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-
-The Project Gutenberg Etext of A PRINCESS OF MARS
-
-by Edgar Rice Burroughs
-
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-
-
-
-ON THE ARIZONA HILLS
-
-
-I am a very old man; how old I do not know.  Possibly I am
-a hundred, possibly more; but I cannot tell because I have
-never aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood.
-So far as I can recollect I have always been a man, a man
-of about thirty.  I appear today as I did forty years and
-more ago, and yet I feel that I cannot go on living forever;
-that some day I shall die the real death from which there is
-no resurrection.  I do not know why I should fear death,
-I who have died twice and am still alive; but yet I have the
-same horror of it as you who have never died, and it is
-because of this terror of death, I believe, that I am so
-convinced of my mortality.
-
-And because of this conviction I have determined to write
-down the story of the interesting periods of my life and of
-my death.  I cannot explain the phenomena;I can only set
-down here in the words of an ordinary soldier of fortune a
-chronicle of the strange events that befell me during the ten
-years that my dead body lay undiscovered in an Arizona
-cave.
-
-I have never told this story, nor shall mortal man see this
-manuscript until after I have passed over for eternity.  I know
-that the average human mind will not believe what it cannot
-grasp, and so I do not purpose being pilloried by the public,
-the pulpit, and the press, and held up as a colossal
-liar when I am but telling the simple truths which some day
-science will substantiate.  Possibly the suggestions which I
-gained upon Mars, and the knowledge which I can set down
-in this chronicle, will aid in an earlier understanding of the
-mysteries of our sister planet; mysteries to you, but no
-longer mysteries to me.
-
-My name is John Carter; I am better known as Captain Jack
-Carter of Virginia.  At the close of the Civil War I found
-myself possessed of several hundred thousand dollars
-(Confederate) and a captain's commission in the cavalry arm
-of an army which no longer existed; the servant of a state
-which had vanished with the hopes of the South.  Masterless,
-penniless, and with my only means of livelihood, fighting,
-gone, I determined to work my way to the southwest and
-attempt to retrieve my fallen fortunes in a search for gold.
-
-I spent nearly a year prospecting in company with another
-Confederate officer, Captain James K. Powell of Richmond.
-We were extremely fortunate, for late in the winter of
-1865, after many hardships and privations, we located the
-most remarkable gold-bearing quartz vein that our wildest
-dreams had ever pictured.  Powell, who was a mining engineer
-by education, stated that we had uncovered over a million
-dollars worth of ore in a trifle over three months.
-
-As our equipment was crude in the extreme we decided
-that one of us must return to civilization, purchase the
-necessary machinery and return with a sufficient force of
-men properly to work the mine.
-
-As Powell was familiar with the country, as well as with
-the mechanical requirements of mining we determined that
-it would be best for him to make the trip.  It was agreed that
-I was to hold down our claim against the remote possibility
-of its being jumped by some wandering prospector.
-
-On March 3, 1866, Powell and I packed his provisions on
-two of our burros, and bidding me good-bye he mounted
-his horse, and started down the mountainside toward the
-valley, across which led the first stage of his journey.
-
-The morning of Powell's departure was, like nearly
-all Arizona mornings, clear and beautiful; I could see
-him and his little pack animals picking their way down the
-mountainside toward the valley, and all during the morning I
-would catch occasional glimpses of them as they topped a hog
-back or came out upon a level plateau.  My last sight of
-Powell was about three in the afternoon as he entered the
-shadows of the range on the opposite side of the valley.
-
-Some half hour later I happened to glance casually across
-the valley and was much surprised to note three little dots
-in about the same place I had last seen my friend and his
-two pack animals.  I am not given to needless worrying, but
-the more I tried to convince myself that all was well with
-Powell, and that the dots I had seen on his trail were
-antelope or wild horses, the less I was able to assure myself.
-
-Since we had entered the territory we had not seen a
-hostile Indian, and we had, therefore, become careless in the
-extreme, and were wont to ridicule the stories we had
-heard of the great numbers of these vicious marauders that
-were supposed to haunt the trails, taking their toll in lives
-and torture of every white party which fell into their
-merciless clutches.
-
-Powell, I knew, was well armed and, further, an
-experienced Indian fighter; but I too had lived and fought
-for years among the Sioux in the North, and I knew that his
-chances were small against a party of cunning trailing
-Apaches.  Finally I could endure the suspense no longer,
-and, arming myself with my two Colt revolvers and a
-carbine, I strapped two belts of cartridges about me and
-catching my saddle horse, started down the trail taken by
-Powell in the morning.
-
-As soon as I reached comparatively level ground I urged
-my mount into a canter and continued this, where the going
-permitted, until, close upon dusk, I discovered the point
-where other tracks joined those of Powell.  They were the
-tracks of unshod ponies, three of them, and the ponies had
-been galloping.
-
-I followed rapidly until, darkness shutting down, I was
-forced to await the rising of the moon, and given an opportunity
-to speculate on the question of the wisdom of my chase.
-Possibly I had conjured up impossible dangers, like
-some nervous old housewife, and when I should catch up
-with Powell would get a good laugh for my pains.
-However, I am not prone to sensitiveness, and the following
-of a sense of duty, wherever it may lead, has always been a
-kind of fetich with me throughout my life; which may account
-for the honors bestowed upon me by three republics and the
-decorations and friendships of an old and powerful emperor
-and several lesser kings, in whose service my sword has
-been red many a time.
-
-About nine o'clock the moon was sufficiently bright for
-me to proceed on my way and I had no difficulty in following
-the trail at a fast walk, and in some places at a brisk
-trot until, about midnight, I reached the water hole where
-Powell had expected to camp.  I came upon the spot unexpectedly,
-finding it entirely deserted, with no signs of having been
-recently occupied as a camp.
-
-I was interested to note that the tracks of the pursuing
-horsemen, for such I was now convinced they must be, continued
-after Powell with only a brief stop at the hole for water;
-and always at the same rate of speed as his.
-
-I was positive now that the trailers were Apaches and that
-they wished to capture Powell alive for the fiendish pleasure
-of the torture, so I urged my horse onward at a most
-dangerous pace, hoping against hope that I would catch up
-with the red rascals before they attacked him.
-
-Further speculation was suddenly cut short by the faint
-report of two shots far ahead of me.  I knew that Powell
-would need me now if ever, and I instantly urged my
-horse to his topmost speed up the narrow and difficult
-mountain trail.
-
-I had forged ahead for perhaps a mile or more without
-hearing further sounds, when the trail suddenly debouched
-onto a small, open plateau near the summit of the pass.  I
-had passed through a narrow, overhanging gorge just before
-entering suddenly upon this table land, and the sight which
-met my eyes filled me with consternation and dismay.
-
-The little stretch of level land was white with Indian
-tepees, and there were probably half a thousand red warriors
-clustered around some object near the center of the camp.
-Their attention was so wholly riveted to this point of interest
-that they did not notice me, and I easily could have
-turned back into the dark recesses of the gorge and made
-my escape with perfect safety.  The fact, however, that this
-thought did not occur to me until the following day removes
-any possible right to a claim to heroism to which the narration
-of this episode might possibly otherwise entitle me.
-
-I do not believe that I am made of the stuff which
-constitutes heroes, because, in all of the hundreds of instances
-that my voluntary acts have placed me face to face with
-death, I cannot recall a single one where any alternative
-step to that I took occurred to me until many hours later.
-My mind is evidently so constituted that I am subconsciously
-forced into the path of duty without recourse to tiresome
-mental processes.  However that may be, I have never regretted
-that cowardice is not optional with me.
-
-In this instance I was, of course, positive that Powell was
-the center of attraction, but whether I thought or acted first
-I do not know, but within an instant from the moment the
-scene broke upon my view I had whipped out my revolvers
-and was charging down upon the entire army of warriors,
-shooting rapidly, and whooping at the top of my lungs.
-Singlehanded, I could not have pursued better tactics, for
-the red men, convinced by sudden surprise that not less
-than a regiment of regulars was upon them, turned and fled
-in every direction for their bows, arrows, and rifles.
-
-The view which their hurried routing disclosed filled me
-with apprehension and with rage.  Under the clear rays of the
-Arizona moon lay Powell, his body fairly bristling with the
-hostile arrows of the braves.  That he was already dead I
-could not but be convinced, and yet I would have saved his
-body from mutilation at the hands of the Apaches as
-quickly as I would have saved the man himself from death.
-
-Riding close to him I reached down from the saddle,
-and grasping his cartridge belt drew him up across the withers
-of my mount.  A backward glance convinced me that to
-return by the way I had come would be more hazardous
-than to continue across the plateau, so, putting spurs to my
-poor beast, I made a dash for the opening to the pass which
-I could distinguish on the far side of the table land.
-
-The Indians had by this time discovered that I was alone
-and I was pursued with imprecations, arrows, and rifle balls.
