you lay. + +"It took me but a short time to locate the plans of the pits of Helium +among the official papers. To come to you, though, was a trifle more +difficult matter. As you know, while all the pits beneath the city are +connected, there are but single entrances from those beneath each +section and its neighbour, and that at the upper level just underneath +the ground. + +"Of course, these openings which lead from contiguous pits to those +beneath government buildings are always guarded, and so, while I easily +came to the entrance to the pits beneath the palace which Zat Arrras is +occupying, I found there a Zodangan soldier on guard. There I left him +when I had gone by, but his soul was no longer with him. + +"And here I am, just in time to be nearly killed by you," he ended, +laughing. + +As he talked Carthoris had been working at the lock which held my +fetters, and now, with an exclamation of pleasure, he dropped the end +of the chain to the floor, and I stood up once more, freed from the +galling irons I had chafed in for almost a year. + +He had brought a long-sword and a dagger for me, and thus armed we set +out upon the return journey to my palace. + +At the point where we left the pits of Zat Arrras we found the body of +the guard Carthoris had slain. It had not yet been discovered, and, in +order to still further delay search and mystify the jed's people, we +carried the body with us for a short distance, hiding it in a tiny cell +off the main corridor of the pits beneath an adjoining estate. + +Some half-hour later we came to the pits beneath our own palace, and +soon thereafter emerged into the audience chamber itself, where we +found Kantos Kan, Tars Tarkas, Hor Vastus, and Xodar awaiting us most +impatiently. + +No time was lost in fruitless recounting of my imprisonment. What I +desired to know was how well the plans we had laid nearly a year ago +had been carried out. + +"It has taken much longer than we had expected," replied Kantos Kan. +"The fact that we were compelled to maintain utter secrecy has +handicapped us terribly. Zat Arrras' spies are everywhere. Yet, to the +best of my knowledge, no word of our real plans has reached the +villain's ear. + +"To-night there lies about the great docks at Hastor a fleet of a +thousand of the mightiest battleships that ever sailed above Barsoom, +and each equipped to navigate the air of Omean and the waters of Omean +itself. Upon each battleship there are five ten-man cruisers, and ten +five-man scouts, and a hundred one-man scouts; in all, one hundred and +sixteen thousand craft fitted with both air and water propellers. + +"At Thark lie the transports for the green warriors of Tars Tarkas, +nine hundred large troopships, and with them their convoys. Seven days +ago all was in readiness, but we waited in the hope that by so doing +your rescue might be encompassed in time for you to command the +expedition. It is well we waited, my Prince." + +"How is it, Tars Tarkas," I asked, "that the men of Thark take not the +accustomed action against one who returns from the bosom of Iss?" + +"They sent a council of fifty chieftains to talk with me here," replied +the Thark. "We are a just people, and when I had told them the entire +story they were as one man in agreeing that their action toward me +would be guided by the action of Helium toward John Carter. In the +meantime, at their request, I was to resume my throne as Jeddak of +Thark, that I might negotiate with neighboring hordes for warriors to +compose the land forces of the expedition. I have done that which I +agreed. Two hundred and fifty thousand fighting men, gathered from the +ice cap at the north to the ice cap at the south, and representing a +thousand different communities, from a hundred wild and warlike hordes, +fill the great city of Thark to-night. They are ready to sail for the +Land of the First Born when I give the word and fight there until I bid +them stop. All they ask is the loot they take and transportation to +their own territories when the fighting and the looting are over. I am +done." + +"And thou, Hor Vastus," I asked, "what has been thy success?" + +"A million veteran fighting-men from Helium's thin waterways man the +battleships, the transports, and the convoys," he replied. "Each is +sworn to loyalty and secrecy, nor were enough recruited from a single +district to cause suspicion." + +"Good!" I cried. "Each has done his duty, and now, Kantos Kan, may we +not repair at once to Hastor and get under way before to-morrow's sun?" + +"We should lose no time, Prince," replied Kantos Kan. "Already the +people of Hastor are questioning the purpose of so great a fleet fully +manned with fighting-men. I wonder much that word of it has not before +reached Zat Arrras. A cruiser awaits above at your own dock; let us +leave at--" A fusillade of shots from the palace gardens just without +cut short his further words. + +Together we rushed to the balcony in time to see a dozen members of my +palace guard disappear in the shadows of some distant shrubbery as in +pursuit of one who fled. Directly beneath us upon the scarlet sward a +handful of guardsmen were stooping above a still and prostrate form. + +While we watched they lifted the figure in their arms and at my command +bore it to the audience chamber where we had been in council. When +they stretched the body at our feet we saw that it was that of a red +man in the prime of life--his metal was plain, such as common soldiers +wear, or those who wish to conceal their identity. + +"Another of Zat Arrras' spies," said Hor Vastus. + +"So it would seem," I replied, and then to the guard: "You may remove +the body." + +"Wait!" said Xodar. "If you will, Prince, ask that a cloth and a +little thoat oil be brought." + +I nodded to one of the soldiers, who left the chamber, returning +presently with the things that Xodar had requested. The black kneeled +beside the body and, dipping a corner of the cloth in the thoat oil, +rubbed for a moment on the dead face before him. Then he turned to me +with a smile, pointing to his work. I looked and saw that where Xodar +had applied the thoat oil the face was white, as white as mine, and +then Xodar seized the black hair of the corpse and with a sudden wrench +tore it all away, revealing a hairless pate beneath. + +Guardsmen and nobles pressed close about the silent witness upon the +marble floor. Many were the exclamations of astonishment and +questioning wonder as Xodar's acts confirmed the suspicion which he had +held. + +"A thern!" whispered Tars Tarkas. + +"Worse than that, I fear," replied Xodar. "But let us see." + +With that he drew his dagger and cut open a locked pouch which had +dangled from the thern's harness, and from it he brought forth a +circlet of gold set with a large gem--it was the mate to that which I +had taken from Sator Throg. + +"He was a Holy Thern," said Xodar. "Fortunate indeed it is for us that +he did not escape." + +The officer of the guard entered the chamber at this juncture. + +"My Prince," he said, "I have to report that this fellow's companion +escaped us. I think that it was with the connivance of one or more of +the men at the gate. I have ordered them all under arrest." + +Xodar handed him the thoat oil and cloth. + +"With this you may discover the spy among you," he said. + +I at once ordered a secret search within the city, for every Martian +noble maintains a secret service of his own. + +A half-hour later the officer of the guard came again to report. This +time it was to confirm our worst fears--half the guards at the gate +that night had been therns disguised as red men. + +"Come!" I cried. "We must lose no time. On to Hastor at once. Should +the therns attempt to check us at the southern verge of the ice cap it +may result in the wrecking of all our plans and the total destruction +of the expedition." + +Ten minutes later we were speeding through the night toward Hastor, +prepared to strike the first blow for the preservation of Dejah Thoris. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE AIR BATTLE + + +Two hours after leaving my palace at Helium, or about midnight, Kantos +Kan, Xodar, and I arrived at Hastor. Carthoris, Tars Tarkas, and Hor +Vastus had gone directly to Thark upon another cruiser. + +The transports were to get under way immediately and move slowly south. +The fleet of battleships would overtake them on the morning of the +second day. + +At Hastor we found all in readiness, and so perfectly had Kantos Kan +planned every detail of the campaign that within ten minutes of our +arrival the first of the fleet had soared aloft from its dock, and +thereafter, at the rate of one a second, the great ships floated +gracefully out into the night to form a long, thin line which stretched +for miles toward the south. + +It was not until after we had entered the cabin of Kantos Kan that I +thought to ask the date, for up to now I was not positive how long I +had lain in the pits of Zat Arrras. When Kantos Kan told me, I realized +with a pang of dismay that I had misreckoned the time while I lay in +the utter darkness of my cell. Three hundred and sixty-five days had +passed--it was too late to save Dejah Thoris. + +The expedition was no longer one of rescue but of revenge. I did not +remind Kantos Kan of the terrible fact that ere we could hope to enter +the Temple of Issus, the Princess of Helium would be no more. In so +far as I knew she might be already dead, for I did not know the exact +date on which she first viewed Issus. + +What now the value of burdening my friends with my added personal +sorrows--they had shared quite enough of them with me in the past. +Hereafter I would keep my grief to myself, and so I said nothing to any +other of the fact that we were too late. The expedition could yet do +much if it could but teach the people of Barsoom the facts of the cruel +deception that had been worked upon them for countless ages, and thus +save thousands each year from the horrid fate that awaited them at the +conclusion of the voluntary pilgrimage. + +If it could open to the red men the fair Valley Dor it would have +accomplished much, and in the Land of Lost Souls between the Mountains +of Otz and the ice barrier were many broad acres that needed no +irrigation to bear rich harvests. + +Here at the bottom of a dying world was the only naturally productive +area upon its surface. Here alone were dews and rains, here alone was +an open sea, here was water in plenty; and all this was but the +stamping ground of fierce brutes and from its beauteous and fertile +expanse the wicked remnants of two once mighty races barred all the +other millions of Barsoom. Could I but succeed in once breaking down +the barrier of religious superstition which had kept the red races from +this El Dorado it would be a fitting memorial to the immortal virtues +of my Princess--I should have again served Barsoom and Dejah Thoris' +martyrdom would not have been in vain. + +On the morning of the second day we raised the great fleet of +transports and their consorts at the first flood of dawn, and soon were +near enough to exchange signals. I may mention here that +radio-aerograms are seldom if ever used in war time, or for the +transmission of secret dispatches at any time, for as often as one +nation discovers a new cipher, or invents a new instrument for wireless +purposes its neighbours bend every effort until they are able to +intercept and translate the messages. For so long a time has this gone +on that practically every possibility of wireless communication has +been exhausted and no nation dares transmit dispatches of importance in +this way. + +Tars Tarkas reported all well with the transports. The battleships +passed through to take an advanced position, and the combined fleets +moved slowly over the ice cap, hugging the surface closely to prevent +detection by the therns whose land we were approaching. + +Far in advance of all a thin line of one-man air scouts protected us +from surprise, and on either side they flanked us, while a smaller +number brought up the rear some twenty miles behind the transports. In +this formation we had progressed toward the entrance to Omean for +several hours when one of our scouts returned from the front to report +that the cone-like summit of the entrance was in sight. At almost the +same instant another scout from the left flank came racing toward the +flagship. + +His very speed bespoke the importance of his information. Kantos Kan +and I awaited him upon the little forward deck which corresponds with +the bridge of earthly battleships. Scarcely had his tiny flier come to +rest upon the broad landing-deck of the flagship ere he was bounding up +the stairway to the deck where we stood. + +"A great fleet of battleships south-south-east, my Prince," he cried. +"There must be several thousands and they are bearing down directly +upon us." + +"The thern spies were not in the palace of John Carter for nothing," +said Kantos Kan to me. "Your orders, Prince." + +"Dispatch ten battleships to guard the entrance to Omean, with orders +to let no hostile enter or leave the shaft. That will bottle up the +great fleet of the First Born. + +"Form the balance of the battleships into a great V with the apex +pointing directly south-south-east. Order the transports, surrounded +by their convoys, to follow closely in the wake of the battleships +until the point of the V has entered the enemies' line, then the V must +open outward at the apex, the battleships of each leg engage the enemy +fiercely and drive him back to form a lane through his line into which +the transports with their convoys must race at top speed that they may +gain a position above the temples and gardens of the therns. + +"Here let them land and teach the Holy Therns such a lesson in +ferocious warfare as they will not forget for countless ages. It had +not been my intention to be distracted from the main issue of the +campaign, but we must settle this attack with the therns once and for +all, or there will be no peace for us while our fleet remains near Dor, +and our chances of ever returning to the outer world will be greatly +minimized." + +Kantos Kan saluted and turned to deliver my instructions to his waiting +aides. In an incredibly short space of time the formation of the +battleships changed in accordance with my commands, the ten that were +to guard the way to Omean were speeding toward their destination, and +the troopships and convoys were closing up in preparation for the spurt +through the lane. + +The order of full speed ahead was given, the fleet sprang through the +air like coursing greyhounds, and in another moment the ships of the +enemy were in full view. They formed a ragged line as far as the eye +could reach in either direction and about three ships deep. So sudden +was our onslaught that they had no time to prepare for it. It was as +unexpected as lightning from a clear sky. + +Every phase of my plan worked splendidly. Our huge ships mowed their +way entirely through the line of thern battlecraft; then the V opened +up and a broad lane appeared through which the transports leaped toward +the temples of the therns which could now be plainly seen glistening in +the sunlight. By the time the therns had rallied from the attack a +hundred thousand green warriors were already pouring through their +courts and gardens, while a hundred and fifty thousand others leaned +from low swinging transports to direct their almost uncanny +marksmanship upon the thern soldiery that manned the ramparts, or +attempted to defend the temples. + +Now the two great fleets closed in a titanic struggle far above the +fiendish din of battle in the gorgeous gardens of the therns. Slowly +the two lines of Helium's battleships joined their ends, and then +commenced the circling within the line of the enemy which is so marked +a characteristic of Barsoomian naval warfare. + +Around and around in each other's tracks moved the ships under Kantos +Kan, until at length they formed nearly a perfect circle. By this time +they were moving at high speed so that they presented a difficult +target for the enemy. Broadside after broadside they delivered as each +vessel came in line with the ships of the therns. The latter attempted +to rush in and break up the formation, but it was like stopping a buzz +saw with the bare hand. + +From my position on the deck beside Kantos Kan I saw ship after ship of +the enemy take the awful, sickening dive which proclaims its total +destruction. Slowly we manoeuvered our circle of death until we hung +above the gardens where our green warriors were engaged. The order was +passed down for them to embark. Then they rose slowly to a position +within the centre of the circle. + +In the meantime the therns' fire had practically ceased. They had had +enough of us and were only too glad to let us go on our way in peace. +But our escape was not to be encompassed with such ease, for scarcely +had we gotten under way once more in the direction of the entrance to +Omean than we saw far to the north a great black line topping the +horizon. It could be nothing other than a fleet of war. + +Whose or whither bound, we could not even conjecture. When they had +come close enough to make us out at all, Kantos Kan's operator received +a