-The fact that it is difficult to aim anything but imprecations
-accurately by moonlight, that they were upset by the sudden
-and unexpected manner of my advent, and that I was a
-rather rapidly moving target saved me from the various
-deadly projectiles of the enemy and permitted me to reach
-the shadows of the surrounding peaks before an orderly
-pursuit could be organized.
-
-My horse was traveling practically unguided as I knew
-that I had probably less knowledge of the exact location of
-the trail to the pass than he, and thus it happened that he
-entered a defile which led to the summit of the range and not
-to the pass which I had hoped would carry me to the
-valley and to safety.  It is probable, however, that to this
-fact I owe my life and the remarkable experiences and
-adventures which befell me during the following ten years.
-
-My first knowledge that I was on the wrong trail came
-when I heard the yells of the pursuing savages suddenly
-grow fainter and fainter far off to my left.
-
-I knew then that they had passed to the left of the jagged
-rock formation at the edge of the plateau, to the right of
-which my horse had borne me and the body of Powell.
-
-I drew rein on a little level promontory overlooking the
-trail below and to my left, and saw the party of pursuing
-savages disappearing around the point of a neighboring peak.
-
-I knew the Indians would soon discover that they were
-on the wrong trail and that the search for me would be renewed
-in the right direction as soon as they located my tracks.
-
-I had gone but a short distance further when what
-seemed to be an excellent trail opened up around the face of
-a high cliff.  The trail was level and quite broad and led upward
-and in the general direction I wished to go.  The cliff
-arose for several hundred feet on my right, and on my left
-was an equal and nearly perpendicular drop to the bottom
-of a rocky ravine.
-
-I had followed this trail for perhaps a hundred yards
-when a sharp turn to the right brought me to the mouth of
-a large cave.  The opening was about four feet in height and
-three to four feet wide, and at this opening the trail ended.
-
-It was now morning, and, with the customary lack of dawn
-which is a startling characteristic of Arizona, it had become
-daylight almost without warning.
-
-Dismounting, I laid Powell upon the ground, but the most
-painstaking examination failed to reveal the faintest spark
-of life.  I forced water from my canteen between his dead
-lips, bathed his face and rubbed his hands, working over him
-continuously for the better part of an hour in the face of
-the fact that I knew him to be dead.
-
-I was very fond of Powell; he was thoroughly a man in
-every respect; a polished southern gentleman; a staunch and
-true friend; and it was with a feeling of the deepest grief that
-I finally gave up my crude endeavors at resuscitation.
-
-Leaving Powell's body where it lay on the ledge I crept
-into the cave to reconnoiter.  I found a large chamber,
-possibly a hundred feet in diameter and thirty or forty feet
-in height; a smooth and well-worn floor, and many other
-evidences that the cave had, at some remote period, been inhabited.
-The back of the cave was so lost in dense shadow that I could not
-distinguish whether there were openings into other apartments or not.
-
-As I was continuing my examination I commenced to feel
-a pleasant drowsiness creeping over me which I attributed
-to the fatigue of my long and strenuous ride, and the reaction
-from the excitement of the fight and the pursuit.  I felt
-comparatively safe in my present location as I knew that
-one man could defend the trail to the cave against an army.
-
-I soon became so drowsy that I could scarcely resist the
-strong desire to throw myself on the floor of the cave for
-a few moments' rest, but I knew that this would never do, as
-it would mean certain death at the hands of my red friends,
-who might be upon me at any moment.  With an effort I
-started toward the opening of the cave only to reel drunkenly
-against a side wall, and from there slip prone upon the floor.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-
-THE ESCAPE OF THE DEAD
-
-
-A sense of delicious dreaminess overcame me, my muscles
-relaxed, and I was on the point of giving way to my desire
-to sleep when the sound of approaching horses reached my
-ears.  I attempted to spring to my feet but was horrified to
-discover that my muscles refused to respond to my will.  I was
-now thoroughly awake, but as unable to move a muscle as
-though turned to stone.  It was then, for the first time, that I
-noticed a slight vapor filling the cave.  It was extremely
-tenuous and only noticeable against the opening which led to
-daylight.  There also came to my nostrils a faintly pungent
-odor, and I could only assume that I had been overcome by
-some poisonous gas, but why I should retain my mental
-faculties and yet be unable to move I could not fathom.
-
-I lay facing the opening of the cave and where I could see
-the short stretch of trail which lay between the cave and the
-turn of the cliff around which the trail led.  The noise of the
-approaching horses had ceased, and I judged the Indians were
-creeping stealthily upon me along the little ledge which led to
-my living tomb.  I remember that I hoped they would make
-short work of me as I did not particularly relish the thought
-of the innumerable things they might do to me if the spirit
-prompted them.
-
-I had not long to wait before a stealthy sound apprised me
-of their nearness, and then a war-bonneted, paint-streaked
-face was thrust cautiously around the shoulder of the cliff, and
-savage eyes looked into mine.  That he could see me in the
-dim light of the cave I was sure for the early morning sun was
-falling full upon me through the opening.
-
-The fellow, instead of approaching, merely stood and stared;
-his eyes bulging and his jaw dropped.  And then another
-savage face appeared, and a third and fourth and fifth, craning
-their necks over the shoulders of their fellows whom they
-could not pass upon the narrow ledge.  Each face was the
-picture of awe and fear, but for what reason I did not know,
-nor did I learn until ten years later.  That there were still
-other braves behind those who regarded me was apparent from
-the fact that the leaders passed back whispered word to those
-behind them.
-
-Suddenly a low but distinct moaning sound issued from the
-recesses of the cave behind me, and, as it reached the ears of
-the Indians, they turned and fled in terror, panic-stricken.  So
-frantic were their efforts to escape from the unseen thing
-behind me that one of the braves was hurled headlong from
-the cliff to the rocks below.  Their wild cries echoed in the
-canyon for a short time, and then all was still once more.
-
-The sound which had frightened them was not repeated, but
-it had been sufficient as it was to start me speculating on the
-possible horror which lurked in the shadows at my back.  Fear
-is a relative term and so I can only measure my feelings at
-that time by what I had experienced in previous positions of
-danger and by those that I have passed through since; but I can
-say without shame that if the sensations I endured during the
-next few minutes were fear, then may God help the coward,
-for cowardice is of a surety its own punishment.
-
-To be held paralyzed, with one's back toward some horrible
-and unknown danger from the very sound of which the
-ferocious Apache warriors turn in wild stampede, as a flock of
-sheep would madly flee from a pack of wolves, seems to me
-the last word in fearsome predicaments for a man who had
-ever been used to fighting for his life with all the energy of a
-powerful physique.
-
-Several times I thought I heard faint sounds behind me as
-of somebody moving cautiously, but eventually even these
-ceased, and I was left to the contemplation of my position
-without interruption.  I could but vaguely conjecture the cause
-of my paralysis, and my only hope lay in that it might pass off
-as suddenly as it had fallen upon me.
-
-Late in the afternoon my horse, which had been standing
-with dragging rein before the cave, started slowly down the
-trail, evidently in search of food and water, and I was left
-alone with my mysterious unknown companion and the dead
-body of my friend, which lay just within my range of vision
-upon the ledge where I had placed it in the early morning.
-
-From then until possibly midnight all was silence, the
-silence of the dead; then, suddenly, the awful moan of the
-morning broke upon my startled ears, and there came again
-from the black shadows the sound of a moving thing, and a
-faint rustling as of dead leaves.  The shock to my already
-overstrained nervous system was terrible in the extreme, and
-with a superhuman effort I strove to break my awful bonds.
-It was an effort of the mind, of the will, of the nerves; not
-muscular, for I could not move even so much as my little
-finger, but none the less mighty for all that.  And then
-something gave, there was a momentary feeling of nausea, a sharp
-click as of the snapping of a steel wire, and I stood with my
-back against the wall of the cave facing my unknown foe.
-
-And then the moonlight flooded the cave, and there before
-me lay my own body as it had been lying all these hours,
-with the eyes staring toward the open ledge and the hands
-resting limply upon the ground.  I looked first at my lifeless
-clay there upon the floor of the cave and then down at myself
-in utter bewilderment; for there I lay clothed, and yet here I
-stood but naked as at the minute of my birth.
-
-The transition had been so sudden and so unexpected that
-it left me for a moment forgetful of aught else than my
-strange metamorphosis.  My first thought was, is this then
-death!  Have I indeed passed over forever into that other life!
-But I could not well believe this, as I could feel my heart
-pounding against my ribs from the exertion of my efforts to
-release myself from the anaesthesis which had held me.  My
-breath was coming in quick, short gasps, cold sweat stood out
-from every pore of my body, and the ancient experiment of
-pinching revealed the fact that I was anything other than a
-wraith.
-
-Again was I suddenly recalled to my immediate surroundings
-by a repetition of the weird moan from the depths of the
-cave.  Naked and unarmed as I was, I had no desire to face
-the unseen thing which menaced me.
-
-My revolvers were strapped to my lifeless body which, for
-some unfathomable reason, I could not bring myself to touch.
-My carbine was in its boot, strapped to my saddle, and as my
-horse had wandered off I was left without means of defense.
-My only alternative seemed to lie in flight and my decision
-was crystallized by a recurrence of the rustling sound from
-the thing which now seemed, in the darkness of the cave and
-to my distorted imagination, to be creeping stealthily upon me.
-
-Unable longer to resist the temptation to escape this horrible
-place I leaped quickly through the opening into the starlight
-of a clear Arizona night.  The crisp, fresh mountain air
-outside the cave acted as an immediate tonic and I felt new
-life and new courage coursing through me.  Pausing upon the
-brink of the ledge I upbraided myself for what now seemed
-to me wholly unwarranted apprehension.  I reasoned with
-myself that I had lain helpless for many hours within the
-cave, yet nothing had molested me, and my better judgment,
-when permitted the direction of clear and logical reasoning,
-convinced me that the noises I had heard must have resulted
-from purely natural and harmless causes; probably the
-conformation of the cave was such that a slight breeze had
-caused the sounds I heard.
-
-I decided to investigate, but first I lifted my head to fill my
-lungs with the pure, invigorating night air of the mountains.
-As I did so I saw stretching far below me the beautiful vista
-of rocky gorge, and level, cacti-studded flat, wrought by the
-moonlight into a miracle of soft splendor and wondrous enchantment.
-
-Few western wonders are more inspiring than the beauties
-of an Arizona moonlit landscape; the silvered mountains in
-the distance, the strange lights and shadows upon hog back
-and arroyo, and the grotesque details of the stiff, yet beautiful
-cacti form a picture at once enchanting and inspiring; as
-though one were catching for the first time a glimpse of some
-dead and forgotten world, so different is it from the aspect of
-any other spot upon our earth.
-
-As I stood thus meditating, I turned my gaze from the
-landscape to the heavens where the myriad stars formed a
-gorgeous and fitting canopy for the wonders of the earthly
-scene.  My attention was quickly riveted by a large red star
-close to the distant horizon.  As I gazed upon it I felt a spell
-of overpowering fascination--it was Mars, the god of war,
-and for me, the fighting man, it had always held the power of
-irresistible enchantment.  As I gazed at it on that far-gone
-night it seemed to call across the unthinkable void, to lure me
-to it, to draw me as the lodestone attracts a particle of iron.
-
-My longing was beyond the power of opposition; I closed
-my eyes, stretched out my arms toward the god of my vocation
-and felt myself drawn with the suddenness of thought through
-the trackless immensity of space.  There was an instant of
-extreme cold and utter darkness.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-
-MY ADVENT ON MARS
-
-
-I opened my eyes upon a strange and weird landscape.  I
-knew that I was on Mars; not once did I question either my
-sanity or my wakefulness.  I was not asleep, no need for pinching
-here; my inner consciousness told me as plainly that I was
-upon Mars as your conscious mind tells you that you are upon
-Earth.  You do not question the fact; neither did I.
-
-I found myself lying prone upon a bed of yellowish,
-mosslike vegetation which stretched around me in all directions
-for interminable miles.  I seemed to be lying in a deep, circular
-basin, along the outer verge of which I could distinguish the
-irregularities of low hills.
-
-It was midday, the sun was shining full upon me and the
-heat of it was rather intense upon my naked body, yet no
-greater than would have been true under similar conditions on
-an Arizona desert.  Here and there were slight outcroppings
-of quartz-bearing rock which glistened in the sunlight; and
-a little to my left, perhaps a hundred yards, appeared a low,
-walled enclosure about four feet in height.  No water, and
-no other vegetation than the moss was in evidence, and as I
-was somewhat thirsty I determined to do a little exploring.
-
-Springing to my feet I received my first Martian surprise,
-for the effort, which on Earth would have brought me standing
-upright, carried me into the Martian air to the height of about
-three yards.  I alighted softly upon the ground, however, without
-appreciable shock or jar.  Now commenced a series of
-evolutions which even then seemed ludicrous in the extreme.
-I found that I must learn to walk all over again, as the muscular
-exertion which carried me easily and safely upon Earth played
-strange antics with me upon Mars.
-
-Instead of progressing in a sane and dignified manner, my
-attempts to walk resulted in a variety of hops which took me
-clear of the ground a couple of feet at each step and landed
-me sprawling upon my face or back at the end of each second
-or third hop.  My muscles, perfectly attuned and accustomed
-to the force of gravity on Earth, played the mischief with me
-in attempting for the first time to cope with the lesser gravitation
-and lower air pressure on Mars.
-
-I was determined, however, to explore the low structure
-which was the only evidence of habitation in sight, and so I
-hit upon the unique plan of reverting to first principles in
-locomotion, creeping.  I did fairly well at this and in a few
-moments had reached the low, encircling wall of the enclosure.
-
-There appeared to be no doors or windows upon the side
-nearest me, but as the wall was but about four feet high I
-cautiously gained my feet and peered over the top upon the
-strangest sight it had ever been given me to see.
-
-The roof of the enclosure was of solid glass about four or
-five inches in thickness, and beneath this were several hundred
-large eggs, perfectly round and snowy white.  The eggs were
-nearly uniform in size being about two and one-half feet in
-diameter.
-
-Five or six had already hatched and the grotesque caricatures
-which sat blinking in the sunlight were enough to cause
-me to doubt my sanity.  They seemed mostly head, with little
-scrawny bodies, long necks and six legs, or, as I afterward
-learned, two legs and two arms, with an intermediary pair of
-limbs which could be used at will either as arms or legs.  Their
-eyes were set at the extreme sides of their heads a trifle above
-the center and protruded in such a manner that they could
-be directed either forward or back and also independently of
-each other, thus permitting this queer animal to look in any
-direction, or in two directions at once, without the necessity
-of turning the head.
-
-The ears, which were slightly above the eyes and closer together,
-were small, cup-shaped antennae, protruding not more than an inch on
-these young specimens.  Their noses were but longitudinal slits in
-the center of their faces, midway between their mouths and ears.
-
-There was no hair on their bodies, which were of a very
-light yellowish-green color.  In the adults, as I was to learn
-quite soon, this color deepens to an olive green and is darker
-in the male than in the female.  Further, the heads of the
-adults are not so out of proportion to their bodies as in the
-case of the young.
-
-The iris of the eyes is blood red, as in Albinos, while the
-pupil is dark.  The eyeball itself is very white, as are the teeth.
-These latter add a most ferocious appearance to an otherwise
-fearsome and terrible countenance, as the lower tusks
-curve upward to sharp points which end about where the eyes
-of earthly human beings are located.  The whiteness of the
-teeth is not that of ivory, but of the snowiest and most gleaming
-of china.  Against the dark background of their olive
-skins their tusks stand out in a most striking manner, making
-these weapons present a singularly formidable appearance.
-
-Most of these details I noted later, for I was given but little
-time to speculate on the wonders of my new discovery.  I had
-seen that the eggs were in the process of hatching, and as I
-stood watching the hideous little monsters break from their
-shells I failed to note the approach of a score of full-grown
-Martians from behind me.
-
-Coming, as they did, over the soft and soundless moss,
-which covers practically the entire surface of Mars with the
-exception of the frozen areas at the poles and the scattered
-cultivated districts, they might have captured me easily, but
-their intentions were far more sinister.  It was the rattling of
-the accouterments of the foremost warrior which warned me.
-
-On such a little thing my life hung that I often marvel that
-I escaped so easily.  Had not the rifle of the leader of the
-party swung from its fastenings beside his saddle in such a
-way as to strike against the butt of his great metal shod spear
-I should have snuffed out without ever knowing that death was
-near me.  But the little sound caused me to turn, and there
-upon me, not ten feet from my breast, was the point of that
-huge spear, a spear forty feet long, tipped with gleaming
-metal, and held low at the side of a mounted replica of the
-little devils I had been watching.
-
-But how puny and harmless they now looked beside this
-huge and terrific incarnation of hate, of vengeance and of
-death.  The man himself, for such I may call him, was fully
-fifteen feet in height and, on Earth, would have weighed some
-four hundred pounds.  He sat his mount as we sit a horse,
-grasping the animal's barrel with his lower limbs, while the
-hands of his two right arms held his immense spear low at the
-side of his mount; his two left arms were outstretched laterally
-to help preserve his balance, the thing he rode having neither
-bridle or reins of any description for guidance.
-
-And his mount!  How can earthly words describe it!  It
-towered ten feet at the shoulder; had four legs on either
-side; a broad flat tail, larger at the tip than at the root, and
-which it held straight out behind while running; a gaping
-mouth which split its head from its snout to its long, massive
-neck.