radio-aerogram, which he immediately handed to my companion. He read +the thing and handed it to me. + +"Kantos Kan:" it read. "Surrender, in the name of the Jeddak of +Helium, for you cannot escape," and it was signed, "Zat Arrras." + +The therns must have caught and translated the message almost as soon +as did we, for they immediately renewed hostilities when they realized +that we were soon to be set upon by other enemies. + +Before Zat Arrras had approached near enough to fire a shot we were +again hotly engaged with the thern fleet, and as soon as he drew near +he too commenced to pour a terrific fusillade of heavy shot into us. +Ship after ship reeled and staggered into uselessness beneath the +pitiless fire that we were undergoing. + +The thing could not last much longer. I ordered the transports to +descend again into the gardens of the therns. + +"Wreak your vengeance to the utmost," was my message to the green +allies, "for by night there will be none left to avenge your wrongs." + +Presently I saw the ten battleships that had been ordered to hold the +shaft of Omean. They were returning at full speed, firing their stern +batteries almost continuously. There could be but one explanation. +They were being pursued by another hostile fleet. Well, the situation +could be no worse. The expedition already was doomed. No man that had +embarked upon it would return across that dreary ice cap. How I wished +that I might face Zat Arrras with my longsword for just an instant +before I died! It was he who had caused our failure. + +As I watched the oncoming ten I saw their pursuers race swiftly into +sight. It was another great fleet; for a moment I could not believe my +eyes, but finally I was forced to admit that the most fatal calamity +had overtaken the expedition, for the fleet I saw was none other than +the fleet of the First Born, that should have been safely bottled up in +Omean. What a series of misfortunes and disasters! What awful fate +hovered over me, that I should have been so terribly thwarted at every +angle of my search for my lost love! Could it be possible that the +curse of Issus was upon me! That there was, indeed, some malign +divinity in that hideous carcass! I would not believe it, and, +throwing back my shoulders, I ran to the deck below to join my men in +repelling boarders from one of the thern craft that had grappled us +broadside. In the wild lust of hand-to-hand combat my old dauntless +hopefulness returned. And as thern after thern went down beneath my +blade, I could almost feel that we should win success in the end, even +from apparent failure. + +My presence among the men so greatly inspirited them that they fell +upon the luckless whites with such terrible ferocity that within a few +moments we had turned the tables upon them and a second later as we +swarmed their own decks I had the satisfaction of seeing their +commander take the long leap from the bows of his vessel in token of +surrender and defeat. + +Then I joined Kantos Kan. He had been watching what had taken place on +the deck below, and it seemed to have given him a new thought. +Immediately he passed an order to one of his officers, and presently +the colours of the Prince of Helium broke from every point of the +flagship. A great cheer arose from the men of our own ship, a cheer +that was taken up by every other vessel of our expedition as they in +turn broke my colours from their upper works. + +Then Kantos Kan sprang his coup. A signal legible to every sailor of +all the fleets engaged in that fierce struggle was strung aloft upon +the flagship. + +"Men of Helium for the Prince of Helium against all his enemies," it +read. Presently my colours broke from one of Zat Arrras' ships. Then +from another and another. On some we could see fierce battles waging +between the Zodangan soldiery and the Heliumetic crews, but eventually +the colours of the Prince of Helium floated above every ship that had +followed Zat Arrras upon our trail--only his flagship flew them not. + +Zat Arrras had brought five thousand ships. The sky was black with the +three enormous fleets. It was Helium against the field now, and the +fight had settled to countless individual duels. There could be little +or no manoeuvering of fleets in that crowded, fire-split sky. + +Zat Arrras' flagship was close to my own. I could see the thin features +of the man from where I stood. His Zodangan crew was pouring broadside +after broadside into us and we were returning their fire with equal +ferocity. Closer and closer came the two vessels until but a few yards +intervened. Grapplers and boarders lined the contiguous rails of each. +We were preparing for the death struggle with our hated enemy. + +There was but a yard between the two mighty ships as the first +grappling irons were hurled. I rushed to the deck to be with my men as +they boarded. Just as the vessels came together with a slight shock, I +forced my way through the lines and was the first to spring to the deck +of Zat Arrras' ship. After me poured a yelling, cheering, cursing +throng of Helium's best fighting-men. Nothing could withstand them in +the fever of battle lust which enthralled them. + +Down went the Zodangans before that surging tide of war, and as my men +cleared the lower decks I sprang to the forward deck where stood Zat +Arrras. + +"You are my prisoner, Zat Arrras," I cried. "Yield and you shall have +quarter." + +For a moment I could not tell whether he contemplated acceding to my +demand or facing me with drawn sword. For an instant he stood +hesitating, and then throwing down his arms he turned and rushed to the +opposite side of the deck. Before I could overtake him he had sprung +to the rail and hurled himself headforemost into the awful depths below. + +And thus came Zat Arrras, Jed of Zodanga, to his end. + +On and on went that strange battle. The therns and blacks had not +combined against us. Wherever thern ship met ship of the First Born +was a battle royal, and in this I thought I saw our salvation. +Wherever messages could be passed between us that could not be +intercepted by our enemies I passed the word that all our vessels were +to withdraw from the fight as rapidly as possible, taking a position to +the west and south of the combatants. I also sent an air scout to the +fighting green men in the gardens below to re-embark, and to the +transports to join us. + +My commanders were further instructed that when engaged with an enemy +to draw him as rapidly as possible toward a ship of his hereditary +foeman, and by careful manoeuvring to force the two to engage, thus +leaving himself free to withdraw. This stratagem worked to +perfection, and just before the sun went down I had the satisfaction of +seeing all that was left of my once mighty fleet gathered nearly twenty +miles southwest of the still terrific battle between the blacks and +whites. + +I now transferred Xodar to another battleship and sent him with all the +transports and five thousand battleships directly overhead to the +Temple of Issus. Carthoris and I, with Kantos Kan, took the remaining +ships and headed for the entrance to Omean. + +Our plan now was to attempt to make a combined assault upon Issus at +dawn of the following day. Tars Tarkas with his green warriors and Hor +Vastus with the red men, guided by Xodar, were to land within the +garden of Issus or the surrounding plains; while Carthoris, Kantos Kan, +and I were to lead our smaller force from the sea of Omean through the +pits beneath the temple, which Carthoris knew so well. + +I now learned for the first time the cause of my ten ships' retreat +from the mouth of the shaft. It seemed that when they had come upon +the shaft the navy of the First Born were already issuing from its +mouth. Fully twenty vessels had emerged, and though they gave battle +immediately in an effort to stem the tide that rolled from the black +pit, the odds against them were too great and they were forced to flee. + +With great caution we approached the shaft, under cover of darkness. +At a distance of several miles I caused the fleet to be halted, and +from there Carthoris went ahead alone upon a one-man flier to +reconnoitre. In perhaps half an hour he returned to report that there +was no sign of a patrol boat or of the enemy in any form, and so we +moved swiftly and noiselessly forward once more toward Omean. + +At the mouth of the shaft we stopped again for a moment for all the +vessels to reach their previously appointed stations, then with the +flagship I dropped quickly into the black depths, while one by one the +other vessels followed me in quick succession. + +We had decided to stake all on the