-
-Like its master, it was entirely devoid of hair, but was of a
-dark slate color and exceeding smooth and glossy.  Its belly
-was white, and its legs shaded from the slate of its shoulders
-and hips to a vivid yellow at the feet.  The feet themselves were
-heavily padded and nailless, which fact had also contributed
-to the noiselessness of their approach, and, in common
-with a multiplicity of legs, is a characteristic feature of the
-fauna of Mars.  The highest type of man and one other animal,
-the only mammal existing on Mars, alone have well-formed
-nails, and there are absolutely no hoofed animals in existence
-there.
-
-Behind this first charging demon trailed nineteen others,
-similar in all respects, but, as I learned later, bearing
-individual characteristics peculiar to themselves; precisely as
-no two of us are identical although we are all cast in a similar
-mold.  This picture, or rather materialized nightmare, which
-I have described at length, made but one terrible and swift
-impression on me as I turned to meet it.
-
-Unarmed and naked as I was, the first law of nature manifested
-itself in the only possible solution of my immediate problem,
-and that was to get out of the vicinity of the point of
-the charging spear.  Consequently I gave a very earthly and at
-the same time superhuman leap to reach the top of the
-Martian incubator, for such I had determined it must be.
-
-My effort was crowned with a success which appalled me
-no less than it seemed to surprise the Martian warriors, for it
-carried me fully thirty feet into the air and landed me a
-hundred feet from my pursuers and on the opposite side of
-the enclosure.
-
-I alighted upon the soft moss easily and without mishap,
-and turning saw my enemies lined up along the further wall.
-Some were surveying me with expressions which I afterward
-discovered marked extreme astonishment, and the others were
-evidently satisfying themselves that I had not molested their
-young.
-
-They were conversing together in low tones, and
-gesticulating and pointing toward me.  Their discovery that I had
-not harmed the little Martians, and that I was unarmed, must have
-caused them to look upon me with less ferocity; but, as I was
-to learn later, the thing which weighed most in my favor was
-my exhibition of hurdling.
-
-While the Martians are immense, their bones are very large
-and they are muscled only in proportion to the gravitation
-which they must overcome.  The result is that they are infinitely
-less agile and less powerful, in proportion to their weight,
-than an Earth man, and I doubt that were one of them suddenly
-to be transported to Earth he could lift his own weight from
-the ground; in fact, I am convinced that he could not do so.
-
-My feat then was as marvelous upon Mars as it would have
-been upon Earth, and from desiring to annihilate me they
-suddenly looked upon me as a wonderful discovery to be
-captured and exhibited among their fellows.
-
-The respite my unexpected agility had given me permitted
-me to formulate plans for the immediate future and to note
-more closely the appearance of the warriors, for I could not
-disassociate these people in my mind from those other
-warriors who, only the day before, had been pursuing me.
-
-I noted that each was armed with several other weapons in
-addition to the huge spear which I have described.  The
-weapon which caused me to decide against an attempt at
-escape by flight was what was evidently a rifle of some
-description, and which I felt, for some reason, they were
-peculiarly efficient in handling.
-
-These rifles were of a white metal stocked with wood, which
-I learned later was a very light and intensely hard growth
-much prized on Mars, and entirely unknown to us denizens
-of Earth.  The metal of the barrel is an alloy composed
-principally of aluminum and steel which they have learned
-to temper to a hardness far exceeding that of the steel with
-which we are familiar.  The weight of these rifles is comparatively
-little, and with the small caliber, explosive, radium projectiles
-which they use, and the great length of the barrel, they are
-deadly in the extreme and at ranges which would be unthinkable
-on Earth.  The theoretic effective radius of this rifle is
-three hundred miles, but the best they can do in actual
-service when equipped with their wireless finders and
-sighters is but a trifle over two hundred miles.
-
-This is quite far enough to imbue me with great respect for
-the Martian firearm, and some telepathic force must have
-warned me against an attempt to escape in broad daylight
-from under the muzzles of twenty of these death-dealing
-machines.
-
-The Martians, after conversing for a short time, turned and
-rode away in the direction from which they had come, leaving
-one of their number alone by the enclosure.  When they had
-covered perhaps two hundred yards they halted, and turning
-their mounts toward us sat watching the warrior by the
-enclosure.
-
-He was the one whose spear had so nearly transfixed me,
-and was evidently the leader of the band, as I had noted that
-they seemed to have moved to their present position at his
-direction.  When his force had come to a halt he dismounted,
-threw down his spear and small arms, and came around the
-end of the incubator toward me, entirely unarmed and as
-naked as I, except for the ornaments strapped upon his head,
-limbs, and breast.
-
-When he was within about fifty feet of me he unclasped an
-enormous metal armlet, and holding it toward me in the
-open palm of his hand, addressed me in a clear, resonant
-voice, but in a language, it is needless to say, I could not
-understand.  He then stopped as though waiting for my reply,
-pricking up his antennae-like ears and cocking his strange-looking
-eyes still further toward me.
-
-As the silence became painful I concluded to hazard a little
-conversation on my own part, as I had guessed that he was
-making overtures of peace.  The throwing down of his weapons
-and the withdrawing of his troop before his advance toward
-me would have signified a peaceful mission anywhere on
-Earth, so why not, then, on Mars!
-
-Placing my hand over my heart I bowed low to the Martian
-and explained to him that while I did not understand his
-language, his actions spoke for the peace and friendship that
-at the present moment were most dear to my heart.  Of course
-I might have been a babbling brook for all the intelligence
-my speech carried to him, but he understood the action with
-which I immediately followed my words.
-
-Stretching my hand toward him, I advanced and took the
-armlet from his open palm, clasping it about my arm above the
-elbow; smiled at him and stood waiting.  His wide mouth
-spread into an answering smile, and locking one of his
-intermediary arms in mine we turned and walked back toward
-his mount.  At the same time he motioned his followers to
-advance.  They started toward us on a wild run, but were checked
-by a signal from him.  Evidently he feared that were I to be
-really frightened again I might jump entirely out of the landscape.
-
-He exchanged a few words with his men, motioned to me
-that I would ride behind one of them, and then mounted his
-own animal.  The fellow designated reached down two or
-three hands and lifted me up behind him on the glossy
-back of his mount, where I hung on as best I could by the
-belts and straps which held the Martian's weapons and ornaments.
-
-
-The entire cavalcade then turned and galloped away toward
-the range of hills in the distance.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-
-A PRISONER
-
-
-We had gone perhaps ten miles when the ground began to
-rise very rapidly.  We were, as I was later to learn, nearing the
-edge of one of Mars' long-dead seas, in the bottom of which
-my encounter with the Martians had taken place.
-
-In a short time we gained the foot of the mountains, and
-after traversing a narrow gorge came to an open valley, at the
-far extremity of which was a low table land upon which I
-beheld an enormous city.  Toward this we galloped, entering it
-by what appeared to be a ruined roadway leading out from the
-city, but only to the edge of the table land, where it ended
-abruptly in a flight of broad steps.
-
-Upon closer observation I saw as we passed them that the
-buildings were deserted, and while not greatly decayed had
-the appearance of not having been tenanted for years, possibly
-for ages.  Toward the center of the city was a large plaza, and
-upon this and in the buildings immediately surrounding it
-were camped some nine or ten hundred creatures of the same
-breed as my captors, for such I now considered them despite
-the suave manner in which I had been trapped.
-
-With the exception of their ornaments all were naked.  The
-women varied in appearance but little from the men, except
-that their tusks were much larger in proportion to their height,
-in some instances curving nearly to their high-set ears.  Their
-bodies were smaller and lighter in color, and their fingers
-and toes bore the rudiments of nails, which were entirely
-lacking among the males.  The adult females ranged in height
-from ten to twelve feet.
-
-The children were light in color, even lighter than the
-women, and all looked precisely alike to me, except that some
-were taller than others; older, I presumed.
-
-I saw no signs of extreme age among them, nor is there any
-appreciable difference in their appearance from the age of
-maturity, about forty, until, at about the age of one thousand
-years, they go voluntarily upon their last strange pilgrimage
-down the river Iss, which leads no living Martian knows
-whither and from whose bosom no Martian has ever returned,
-or would be allowed to live did he return after once embarking
-upon its cold, dark waters.
-
-Only about one Martian in a thousand dies of sickness or
-disease, and possibly about twenty take the voluntary pilgrimage.
-The other nine hundred and seventy-nine die violent deaths
-in duels, in hunting, in aviation and in war; but perhaps by far
-the greatest death loss comes during the age of childhood,
-when vast numbers of the little Martians fall victims
-to the great white apes of Mars.
-
-The average life expectancy of a Martian after the age of
-maturity is about three hundred years, but would be nearer
-the one-thousand mark were it not for the various means
-leading to violent death.  Owing to the waning resources
-of the planet it evidently became necessary to counteract
-the increasing longevity which their remarkable skill in
-therapeutics and surgery produced, and so human life has come
-to be considered but lightly on Mars, as is evidenced by their
-dangerous sports and the almost continual warfare between
-the various communities.
-
-There are other and natural causes tending toward a
-diminution of population, but nothing contributes so greatly
-to this end as the fact that no male or female Martian is ever
-voluntarily without a weapon of destruction.
-
-As we neared the plaza and my presence was discovered we
-were immediately surrounded by hundreds of the creatures
-who seemed anxious to pluck me from my seat behind my
-guard.  A word from the leader of the party stilled their
-clamor, and we proceeded at a trot across the plaza to the
-entrance of as magnificent an edifice as mortal eye has rested
-upon.
-
-The building was low, but covered an enormous area.  It
-was constructed of gleaming white marble inlaid with gold
-and brilliant stones which sparkled and scintillated in the
-sunlight.  The main entrance was some hundred feet in width
-and projected from the building proper to form a huge canopy
-above the entrance hall.  There was no stairway, but a gentle
-incline to the first floor of the building opened into an
-enormous chamber encircled by galleries.
-
-On the floor of this chamber, which was dotted with highly
-carved wooden desks and chairs, were assembled about forty
-or fifty male Martians around the steps of a rostrum.  On the
-platform proper squatted an enormous warrior heavily loaded
-with metal ornaments, gay-colored feathers and beautifully
-wrought leather trappings ingeniously set with precious stones.
-From his shoulders depended a short cape of white fur lined
-with brilliant scarlet silk.
-
-What struck me as most remarkable about this assemblage
-and the hall in which they were congregated was the fact
-that the creatures were entirely out of proportion to the desks,
-chairs, and other furnishings; these being of a size adapted to
-human beings such as I, whereas the great bulks of the
-Martians could scarcely have squeezed into the chairs, nor was
-there room beneath the desks for their long legs.  Evidently,
-then, there were other denizens on Mars than the wild and
-grotesque creatures into whose hands I had fallen, but the
-evidences of extreme antiquity which showed all around me
-indicated that these buildings might have belonged to some
-long-extinct and forgotten race in the dim antiquity of Mars.
-
-Our party had halted at the entrance to the building, and at
-a sign from the leader I had been lowered to the ground.
-Again locking his arm in mine, we had proceeded into the
-audience chamber.  There were few formalities observed in
-approaching the Martian chieftain.  My captor merely strode
-up to the rostrum, the others making way for him as he
-advanced.  The chieftain rose to his feet and uttered the name
-of my escort who, in turn, halted and repeated the name of
-the ruler followed by his title.
-
-At the time, this ceremony and the words they uttered
-meant nothing to me, but later I came to know that this was
-the customary greeting between green Martians.  Had the men
-been strangers, and therefore unable to exchange names, they
-would have silently exchanged ornaments, had their missions
-been peaceful--otherwise they would have exchanged shots,
-or have fought out their introduction with some other of their
-various weapons.
-
-My captor, whose name was Tars Tarkas, was virtually the
-vice-chieftain of the community, and a man of great ability as
-a statesman and warrior.  He evidently explained briefly the
-incidents connected with his expedition, including my capture,
-and when he had concluded the chieftain addressed me at
-some length.
-
-I replied in our good old English tongue merely to
-convince him that neither of us could understand the other;
-but I noticed that when I smiled slightly on concluding, he did
-likewise.  This fact, and the similar occurrence during my first
-talk with Tars Tarkas, convinced me that we had at least
-something in common; the ability to smile, therefore to laugh;
-denoting a sense of humor.  But I was to learn that the
-Martian smile is merely perfunctory, and that the Martian
-laugh is a thing to cause strong men to blanch in horror.
-
-The ideas of humor among the green men of Mars are
-widely at variance with our conceptions of incitants to
-merriment.  The death agonies of a fellow being are, to these
-strange creatures provocative of the wildest hilarity, while
-their chief form of commonest amusement is to inflict death
-on their prisoners of war in various ingenious and horrible
-ways.
-
-The assembled warriors and chieftains examined me closely,
-feeling my muscles and the texture of my skin.  The principal
-chieftain then evidently signified a desire to see me perform,
-and, motioning me to follow, he started with Tars Tarkas for
-the open plaza.
-
-Now, I had made no attempt to walk, since my first signal
-failure, except while tightly grasping Tars Tarkas' arm, and
-so now I went skipping and flitting about among the desks
-and chairs like some monstrous grasshopper.  After bruising
-myself severely, much to the amusement of the Martians, I
-again had recourse to creeping, but this did not suit them and
-I was roughly jerked to my feet by a towering fellow who had
-laughed most heartily at my misfortunes.
-
-As he banged me down upon my feet his face was bent
-close to mine and I did the only thing a gentleman might do
-under the circumstances of brutality, boorishness, and lack of
-consideration for a stranger's rights; I swung my fist squarely
-to his jaw and he went down like a felled ox.  As he sunk to
-the floor I wheeled around with my back toward the nearest
-desk, expecting to be overwhelmed by the vengeance of his
-fellows, but determined to give them as good a battle as the
-unequal odds would permit before I gave up my life.
-
-My fears were groundless, however, as the other Martians,
-at first struck dumb with wonderment, finally broke into wild
-peals of laughter and applause.  I did not recognize the
-applause as such, but later, when I had become acquainted
-with their customs, I learned that I had won what they seldom
-accord, a manifestation of approbation.
-
-The fellow whom I had struck lay where he had fallen, nor
-did any of his mates approach him.  Tars Tarkas advanced
-toward me, holding out one of his arms, and we thus proceeded
-to the plaza without further mishap.  I did not, of course,
-know the reason for which we had come to the open, but I
-was not long in being enlightened.  They first repeated
-the word "sak" a number of times, and then Tars Tarkas made
-several jumps, repeating the same word before each leap; then,
-turning to me, he said, "sak!"  I saw what they were after, and
-gathering myself together I "sakked" with such marvelous
-success that I cleared a good hundred and fifty feet; nor did I
-this time, lose my equilibrium, but landed squarely upon my
-feet without falling.  I then returned by easy jumps of twenty-
-five or thirty feet to the little group of warriors.
-
-My exhibition had been witnessed by several hundred lesser
-Martians, and they immediately broke into demands for a
-repetition, which the chieftain then ordered me to make; but
-I was both hungry and thirsty, and determined on the spot
-that my only method of salvation was to demand the
-consideration from these creatures which they evidently would
-not voluntarily accord.  I therefore ignored the repeated
-commands to "sak," and each time they were made I motioned
-to my mouth and rubbed my stomach.
-
-Tars Tarkas and the chief exchanged a few words, and the
-former, calling to a young female among the throng, gave
-her some instructions and motioned me to accompany her.  I
-grasped her proffered arm and together we crossed the plaza
-toward a large building on the far side.
-
-My fair companion was about eight feet tall, having just
-arrived at maturity, but not yet to her full height.  She was of
-a light olive-green color, with a smooth, glossy hide.  Her
-name, as I afterward learned, was Sola, and she belonged to
-the retinue of Tars Tarkas.  She conducted me to a spacious
-chamber in one of the buildings fronting on the plaza, and
-which, from the litter of silks and furs upon the floor, I took
-to be the sleeping quarters of several of the natives.
-
-The room was well lighted by a number of large windows
-and was beautifully decorated with mural paintings and mosaics,
-but upon all there seemed to rest that indefinable touch
-of the finger of antiquity which convinced me that the
-architects and builders of these wondrous creations had nothing
-in common with the crude half-brutes which now occupied them.
-
-Sola motioned me to be seated upon a pile of silks near
-the center of the room, and, turning, made a peculiar hissing
-sound, as though signaling to someone in an adjoining room.
-In response to her call I obtained my first sight of a new
-Martian wonder.  It waddled in on its ten short legs, and
-squatted down before the girl like an obedient puppy.  The
-thing was about the size of a Shetland pony, but its head bore
-a slight resemblance to that of a frog, except that the jaws
-were equipped with three rows of long, sharp tusks.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-
-I ELUDE MY WATCH DOG
-
-
-Sola stared into the brute's wicked-looking eyes, muttered a
-word or two of command, pointed to me, and left the chamber.
-I could not but wonder what this ferocious-looking monstrosity
-might do when left alone in such close proximity to such a
-relatively tender morsel of meat; but my fears were groundless,
-as the beast, after surveying me intently for a moment, crossed
-the room to the only exit which led to the street, and lay down
-full length across the threshold.
-
-This was my first experience with a Martian watch dog, but
-it was destined not to be my last, for this fellow guarded me
-carefully during the time I remained a captive among these
-green men; twice saving my life, and never voluntarily being
-away from me a moment.