chance that we would be able to +reach the temple by the subterranean way and so we left no guard of +vessels at the shaft's mouth. Nor would it have profited us any to +have done so, for we did not have sufficient force all told to have +withstood the vast navy of the First Born had they returned to engage +us. + +For the safety of our entrance upon Omean we depended largely upon the +very boldness of it, believing that it would be some little time before +the First Born on guard there would realize that it was an enemy and +not their own returning fleet that was entering the vault of the buried +sea. + +And such proved to be the case. In fact, four hundred of my fleet of +five hundred rested safely upon the bosom of Omean before the first +shot was fired. The battle was short and hot, but there could have +been but one outcome, for the First Born in the carelessness of fancied +security had left but a handful of ancient and obsolete hulks to guard +their mighty harbour. + +It was at Carthoris' suggestion that we landed our prisoners under +guard upon a couple of the larger islands, and then towed the ships of +the First Born to the shaft, where we managed to wedge a number of them +securely in the interior of the great well. Then we turned on the +buoyance rays in the balance of them and let them rise by themselves to +further block the passage to Omean as they came into contact with the +vessels already lodged there. + +We now felt that it would be some time at least before the returning +First Born could reach the surface of Omean, and that we would have +ample opportunity to make for the subterranean passages which lead to +Issus. One of the first steps I took was to hasten personally with a +good-sized force to the island of the submarine, which I took without +resistance on the part of the small guard there. + +I found the submarine in its pool, and at once placed a strong guard +upon it and the island, where I remained to wait the coming of +Carthoris and the others. + +Among the prisoners was Yersted, commander of the submarine. He +recognized me from the three trips that I had taken with him during my +captivity among the First Born. + +"How does it seem," I asked him, "to have the tables turned? To be +prisoner of your erstwhile captive?" + +He smiled, a very grim smile pregnant with hidden meaning. + +"It will not be for long, John Carter," he replied. "We have been +expecting you and we are prepared." + +"So it would appear," I answered, "for you were all ready to become my +prisoners with scarce a blow struck on either side." + +"The fleet must have missed you," he said, "but it will return to +Omean, and then that will be a very different matter--for John Carter." + +"I do not know that the fleet has missed me as yet," I said, but of +course he did not grasp my meaning, and only looked puzzled. + +"Many prisoners travel to Issus in your grim craft, Yersted?" I asked. + +"Very many," he assented. + +"Might you remember one whom men called Dejah Thoris?" + +"Well, indeed, for her great beauty, and then, too, for the fact that +she was wife to the first mortal that ever escaped from Issus through +all the countless ages of her godhood. And the way that Issus +remembers her best as the wife of one and the mother of another who +raised their hands against the Goddess of Life Eternal." + +I shuddered for fear of the cowardly revenge that I knew Issus might +have taken upon the innocent Dejah Thoris for the sacrilege of her son +and her husband. + +"And where is Dejah Thoris now?" I asked, knowing that he would say the +words I most dreaded, but yet I loved her so that I could not refrain +from hearing even the worst about her fate so that it fell from the +lips of one who had seen her but recently. It was to me as though it +brought her closer to me. + +"Yesterday the monthly rites of Issus were held," replied Yersted, "and +I saw her then sitting in her accustomed place at the foot of Issus." + +"What," I cried, "she is not dead, then?" + +"Why, no," replied the black, "it has been no year since she gazed upon +the divine glory of the radiant face of--" + +"No year?" I interrupted. + +"Why, no," insisted Yersted. "It cannot have been upward of three +hundred and seventy or eighty days." + +A great light burst upon me. How stupid I had been! I could scarcely +retain an outward exhibition of my great joy. Why had I forgotten the +great difference in the length of Martian and Earthly years! The ten +Earth years I had spent upon Barsoom had encompassed but five years and +ninety-six days of Martian time, whose days are forty-one minutes +longer than ours, and whose years number six hundred and eighty-seven +days. + +I am in time! I am in time! The words surged through my brain again +and again, until at last I must have voiced them audibly, for Yersted +shook his head. + +"In time to save your Princess?" he asked, and then without waiting for +my reply, "No, John Carter, Issus will not give up her own. She knows +that you are coming, and ere ever a vandal foot is set within the +precincts of the Temple of Issus, if such a calamity should befall, +Dejah Thoris will be put away for ever from the last faint hope of +rescue." + +"You mean that she will be killed merely to thwart me?" I asked. + +"Not that, other than as a last resort," he replied. "Hast ever heard +of the Temple of the Sun? It is there that they will put her. It lies +far within the inner court of the Temple of Issus, a little temple that +raises a thin spire far above the spires and minarets of the great +temple that surrounds it. Beneath it, in the ground, there lies the +main body of the temple consisting in six hundred and eighty-seven +circular chambers, one below another. To each chamber a single +corridor leads through solid rock from the pits of Issus. + +"As the entire Temple of the Sun revolves once with each revolution of +Barsoom about the sun, but once each year does the entrance to each +separate chamber come opposite the mouth of the corridor which forms +its only link to the world without. + +"Here Issus puts those who displease her, but whom she does not care to +execute forthwith. Or to punish a noble of the First Born she may +cause him to be placed within a chamber of the Temple of the Sun for a +year. Ofttimes she imprisons an executioner with the condemned, that +death may come in a certain horrible form upon a given day, or again +but enough food is deposited in the chamber to sustain life but the +number of days that Issus has allotted for mental anguish. + +"Thus will Dejah Thoris die, and her fate will be sealed by the first +alien foot that crosses the threshold of Issus." + +So I was to be thwarted in the end, although I had performed the +miraculous and come within a few short moments of my divine Princess, +yet was I as far from her as when I stood upon the banks of the Hudson +forty-eight million miles away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THROUGH FLOOD AND FLAME + + +Yersted's information convinced me that there was no time to be lost. +I must reach the Temple of Issus secretly before the forces under Tars +Tarkas assaulted at dawn. Once within its hated walls I was positive +that I could overcome the guards of Issus and bear away my Princess, +for at my back I would have a force ample for the occasion. + +No sooner had Carthoris and the others joined me than we commenced the +transportation of our men through the submerged passage to the mouth of +the gangways which lead from the submarine pool at the temple end of +the watery tunnel to the pits of Issus. + +Many trips were required, but at last all stood safely together again +at the beginning of the end of our quest. Five thousand strong we +were, all seasoned fighting-men of the most warlike race of the red men +of Barsoom. + +As Carthoris alone knew the hidden ways of the tunnels we could not +divide the party and attack the temple at several points at once as +would have been most desirable, and so it was decided that he lead us +all as quickly as possible to a point near the temple's centre. + +As we were about to leave the pool and enter the corridor, an officer +called my attention to the waters upon which the submarine floated. At +first they seemed to be merely agitated as from the movement of some +great body beneath the surface, and I at once conjectured that another +submarine was rising to the surface in pursuit of us; but presently it +became apparent that the level of the waters was rising, not with +extreme rapidity, but very surely, and that soon they would overflow +the sides of the pool and submerge the floor of the chamber. + +For a moment I did not