-
-While Sola was away I took occasion to examine more
-minutely the room in which I found myself captive.  The
-mural painting depicted scenes of rare and wonderful beauty;
-mountains, rivers, lake, ocean, meadow, trees and flowers,
-winding roadways, sun-kissed gardens--scenes which might
-have portrayed earthly views but for the different colorings of
-the vegetation.  The work had evidently been wrought by a
-master hand, so subtle the atmosphere, so perfect the technique;
-yet nowhere was there a representation of a living animal,
-either human or brute, by which I could guess at the likeness
-of these other and perhaps extinct denizens of Mars.
-
-While I was allowing my fancy to run riot in wild conjecture
-on the possible explanation of the strange anomalies which
-I had so far met with on Mars, Sola returned bearing both
-food and drink.  These she placed on the floor beside me,
-and seating herself a short ways off regarded me intently.
-The food consisted of about a pound of some solid substance of
-the consistency of cheese and almost tasteless, while the liquid
-was apparently milk from some animal.  It was not unpleasant
-to the taste, though slightly acid, and I learned in a short time
-to prize it very highly.  It came, as I later discovered, not from
-an animal, as there is only one mammal on Mars and that one
-very rare indeed, but from a large plant which grows practically
-without water, but seems to distill its plentiful supply of
-milk from the products of the soil, the moisture of the air,
-and the rays of the sun.  A single plant of this species will give
-eight or ten quarts of milk per day.
-
-After I had eaten I was greatly invigorated, but feeling the
-need of rest I stretched out upon the silks and was soon
-asleep.  I must have slept several hours, as it was dark when
-I awoke, and I was very cold.  I noticed that someone had
-thrown a fur over me, but it had become partially dislodged
-and in the darkness I could not see to replace it.  Suddenly a
-hand reached out and pulled the fur over me, shortly afterwards
-adding another to my covering.
-
-I presumed that my watchful guardian was Sola, nor was
-I wrong.  This girl alone, among all the green Martians with
-whom I came in contact, disclosed characteristics of sympathy,
-kindliness, and affection; her ministrations to my bodily wants
-were unfailing, and her solicitous care saved me from much
-suffering and many hardships.
-
-As I was to learn, the Martian nights are extremely cold,
-and as there is practically no twilight or dawn, the changes
-in temperature are sudden and most uncomfortable, as are the
-transitions from brilliant daylight to darkness.  The nights are
-either brilliantly illumined or very dark, for if neither of the
-two moons of Mars happen to be in the sky almost total
-darkness results, since the lack of atmosphere, or, rather, the
-very thin atmosphere, fails to diffuse the starlight to any
-great extent; on the other hand, if both of the moons are in
-the heavens at night the surface of the ground is brightly
-illuminated.
-
-Both of Mars' moons are vastly nearer her than is our
-moon to Earth; the nearer moon being but about five thousand
-miles distant, while the further is but little more than
-fourteen thousand miles away, against the nearly one-quarter
-million miles which separate us from our moon.  The nearer
-moon of Mars makes a complete revolution around the planet
-in a little over seven and one-half hours, so that she may be
-seen hurtling through the sky like some huge meteor two or
-three times each night, revealing all her phases during each
-transit of the heavens.
-
-The further moon revolves about Mars in something over
-thirty and one-quarter hours, and with her sister satellite
-makes a nocturnal Martian scene one of splendid and weird
-grandeur.  And it is well that nature has so graciously and
-abundantly lighted the Martian night, for the green men of
-Mars, being a nomadic race without high intellectual development,
-have but crude means for artificial lighting; depending
-principally upon torches, a kind of candle, and a peculiar oil
-lamp which generates a gas and burns without a wick.
-
-This last device produces an intensely brilliant far-reaching
-white light, but as the natural oil which it requires can only
-be obtained by mining in one of several widely separated and
-remote localities it is seldom used by these creatures whose
-only thought is for today, and whose hatred for manual labor
-has kept them in a semi-barbaric state for countless ages.
-
-After Sola had replenished my coverings I again slept, nor
-did I awaken until daylight.  The other occupants of the room,
-five in number, were all females, and they were still sleeping,
-piled high with a motley array of silks and furs.  Across the
-threshold lay stretched the sleepless guardian brute, just as I
-had last seen him on the preceding day; apparently he had not
-moved a muscle; his eyes were fairly glued upon me, and I
-fell to wondering just what might befall me should I endeavor
-to escape.
-I have ever been prone to seek adventure and to investigate
-and experiment where wiser men would have left well enough
-alone.  It therefore now occurred to me that the surest way of
-learning the exact attitude of this beast toward me would be
-to attempt to leave the room.  I felt fairly secure in my belief
-that I could escape him should he pursue me once I was
-outside the building, for I had begun to take great pride in
-my ability as a jumper.  Furthermore, I could see from the
-shortness of his legs that the brute himself was no jumper and
-probably no runner.
-
-Slowly and carefully, therefore, I gained my feet, only to
-see that my watcher did the same; cautiously I advanced
-toward him, finding that by moving with a shuffling gait I
-could retain my balance as well as make reasonably rapid
-progress.  As I neared the brute he backed cautiously away
-from me, and when I had reached the open he moved to one
-side to let me pass.  He then fell in behind me and followed
-about ten paces in my rear as I made my way along the
-deserted street.
-
-Evidently his mission was to protect me only, I thought,
-but when we reached the edge of the city he suddenly sprang
-before me, uttering strange sounds and baring his ugly and
-ferocious tusks.  Thinking to have some amusement at his
-expense, I rushed toward him, and when almost upon him
-sprang into the air, alighting far beyond him and away from
-the city.  He wheeled instantly and charged me with the most
-appalling speed I had ever beheld.  I had thought his short
-legs a bar to swiftness, but had he been coursing with
-greyhounds the latter would have appeared as though asleep
-on a door mat.  As I was to learn, this is the fleetest animal
-on Mars, and owing to its intelligence, loyalty, and ferocity is
-used in hunting, in war, and as the protector of the Martian man.
-
-I quickly saw that I would have difficulty in escaping the
-fangs of the beast on a straightaway course, and so I met his
-charge by doubling in my tracks and leaping over him as he
-was almost upon me.  This maneuver gave me a considerable
-advantage, and I was able to reach the city quite a bit ahead
-of him, and as he came tearing after me I jumped for a window
-about thirty feet from the ground in the face of one of the
-buildings overlooking the valley.
-
-Grasping the sill I pulled myself up to a sitting posture
-without looking into the building, and gazed down at the
-baffled animal beneath me.  My exultation was short-lived,
-however, for scarcely had I gained a secure seat upon the sill
-than a huge hand grasped me by the neck from behind and
-dragged me violently into the room.  Here I was thrown upon
-my back, and beheld standing over me a colossal ape-like
-creature, white and hairless except for an enormous shock of
-bristly hair upon its head.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-
-A FIGHT THAT WON FRIENDS
-
-
-The thing, which more nearly resembled our earthly men
-than it did the Martians I had seen, held me pinioned to the
-ground with one huge foot, while it jabbered and gesticulated
-at some answering creature behind me.  This other, which was
-evidently its mate, soon came toward us, bearing a mighty
-stone cudgel with which it evidently intended to brain me.
-
-The creatures were about ten or fifteen feet tall, standing
-erect, and had, like the green Martians, an intermediary set
-of arms or legs, midway between their upper and lower limbs.
-Their eyes were close together and non-protruding; their ears
-were high set, but more laterally located than those of the
-Martians, while their snouts and teeth were strikingly like
-those of our African gorilla.  Altogether they were not unlovely
-when viewed in comparison with the green Martians.
-
-The cudgel was swinging in the arc which ended upon my
-upturned face when a bolt of myriad-legged horror hurled itself
-through the doorway full upon the breast of my executioner.
-With a shriek of fear the ape which held me leaped through
-the open window, but its mate closed in a terrific death
-struggle with my preserver, which was nothing less than
-my faithful watch-thing; I cannot bring myself to call so
-hideous a creature a dog.
-
-As quickly as possible I gained my feet and backing against
-the wall I witnessed such a battle as it is vouchsafed few
-beings to see.  The strength, agility, and blind ferocity of these
-two creatures is approached by nothing known to earthly man.
-My beast had an advantage in his first hold, having sunk his
-mighty fangs far into the breast of his adversary; but the
-great arms and paws of the ape, backed by muscles far
-transcending those of the Martian men I had seen, had locked
-the throat of my guardian and slowly were choking out his
-life, and bending back his head and neck upon his body, where
-I momentarily expected the former to fall limp at the end of a
-broken neck.
-
-In accomplishing this the ape was tearing away the entire
-front of its breast, which was held in the vise-like grip of the
-powerful jaws.  Back and forth upon the floor they rolled,
-neither one emitting a sound of fear or pain.  Presently I saw
-the great eyes of my beast bulging completely from their
-sockets and blood flowing from its nostrils.  That he was
-weakening perceptibly was evident, but so also was the ape,
-whose struggles were growing momentarily less.
-
-Suddenly I came to myself and, with that strange instinct
-which seems ever to prompt me to my duty, I seized the
-cudgel, which had fallen to the floor at the commencement of
-the battle, and swinging it with all the power of my earthly
-arms I crashed it full upon the head of the ape, crushing his
-skull as though it had been an eggshell.
-
-Scarcely had the blow descended when I was confronted
-with a new danger.  The ape's mate, recovered from its first
-shock of terror, had returned to the scene of the encounter
-by way of the interior of the building.  I glimpsed him just
-before he reached the doorway and the sight of him, now
-roaring as he perceived his lifeless fellow stretched upon the
-floor, and frothing at the mouth, in the extremity of his rage,
-filled me, I must confess, with dire forebodings.
-
-I am ever willing to stand and fight when the odds are not
-too overwhelmingly against me, but in this instance I perceived
-neither glory nor profit in pitting my relatively puny strength
-against the iron muscles and brutal ferocity of this enraged
-denizen of an unknown world; in fact, the only outcome
-of such an encounter, so far as I might be concerned,
-seemed sudden death.
-
-I was standing near the window and I knew that once in
-the street I might gain the plaza and safety before the creature
-could overtake me; at least there was a chance for safety in
-flight, against almost certain death should I remain and fight
-however desperately.
-
-It is true I held the cudgel, but what could I do with it
-against his four great arms?  Even should I break one of them
-with my first blow, for I figured that he would attempt to ward
-off the cudgel, he could reach out and annihilate me with the
-others before I could recover for a second attack.
-
-In the instant that these thoughts passed through my mind
-I had turned to make for the window, but my eyes alighting on
-the form of my erstwhile guardian threw all thoughts of flight
-to the four winds.  He lay gasping upon the floor of the
-chamber, his great eyes fastened upon me in what seemed a
-pitiful appeal for protection.  I could not withstand that look,
-nor could I, on second thought, have deserted my rescuer
-without giving as good an account of myself in his behalf
-as he had in mine.
-
-Without more ado, therefore, I turned to meet the charge
-of the infuriated bull ape.  He was now too close upon me for
-the cudgel to prove of any effective assistance, so I merely
-threw it as heavily as I could at his advancing bulk.  It struck
-him just below the knees, eliciting a howl of pain and rage,
-and so throwing him off his balance that he lunged full upon
-me with arms wide stretched to ease his fall.
-
-Again, as on the preceding day, I had recourse to earthly
-tactics, and swinging my right fist full upon the point of his
-chin I followed it with a smashing left to the pit of his
-stomach.  The effect was marvelous, for, as I lightly
-sidestepped, after delivering the second blow, he reeled
-and fell upon the floor doubled up with pain and gasping
-for wind. Leaping over his prostrate body, I seized the cudgel
-and finished the monster before he could regain his feet.
-
-As I delivered the blow a low laugh rang out behind me,
-and, turning, I beheld Tars Tarkas, Sola, and three or four
-warriors standing in the doorway of the chamber.  As my eyes
-met theirs I was, for the second time, the recipient of their
-zealously guarded applause.
-
-My absence had been noted by Sola on her awakening, and
-she had quickly informed Tars Tarkas, who had set out
-immediately with a handful of warriors to search for me.
-As they had approached the limits of the city they had witnessed
-the actions of the bull ape as he bolted into the building,
-frothing with rage.
-
-They had followed immediately behind him, thinking it
-barely possible that his actions might prove a clew to my
-whereabouts and had witnessed my short but decisive battle
-with him.  This encounter, together with my set-to with the
-Martian warrior on the previous day and my feats of jumping
-placed me upon a high pinnacle in their regard.  Evidently
-devoid of all the finer sentiments of friendship, love, or
-affection, these people fairly worship physical prowess and
-bravery, and nothing is too good for the object of their
-adoration as long as he maintains his position by repeated
-examples of his skill, strength, and courage.
-
-Sola, who had accompanied the searching party of her own
-volition, was the only one of the Martians whose face had not
-been twisted in laughter as I battled for my life.  She, on the
-contrary, was sober with apparent solicitude and, as soon as I
-had finished the monster, rushed to me and carefully examined
-my body for possible wounds or injuries.  Satisfying herself
-that I had come off unscathed she smiled quietly, and,
-taking my hand, started toward the door of the chamber.
-
-Tars Tarkas and the other warriors had entered and were
-standing over the now rapidly reviving brute which had saved
-my life, and whose life I, in turn, had rescued.  They seemed
-to be deep in argument, and finally one of them addressed me,
-but remembering my ignorance of his language turned back to
-Tars Tarkas, who, with a word and gesture, gave some command
-to the fellow and turned to follow us from the room.
-
-There seemed something menacing in their attitude toward
-my beast, and I hesitated to leave until I had learned the
-outcome.  It was well I did so, for the warrior drew an
-evil looking pistol from its holster and was on the point of
-putting an end to the creature when I sprang forward and
-struck up his arm.  The bullet striking the wooden casing of
-the window exploded, blowing a hole completely through the
-wood and masonry.
-
-I then knelt down beside the fearsome-looking thing, and
-raising it to its feet motioned for it to follow me.  The looks
-of surprise which my actions elicited from the Martians were
-ludicrous; they could not understand, except in a feeble and
-childish way, such attributes as gratitude and compassion.
-The warrior whose gun I had struck up looked enquiringly at
-Tars Tarkas, but the latter signed that I be left to my own
-devices, and so we returned to the plaza with my great beast
-following close at heel, and Sola grasping me tightly by the
-arm.
-
-I had at least two friends on Mars; a young woman who
-watched over me with motherly solicitude, and a dumb brute
-which, as I later came to know, held in its poor ugly carcass
-more love, more loyalty, more gratitude than could have been
-found in the entire five million green Martians who rove the
-deserted cities and dead sea bottoms of Mars.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-
-CHILD-RAISING ON MARS
-
-
-After a breakfast, which was an exact replica of the meal of
-the preceding day and an index of practically every meal
-which followed while I was with the green men of Mars, Sola
-escorted me to the plaza, where I found the entire community
-engaged in watching or helping at the harnessing of huge
-mastodonian animals to great three-wheeled chariots.  There
-were about two hundred and fifty of these vehicles, each
-drawn by a single animal, any one of which, from their
-appearance, might easily have drawn the entire wagon train
-when fully loaded.
-
-The chariots themselves were large, commodious, and
-gorgeously decorated.  In each was seated a female Martian
-loaded with ornaments of metal, with jewels and silks and furs,
-and upon the back of each of the beasts which drew the chariots
-was perched a young Martian driver.  Like the animals upon which
-the warriors were mounted, the heavier draft animals wore neither
-bit nor bridle, but were guided entirely by telepathic means.
-
-This power is wonderfully developed in all Martians, and
-accounts largely for the simplicity of their language and the
-relatively few spoken words exchanged even in long conversations.
-It is the universal language of Mars, through the medium
-of which the higher and lower animals of this world of
-paradoxes are able to communicate to a greater or less extent,
-depending upon the intellectual sphere of the species and the
-development of the individual.
-
-As the cavalcade took up the line of march in single file,
-Sola dragged me into an empty chariot and we proceeded
-with the procession toward the point by which I had entered
-the city the day before.  At the head of the caravan rode some
-two hundred warriors, five abreast, and a like number
-brought up the rear, while twenty-five or thirty outriders
-flanked us on either side.
-
-Every one but myself--men, women, and children--were
-heavily armed, and at the tail of each chariot trotted a
-Martian hound, my own beast following closely behind ours; in
-fact, the faithful creature never left me voluntarily during the
-entire ten years I spent on Mars.  Our way led out across the
-little valley before the city, through the hills, and down into
-the dead sea bottom which I had traversed on my journey
-from the incubator to the plaza.  The incubator, as it proved,
-was the terminal point of our journey this day, and, as the
-entire cavalcade broke into a mad gallop as soon as we
-reached the level expanse of sea bottom, we were soon within
-sight of our goal.
-
-On reaching it the chariots were parked with military
-precision on the four sides of the enclosure, and half a score
-of warriors, headed by the enormous chieftain, and including
-Tars Tarkas and several other lesser chiefs, dismounted and
-advanced toward it.  I could see Tars Tarkas explaining something
-to the principal chieftain, whose name, by the way, was,
-as nearly as I can translate it into English, Lorquas Ptomel,
-Jed; jed being his title.
-
-I was soon appraised of the subject of their conversation, as,
-calling to Sola, Tars Tarkas signed for her to send me to him.
-I had by this time mastered the intricacies of walking under
-Martian conditions, and quickly responding to his command
-I advanced to the side of the incubator where the warriors
-stood.
-
-As I reached their side a glance showed me that all but a
-very few eggs had hatched, the incubator being fairly alive
-with the hideous little devils.  They ranged in height from
-three to four feet, and were moving restlessly about the
-enclosure as though searching for food.