fully grasp the terrible import of the slowly +rising water. It was Carthoris who realized the full meaning of the +thing--its cause and the reason for it. + +"Haste!" he cried. "If we delay, we all are lost. The pumps of Omean +have been stopped. They would drown us like rats in a trap. We must +reach the upper levels of the pits in advance of the flood or we shall +never reach them. Come." + +"Lead the way, Carthoris," I cried. "We will follow." + +At my command, the youth leaped into one of the corridors, and in +column of twos the soldiers followed him in good order, each company +entering the corridor only at the command of its dwar, or captain. + +Before the last company filed from the chamber the water was ankle +deep, and that the men were nervous was quite evident. Entirely +unaccustomed to water except in quantities sufficient for drinking and +bathing purposes the red Martians instinctively shrank from it in such +formidable depths and menacing activity. That they were undaunted +while it swirled and eddied about their ankles, spoke well for their +bravery and their discipline. + +I was the last to leave the chamber of the submarine, and as I followed +the rear of the column toward the corridor, I moved through water to my +knees. The corridor, too, was flooded to the same depth, for its floor +was on a level with the floor of the chamber from which it led, nor was +there any perceptible rise for many yards. + +The march of the troops through the corridor was as rapid as was +consistent with the number of men that moved through so narrow a +passage, but it was not ample to permit us to gain appreciably on the +pursuing tide. As the level of the passage rose, so, too, did the +waters rise until it soon became apparent to me, who brought up the +rear, that they were gaining rapidly upon us. I could understand the +reason for this, as with the narrowing expanse of Omean as the waters +rose toward the apex of its dome, the rapidity of its rise would +increase in inverse ratio to the ever-lessening space to be filled. + +Long ere the last of the column could hope to reach the upper pits +which lay above the danger point I was convinced that the waters would +surge after us in overwhelming volume, and that fully half the +expedition would be snuffed out. + +As I cast about for some means of saving as many as possible of the +doomed men, I saw a diverging corridor which seemed to rise at a steep +angle at my right. The waters were now swirling about my waist. The +men directly before me were quickly becoming panic-stricken. Something +must be done at once or they would rush forward upon their fellows in a +mad stampede that would result in trampling down hundreds beneath the +flood and eventually clogging the passage beyond any hope of retreat +for those in advance. + +Raising my voice to its utmost, I shouted my command to the dwars ahead +of me. + +"Call back the last twenty-five utans," I shouted. "Here seems a way +of escape. Turn back and follow me." + +My orders were obeyed by nearer thirty utans, so that some three +thousand men came about and hastened into the teeth of the flood to +reach the corridor up which I directed them. + +As the first dwar passed in with his utan I cautioned him to listen +closely for my commands, and under no circumstances to venture into the +open, or leave the pits for the temple proper until I should have come +up with him, "or you know that I died before I could reach you." + +The officer saluted and left me. The men filed rapidly past me and +entered the diverging corridor which I hoped would lead to safety. The +water rose breast high. Men stumbled, floundered, and went down. Many +I grasped and set upon their feet again, but alone the work was greater +than I could cope with. Soldiers were being swept beneath the boiling +torrent, never to rise. At length the dwar of the 10th utan took a +stand beside me. He was a valorous soldier, Gur Tus by name, and +together we kept the now thoroughly frightened troops in the semblance +of order and rescued many that would have drowned otherwise. + +Djor Kantos, son of Kantos Kan, and a padwar of the fifth utan joined +us when his utan reached the opening through which the men were +fleeing. Thereafter not a man was lost of all the hundreds that +remained to pass from the main corridor to the branch. + +As the last utan was filing past us the waters had risen until they +surged about our necks, but we clasped hands and stood our ground until +the last man had passed to the comparative safety of the new +passageway. Here we found an immediate and steep ascent, so that +within a hundred yards we had reached a point above the waters. + +For a few minutes we continued rapidly up the steep grade, which I +hoped would soon bring us quickly to the upper pits that let into the +Temple of Issus. But I was to meet with a cruel disappointment. + +Suddenly I heard a cry of "fire" far ahead, followed almost at once by +cries of terror and the loud commands of dwars and padwars who were +evidently attempting to direct their men away from some grave danger. +At last the report came back to us. "They have fired the pits ahead." +"We are hemmed in by flames in front and flood behind." "Help, John +Carter; we are suffocating," and then there swept back upon us at the +rear a wave of dense smoke that sent us, stumbling and blinded, into a +choking retreat. + +There was naught to do other than seek a new avenue of escape. The +fire and smoke were to be feared a thousand times over the water, and +so I seized upon the first gallery which led out of and up from the +suffocating smoke that was engulfing us. + +Again I stood to one side while the soldiers hastened through on the +new way. Some two thousand must have passed at a rapid run, when the +stream ceased, but I was not sure that all had been rescued who had not +passed the point of origin of the flames, and so to assure myself that +no poor devil was left behind to die a horrible death, unsuccoured, I +ran quickly up the gallery in the direction of the flames which I could +now see burning with a dull glow far ahead. + +It was hot and stifling work, but at last I reached a point where the +fire lit up the corridor sufficiently for me to see that no soldier of +Helium lay between me and the conflagration--what was in it or upon the +far side I could not know, nor could any man have passed through that +seething hell of chemicals and lived to learn. + +Having satisfied my sense of duty, I turned and ran rapidly back to the +corridor through which my men had passed. To my horror, however, I +found that my retreat in this direction had been blocked--across the +mouth of the corridor stood a massive steel grating that had evidently +been lowered from its resting-place above for the purpose of +effectually cutting off my escape. + +That our principal movements were known to the First Born I could not +have doubted, in view of the attack of the fleet upon us the day +before, nor could the stopping of the pumps of Omean at the +psychological moment have been due to chance, nor the starting of a +chemical combustion within the one corridor through which we were +advancing upon the Temple of Issus been due to aught than +well-calculated design. + +And now the dropping of the steel gate to pen me effectually between +fire and flood seemed to indicate that invisible eyes were upon us at +every moment. What chance had I, then, to rescue Dejah Thoris were I +to be compelled to fight foes who never showed themselves. A thousand +times I berated myself for being drawn into such a trap as I might have +known these pits easily could be. Now I saw that it would have been +much better to have kept our force intact and made a concerted attack +upon the temple from the valley side, trusting to chance and our great +fighting ability to have overwhelmed the First Born and compelled the +safe delivery of Dejah Thoris to me. + +The smoke from the fire was forcing me further and further back down +the corridor toward the waters which I could hear surging through the +darkness. With my men had gone the last torch, nor was this corridor +lighted by the radiance of phosphorescent rock as were those of the +lower levels. It was this fact that assured me that I was not far from +the upper pits which lie directly beneath the temple. + +Finally I felt the lapping waters about my feet. The smoke was thick +behind me. My suffering was intense. There seemed but one thing to +do, and that to choose the easier death which confronted me, and so I +moved on down the corridor until the cold waters of Omean closed about +me, and I swam on through utter blackness toward--what? + +The instinct of self-preservation is strong even when one, unafraid and +in the possession of his highest reasoning faculties, knows that +death--positive and unalterable--lies just ahead. And so I swam slowly +on, waiting for my head to touch the top of the corridor, which would +mean that I had reached the limit of my flight and the point where I +must sink for ever to an unmarked grave. + +But to my surprise I ran against a blank wall before I reached a point +where the waters came to the roof of the corridor. Could I be +mistaken? I felt around. No, I had come to the main corridor, and +still there was a breathing space between the surface of the water and +the rocky ceiling above. And then I turned up the main corridor in the +direction that Carthoris and the head of the column had passed a +half-hour before. On and on I swam, my heart growing lighter at every +stroke, for I knew that I was approaching closer and closer to the +point where there would be no chance that the waters ahead could be +deeper than they were about me. I was positive that I must soon feel +the solid floor beneath my feet again and that once more my chance +would come to reach the Temple of Issus and the side of the fair +prisoner who languished there. + +But even as hope was at its highest I felt the sudden shock of contact +as my head struck the rocks above. The worst, then, had come to me. I +had reached one of those rare places where a Martian tunnel dips +suddenly to a lower level. Somewhere beyond I knew that it rose again, +but of what value was that to me, since I did not know how great the +distance that it maintained a level entirely beneath the surface of the +water! + +There was but a single forlorn hope, and I took it. Filling my lungs +with air, I dived beneath the surface and swam through the inky, icy +blackness on and on along the submerged gallery. Time and time again I +rose with upstretched hand, only to feel the disappointing rocks close +above me. + +Not for much longer would my lungs withstand the strain upon them. I +felt that I must soon succumb, nor was there any retreating now that I +had gone this far. I knew positively that I could never endure to +retrace my path now to the point from which I had felt the waters close +above my head. Death stared me in the face, nor ever can I recall a +time that I so distinctly felt the icy breath from his dead lips upon +my brow. + +One more frantic effort I made with my fast ebbing strength. Weakly I +rose for the last time--my tortured lungs gasped for the breath that +would fill them with a strange and numbing element, but instead I felt +the revivifying breath of life-giving air surge through my starving +nostrils into my dying lungs. I was saved. + +A few more strokes brought me to a point where my feet touched the +floor, and soon thereafter I was above the water level entirely, and +racing like mad along the corridor searching for the first doorway that +would lead me to Issus. If I could not have Dejah Thoris again I was +at least determined to avenge her death, nor would any life satisfy me +other than that of the fiend incarnate who was the cause of such +immeasurable suffering upon Barsoom. + +Sooner than I had expected I came to what appeared to me to be a sudden +exit into the temple above. It was at the right side of the corridor, +which ran on, probably, to other entrances to the pile above. + +To me one point was as good as another. What knew I where any of them +led! And so without waiting to be again discovered and thwarted, I ran +quickly up the short, steep incline and pushed open the doorway at its +end. + +The portal swung slowly in, and before it could be slammed against me I +sprang into the chamber beyond. Although not yet dawn, the room was +brilliantly lighted. Its sole occupant lay prone upon a low couch at +the further side, apparently in sleep. From the hangings and sumptuous +furniture of the room I judged it to be a living-room of some +priestess, possibly of Issus herself. + +At the thought the blood tingled through my veins. What, indeed, if +fortune had been kind enough to place the hideous creature alone and +unguarded in my hands. With her as hostage I could force acquiescence +to my every demand. Cautiously I approached the recumbent figure, on +noiseless feet. Closer and closer I came to it, but I had crossed but +little more than half the chamber when the figure stirred, and, as I +sprang, rose and faced me. + +At first an expression of terror overspread the features of the woman +who confronted me--then startled incredulity--hope--thanksgiving. + +My heart pounded within my breast as I advanced toward her--tears came +to my eyes--and the words that would have poured forth in a perfect +torrent choked in my throat as I opened my arms and took into them once +more the woman I loved--Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +VICTORY AND DEFEAT + + +"John Carter, John Carter," she sobbed, with her dear head upon my +shoulder; "even now I can scarce believe the witness of my own eyes. +When the girl, Thuvia, told me that you had returned to Barsoom, I +listened, but I could not understand, for it seemed that such happiness +would be impossible for one who had suffered so in silent loneliness +for all these long years. At last, when I realized that it was truth, +and then came to know the awful place in which I was held prisoner, I +learned to doubt that even you could reach me here. + +"As the days passed, and moon after moon went by without bringing even +the faintest rumour of you, I resigned myself to my fate. And now that +you have come, scarce can I believe it. For an hour I have heard the +sounds of conflict within the palace. I knew not what they meant, but +I have hoped against hope that it might be the men of Helium headed by +my Prince. + +"And tell me, what of Carthoris, our son?" + +"He was with me less than an hour since, Dejah Thoris," I replied. "It +must have been he whose men you have heard battling within the +precincts of the temple. + +"Where is Issus?" I asked suddenly. + +Dejah Thoris shrugged her shoulders. + +"She sent me under guard to this room just before the fighting began +within the temple halls. She said that she would send for me later. +She seemed very angry and somewhat fearful. Never have I seen her act +in so uncertain and almost terrified a manner. Now I know that it must +have been because she had learned that John Carter, Prince of Helium, +was approaching to demand an accounting of her for the imprisonment of +his Princess." + +The sounds of conflict, the clash of arms, the shouting and the +hurrying of many feet came to us from various parts of the temple. I +knew that I was needed there, but I dared not leave Dejah Thoris, nor +dared I take her with me into the turmoil and danger of battle. + +At last I bethought me of the pits from which I had just emerged. Why +not secrete her there until I could return and fetch her away in safety +and for ever from this awful place. I explained my plan to her. + +For a moment she clung more closely to me. + +"I cannot bear to be parted from you now, even for a moment, John +Carter," she said. "I shudder at the thought of being alone again +where that terrible creature might discover me. You do not know her. +None can imagine her ferocious cruelty who has not witnessed her daily +acts for over half a year. It has taken me nearly all this time to +realize even the things that I have seen with my own eyes." + +"I shall not leave you, then, my Princess," I replied. + +She was silent for a moment, then she drew my face to hers and kissed +me. + +"Go, John Carter," she said. "Our son is there, and the soldiers of +Helium, fighting for the Princess of Helium. Where they are you should +be. I must not think of myself now, but of them and of my husband's +duty. I may not stand in the way of that. Hide me in the pits, and +go." + +I led her to the door through which I had entered the chamber from +below. There I pressed her dear form to me, and then, though it tore +my heart to do it, and filled me only with the blackest shadows of +terrible foreboding, I guided her across the threshold, kissed her once +again, and closed the door upon her. + +Without hesitating longer, I hurried from the chamber in the direction +of the greatest tumult. Scarce half a dozen chambers had I traversed +before I came upon the theatre of a fierce struggle. The blacks were +massed at the entrance to a great chamber where they were attempting to +block the further progress of a body of red men toward the inner sacred +precincts of the temple. + +Coming from within as I did, I found myself behind the blacks, and, +without waiting to even calculate their numbers or the foolhardiness of +my venture, I charged swiftly across the chamber and fell upon them +from the rear with my keen long-sword. + +As I struck the first blow I cried aloud, "For Helium!" And then I +rained cut after cut upon the surprised warriors, while the reds +without took heart at the sound of my voice, and with shouts of "John +Carter! John Carter!" redoubled their efforts so effectually that +before the blacks could recover from their temporary demoralization +their ranks were broken and the red men had burst into the chamber. + +The fight within that room, had it had but a competent chronicler, +would go down in the annals of Barsoom as a historic memorial to the +grim ferocity of her warlike people. Five hundred men fought there +that day, the black men against the red. No man asked quarter or gave +it. As though by common assent they fought, as though to determine +once and for all their right to live, in accordance with the law of the +survival of the fittest. + +I think we all knew that upon the outcome of this battle would hinge +for ever the relative positions of these two races upon Barsoom. It +was a battle between the old and the new, but not for once did I +question the outcome of it. With Carthoris at my side I fought for the +red men of Barsoom and for their total emancipation from the throttling +bondage of a hideous superstition. + +Back and forth across the room we surged, until the floor was ankle +deep in blood, and dead men lay so thickly there that half the time we +stood upon their bodies as we fought. As we swung toward the great +windows which overlooked the gardens of Issus a sight met my gaze which +sent a wave of exultation over me. + +"Look!" I cried. "Men of the First Born, look!" + +For an instant the fighting ceased, and with one accord every eye +turned in the direction I had indicated, and the sight they saw was one +no man of the First Born had ever imagined could be. + +Across the gardens, from side to side, stood a wavering line of black +warriors, while beyond them and forcing them ever back was a great +horde of green warriors astride their mighty thoats. And as we +watched, one, fiercer and more grimly terrible than his fellows, rode +forward from the rear, and as he came he shouted some fierce command to +his terrible legion. + +It was Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, and as he couched his great +forty-foot metal-shod lance we saw his warriors do likewise. Then it +was that we interpreted his command. Twenty yards now separated the +green men from the black line. Another word from the great Thark, and +with a wild and terrifying battle-cry the green warriors charged. For +a moment the black line held, but only for a moment--then the fearsome +beasts that bore equally terrible riders passed completely through it. + +After them came utan upon utan of red men. The green horde broke to +surround the temple. The red men charged for the interior, and then we +turned to continue our interrupted battle; but our foes had vanished. + +My first thought was of Dejah Thoris. Calling to Carthoris that I had +found his mother, I started on a run toward the chamber where I had +left her, with my boy close beside me. After us came those of our +little force who had survived the bloody conflict. + +The moment I entered the room I saw that some one had been there since +I had left. A silk lay upon the floor. It had not been there before. +There were also a dagger and several metal ornaments strewn about as +though torn from their wearer in a struggle. But worst of all, the +door leading to the pits where I had hidden my Princess was ajar. + +With a bound I was before it, and, thrusting it open, rushed within. +Dejah Thoris had vanished. I called her name aloud again and again, +but there was no response. I think in that instant I hovered upon the +verge of insanity. I do not recall what I said or did, but I know that +for an instant I was seized with the rage of a maniac. + +"Issus!" I cried. "Issus! Where is Issus? Search the temple for her, +but let no man harm her but John Carter. Carthoris, where are the +apartments of Issus?" + +"This way," cried the boy, and, without waiting to know that I had +heard him, he dashed off at breakneck speed, further into the bowels of +the temple. As fast as he went, however, I was still beside him, +urging him on to greater speed. + +At last we came to a great carved door, and through this Carthoris +dashed, a foot ahead of me. Within, we came upon such a scene as I had +witnessed within the temple once before--the throne of Issus, with the +reclining slaves, and about it the ranks of soldiery. + +We did not even give the men a chance to draw, so quickly were we upon +them. With a single cut I struck down two in the front rank. And then +by the mere weight and momentum of my body, I rushed completely through +the two remaining ranks and sprang upon the dais beside the carved +sorapus throne. + +The repulsive creature, squatting there in terror, attempted to escape +me and leap into a trap behind her. But this time I was not to be +outwitted by any such petty subterfuge. Before she had half arisen I +had grasped her by the arm, and then, as I saw the guard starting to +make a concerted rush upon me from all sides, I whipped out my dagger +and, holding it close to that vile breast, ordered them to halt. + +"Back!" I cried to them. "Back! The first black foot that is planted +upon this platform sends my dagger into Issus' heart." + +For an instant they hesitated. Then an officer ordered them back, +while from the outer corridor there swept into the throne room at the +heels of my little party of survivors a full thousand red men under +Kantos Kan, Hor Vastus, and Xodar. + +"Where is Dejah Thoris?" I cried to the thing within my hands. + +For a moment her eyes roved wildly about the scene beneath her. I +think that it took a moment for the true condition to make any +impression upon her--she could not at first realize that the temple had +fallen before the assault of men of the outer world. When she did, +there must have come, too, a terrible realization of what it meant to +her--the loss of power--humiliation--the exposure of the fraud and +imposture which she had for so long played upon her own people. + +There was just one thing needed to complete the reality of the picture +she was seeing, and that was added by the highest noble of her +realm--the high priest of her religion--the prime minister of her +government. + +"Issus, Goddess of Death, and of Life Eternal," he cried, "arise in the +might of thy righteous wrath and with one single wave of thy omnipotent +hand strike dead thy blasphemers! Let not one escape. Issus, thy +people depend upon thee. Daughter of the Lesser Moon, thou only art +all-powerful. Thou only canst save thy people. I am done. We await +thy will. Strike!" + +And then it was that she went mad. A screaming, gibbering maniac +writhed in my grasp. It bit and clawed and scratched in impotent fury. +And then it laughed a weird and terrible laughter that froze the blood. +The slave girls upon the dais shrieked and cowered away. And the thing +jumped at them and gnashed its teeth and then spat upon them from +frothing lips. God, but it was a horrid sight. + +Finally, I shook the thing, hoping to recall it for a moment to +rationality. + +"Where is Dejah Thoris?" I cried again. + +The awful creature in my grasp mumbled inarticulately for a moment, +then a sudden gleam of cunning shot into those hideous, close-set eyes. + +"Dejah Thoris? Dejah Thoris?" and then that shrill, unearthly laugh +pierced our ears once more. + +"Yes, Dejah Thoris--I know. And Thuvia, and Phaidor, daughter of Matai +Shang. They each love John Carter. Ha-ah! but it is droll. Together +for a year they will meditate within the Temple of the Sun, but ere the +year is quite gone there will be no more food for them. Ho-oh! what +divine entertainment," and she licked the froth from her cruel lips. +"There will be no more food--except each other. Ha-ah! Ha-ah!" + +The horror of the suggestion nearly paralysed me. To this awful fate +the creature within my power had condemned my Princess. I trembled in +the ferocity of my rage. As a terrier shakes a rat I shook Issus, +Goddess of Life Eternal. + +"Countermand your orders!" I cried. "Recall the condemned. Haste, or +you die!" + +"It is too late. Ha-ah! Ha-ah!" and then she commenced her gibbering +and shrieking again. + +Almost of its own volition, my dagger flew up above that putrid heart. +But something stayed my hand, and I am now glad that it did. It were a +terrible thing to have struck down a woman with one's own hand. But a +fitter fate occurred to me for this false deity. + +"First Born," I cried, turning to those who stood within the chamber, +"you have seen to-day the impotency of Issus--the gods are impotent. +Issus is no god. She is a cruel and wicked old woman, who has deceived +and played upon you for ages. Take her. John Carter, Prince of +Helium, would not contaminate his hand with her blood," and with that I +pushed the raving beast, whom a short half-hour before a whole world +had worshipped as divine, from the platform of her throne into the +waiting clutches of her betrayed and vengeful people. + +Spying Xodar among the officers of the red men, I called him to lead me +quickly to the Temple of the Sun, and, without waiting to learn what +fate the First Born would wreak upon their goddess, I rushed from the +chamber with Xodar, Carthoris, Hor Vastus, Kantos Kan, and a score of +other red nobles. + +The black led us rapidly through the inner chambers of the temple, +until we stood within the central court--a great circular space paved +with a transparent marble of exquisite whiteness. Before us rose a +golden temple wrought in the most wondrous and fanciful designs, inlaid +with diamond, ruby, sapphire, turquoise, emerald, and the thousand +nameless gems of Mars, which far transcend in loveliness and purity of +ray the most priceless stones of Earth. + +"This way," cried Xodar, leading us toward the entrance to a tunnel +which opened in the courtyard beside the temple. Just as we were on +the point of descending we heard a deep-toned roar burst from the +Temple of Issus, which we had but just quitted, and then a red man, +Djor Kantos, padwar of the fifth utan, broke from a nearby gate, crying +to us to return. + +"The blacks have fired the temple," he cried. "In a thousand places it +is burning now. Haste to the outer gardens, or you are lost." + +As he spoke we saw smoke pouring from a dozen windows looking out upon +the courtyard of the Temple of the Sun, and far above the highest +minaret of Issus hung an ever-growing pall of smoke. + +"Go back! Go back!" I cried to those who had accompanied me. "The +way! Xodar; point the way and leave me. I shall reach my Princess +yet." + +"Follow me, John Carter," replied Xodar, and without waiting for my +reply he dashed down into the tunnel at our feet. At his heels I ran +down through a half-dozen tiers of galleries, until at last he led me +along a level floor at the end of which I discerned a lighted chamber. + +Massive bars blocked our further progress, but beyond I saw her--my +incomparable Princess, and with her were Thuvia and Phaidor. When she +saw me she rushed toward the bars that separated us. Already the +chamber had turned upon its slow way so far that but a portion of the +opening in the temple wall was opposite the barred end of the corridor. +Slowly the interval was closing. In a short time there would be but a +tiny crack, and then even that would be closed, and for a long +Barsoomian year the chamber would slowly revolve until once more for a +brief day the aperture in its wall would pass the corridor's end. + +But in the meantime what horrible things would go on within that +chamber! + +"Xodar!" I cried. "Can no power stop this awful revolving thing? Is +there none who holds the secret of these terrible bars?" + +"None, I fear, whom we could fetch in time, though I shall go and make +the attempt. Wait for me here." + +After he had left I stood and talked with Dejah Thoris, and she +stretched her dear hand through those cruel bars that I might hold it +until the last moment. + +Thuvia and Phaidor came close also, but when Thuvia saw that we would +be alone she withdrew to the further side of the chamber. Not so the +daughter of Matai Shang. + +"John Carter," she said, "this be the last time that you shall see any +of us. Tell me that you love me, that I may die happy." + +"I love only the Princess of Helium," I replied quietly. "I am sorry, +Phaidor, but it is as I have told you from the beginning." + +She bit her lip and turned away, but not before I saw the black and +ugly scowl she turned upon Dejah Thoris. Thereafter she stood a little +way apart, but not so far as I should have desired, for I had many +little confidences to impart to my long-lost love. + +For a few minutes we stood thus talking in low tones. Ever smaller and +smaller grew the opening. In a short time now it would be too small +even to permit the slender form of my Princess to pass. Oh, why did +not Xodar haste. Above we could hear the faint echoes of a great +tumult. It was the multitude of black and red and green men fighting +their way through the fire from the burning Temple of Issus. + +A draught from above brought the fumes of smoke to our nostrils. As we +stood waiting for Xodar the smoke became thicker and thicker. +Presently we heard shouting at the far end of the corridor, and +hurrying feet. + +"Come back, John Carter, come back!" cried a voice, "even the pits are +burning." + +In a moment a dozen men broke through the now blinding smoke to my +side. There was Carthoris, and Kantos Kan, and Hor Vastus, and Xodar, +with a few more who had followed me to the temple court. + +"There is no hope, John Carter," cried Xodar. "The keeper of the keys +is dead and his keys are not upon his carcass. Our only hope is to +quench this conflagration and trust to fate that a year will find your +Princess alive and well. I have brought sufficient food to last them. +When this crack closes no smoke can reach them, and if we hasten to +extinguish the flames I believe they will be safe." + +"Go, then, yourself and take these others with you," I replied. "I +shall remain here beside my Princess until a merciful death releases me +from my anguish. I care not to live." + +As I spoke Xodar had been tossing a great number of tiny cans within +the prison cell. The remaining crack was not over an inch in width a +moment later. Dejah Thoris stood as close to it as she could, +whispering words of hope and courage to me, and urging me to save +myself. + +Suddenly beyond her I saw the beautiful face of Phaidor contorted into +an expression of malign hatred. As my eyes met hers she spoke. + +"Think not, John Carter, that you may so lightly cast aside the love of +Phaidor, daughter of Matai Shang. Nor ever hope to hold thy Dejah +Thoris in thy arms again. Wait you the long, long year; but know that +when the waiting is over it shall be Phaidor's arms which shall welcome +you--not those of the Princess of Helium. Behold, she dies!" + +And as she finished speaking I saw her raise a dagger on high, and then +I saw another figure. It was Thuvia's. As the dagger fell toward the +unprotected breast of my love, Thuvia was almost between them. A +blinding gust of smoke blotted out the tragedy within that fearsome +cell--a shriek rang out, a single shriek, as the dagger fell. + +The smoke cleared away, but we stood gazing upon a blank wall. The +last crevice had closed, and for a long year that hideous chamber would +retain its secret from the eyes of men. + +They urged me to leave. + +"In a moment it will be too late," cried Xodar. "There is, in fact, +but a bare chance that we can come through to the outer garden alive +even now. I have ordered the pumps started, and in five minutes the +pits will be flooded. If we would not drown like rats in a trap we +must hasten above and make a dash for safety through the burning +temple." + +"Go," I urged them. "Let me die here beside my Princess--there is no +hope or happiness elsewhere for me. When they carry her dear body from +that terrible place a year hence let them find the body of her lord +awaiting her." + +Of what happened after that I have only a confused recollection. It +seems as though I struggled with many men, and then that I was picked +bodily from the ground and borne away. I do not know. I have never +asked, nor has any other who was there that day intruded on my sorrow +or recalled to my mind the occurrences which they know could but at +best reopen the terrible wound within my heart. + +Ah! If I could but know one thing, what a burden of suspense would be +lifted from my shoulders! But whether the assassin's dagger reached +one fair bosom or another, only time will divulge. + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Gods of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GODS OF MARS *** + +***** This file should be named 29405.txt or 29405.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/4/0/29405/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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