-
-As I came to a halt before him, Tars Tarkas pointed over
-the incubator and said, "Sak."  I saw that he wanted me to
-repeat my performance of yesterday for the edification of
-Lorquas Ptomel, and, as I must confess that my prowess gave
-me no little satisfaction, I responded quickly, leaping entirely
-over the parked chariots on the far side of the incubator.  As
-I returned, Lorquas Ptomel grunted something at me, and
-turning to his warriors gave a few words of command relative
-to the incubator.  They paid no further attention to me and I
-was thus permitted to remain close and watch their operations,
-which consisted in breaking an opening in the wall of the
-incubator large enough to permit of the exit of the young Martians.
-
-On either side of this opening the women and the younger Martians,
-both male and female, formed two solid walls leading out
-through the chariots and quite away into the plain beyond.
-Between these walls the little Martians scampered,
-wild as deer; being permitted to run the full length of the
-aisle, where they were captured one at a time by the women
-and older children; the last in the line capturing the first little
-one to reach the end of the gauntlet, her opposite in the line
-capturing the second, and so on until all the little fellows had
-left the enclosure and been appropriated by some youth or
-female.  As the women caught the young they fell out of line
-and returned to their respective chariots, while those who fell
-into the hands of the young men were later turned over to
-some of the women.
-
-I saw that the ceremony, if it could be dignified by such
-a name, was over, and seeking out Sola I found her in our
-chariot with a hideous little creature held tightly in her arms.
-
-The work of rearing young, green Martians consists solely
-in teaching them to talk, and to use the weapons of warfare
-with which they are loaded down from the very first year of
-their lives.  Coming from eggs in which they have lain for
-five years, the period of incubation, they step forth into the
-world perfectly developed except in size.  Entirely unknown
-to their mothers, who, in turn, would have difficulty in
-pointing out the fathers with any degree of accuracy, they are
-the common children of the community, and their education
-devolves upon the females who chance to capture them as
-they leave the incubator.
-
-Their foster mothers may not even have had an egg in the
-incubator, as was the case with Sola, who had not commenced
-to lay, until less than a year before she became the mother of
-another woman's offspring.  But this counts for little among
-the green Martians, as parental and filial love is as unknown to
-them as it is common among us.  I believe this horrible system
-which has been carried on for ages is the direct cause of the
-loss of all the finer feelings and higher humanitarian instincts
-among these poor creatures.  From birth they know no father
-or mother love, they know not the meaning of the word home;
-they are taught that they are only suffered to live until they
-can demonstrate by their physique and ferocity that they are
-fit to live.  Should they prove deformed or defective in any way
-they are promptly shot; nor do they see a tear shed for a
-single one of the many cruel hardships they pass through from
-earliest infancy.
-
-I do not mean that the adult Martians are unnecessarily or
-intentionally cruel to the young, but theirs is a hard and
-pitiless struggle for existence upon a dying planet, the natural
-resources of which have dwindled to a point where the support
-of each additional life means an added tax upon the community
-into which it is thrown.
-
-By careful selection they rear only the hardiest specimens
-of each species, and with almost supernatural foresight
-they regulate the birth rate to merely offset the loss by death.
-
-Each adult Martian female brings forth about thirteen eggs
-each year, and those which meet the size, weight, and specific
-gravity tests are hidden in the recesses of some subterranean
-vault where the temperature is too low for incubation.  Every
-year these eggs are carefully examined by a council of twenty
-chieftains, and all but about one hundred of the most perfect
-are destroyed out of each yearly supply.  At the end of five
-years about five hundred almost perfect eggs have been chosen
-from the thousands brought forth.  These are then placed in
-the almost air-tight incubators to be hatched by the sun's rays
-after a period of another five years.  The hatching which we
-had witnessed today was a fairly representative event of its
-kind, all but about one per cent of the eggs hatching in two
-days.  If the remaining eggs ever hatched we knew nothing of
-the fate of the little Martians.  They were not wanted, as their
-offspring might inherit and transmit the tendency to prolonged
-incubation, and thus upset the system which has maintained
-for ages and which permits the adult Martians to figure the
-proper time for return to the incubators, almost to an hour.
-
-The incubators are built in remote fastnesses, where there
-is little or no likelihood of their being discovered by other
-tribes.  The result of such a catastrophe would mean no children
-in the community for another five years.  I was later to witness
-the results of the discovery of an alien incubator.
-
-The community of which the green Martians with whom
-my lot was cast formed a part was composed of some thirty
-thousand souls.  They roamed an enormous tract of arid and
-semi-arid land between forty and eighty degrees south latitude,
-and bounded on the east and west by two large fertile tracts.
-Their headquarters lay in the southwest corner of this district,
-near the crossing of two of the so-called Martian canals.
-
-As the incubator had been placed far north of their own
-territory in a supposedly uninhabited and unfrequented area,
-we had before us a tremendous journey, concerning which I,
-of course, knew nothing.
-
-After our return to the dead city I passed several days in
-comparative idleness.  On the day following our return all the
-warriors had ridden forth early in the morning and had not
-returned until just before darkness fell.  As I later learned,
-they had been to the subterranean vaults in which the eggs
-were kept and had transported them to the incubator, which
-they had then walled up for another five years, and which, in
-all probability, would not be visited again during that period.
-
-The vaults which hid the eggs until they were ready for the
-incubator were located many miles south of the incubator,
-and would be visited yearly by the council of twenty chieftains.
-Why they did not arrange to build their vaults and incubators
-nearer home has always been a mystery to me, and, like many
-other Martian mysteries, unsolved and unsolvable by earthly
-reasoning and customs.
-
-Sola's duties were now doubled, as she was compelled to
-care for the young Martian as well as for me, but neither one
-of us required much attention, and as we were both about
-equally advanced in Martian education, Sola took it upon
-herself to train us together.
-
-Her prize consisted in a male about four feet tall, very
-strong and physically perfect; also, he learned quickly, and we
-had considerable amusement, at least I did, over the keen
-rivalry we displayed.  The Martian language, as I have said,
-is extremely simple, and in a week I could make all my
-wants known and understand nearly everything that was said
-to me.  Likewise, under Sola's tutelage, I developed my
-telepathic powers so that I shortly could sense practically
-everything that went on around me.
-
-What surprised Sola most in me was that while I could
-catch telepathic messages easily from others, and often when
-they were not intended for me, no one could read a jot from
-my mind under any circumstances.  At first this vexed me, but
-later I was very glad of it, as it gave me an undoubted
-advantage over the Martians.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-
-A FAIR CAPTIVE FROM THE SKY
-
-
-The third day after the incubator ceremony we set forth
-toward home, but scarcely had the head of the procession
-debouched into the open ground before the city than orders
-were given for an immediate and hasty return.  As though
-trained for years in this particular evolution, the green
-Martians melted like mist into the spacious doorways of the
-nearby buildings, until, in less than three minutes, the entire
-cavalcade of chariots, mastodons and mounted warriors was nowhere
-to be seen.
-
-Sola and I had entered a building upon the front of the city,
-in fact, the same one in which I had had my encounter
-with the apes, and, wishing to see what had caused the sudden
-retreat, I mounted to an upper floor and peered from the
-window out over the valley and the hills beyond; and there
-I saw the cause of their sudden scurrying to cover.  A huge
-craft, long, low, and gray-painted, swung slowly over the
-crest of the nearest hill.  Following it came another, and
-another, and another, until twenty of them, swinging low
-above the ground, sailed slowly and majestically toward us.
-
-Each carried a strange banner swung from stem to stern
-above the upper works, and upon the prow of each was
-painted some odd device that gleamed in the sunlight and
-showed plainly even at the distance at which we were from
-the vessels.  I could see figures crowding the forward decks
-and upper works of the air craft.  Whether they had discovered
-us or simply were looking at the deserted city I could not say,
-but in any event they received a rude reception, for suddenly
-and without warning the green Martian warriors fired a terrific
-volley from the windows of the buildings facing the little
-valley across which the great ships were so peacefully advancing.
-
-Instantly the scene changed as by magic; the foremost
-vessel swung broadside toward us, and bringing her guns into
-play returned our fire, at the same time moving parallel to
-our front for a short distance and then turning back with the
-evident intention of completing a great circle which would
-bring her up to position once more opposite our firing line;
-the other vessels followed in her wake, each one opening upon
-us as she swung into position.  Our own fire never diminished,
-and I doubt if twenty-five per cent of our shots went wild.  It
-had never been given me to see such deadly accuracy of aim,
-and it seemed as though a little figure on one of the craft
-dropped at the explosion of each bullet, while the banners and
-upper works dissolved in spurts of flame as the irresistible
-projectiles of our warriors mowed through them.
-
-The fire from the vessels was most ineffectual, owing, as I
-afterward learned, to the unexpected suddenness of the first
-volley, which caught the ship's crews entirely unprepared and
-the sighting apparatus of the guns unprotected from the
-deadly aim of our warriors.
-
-It seems that each green warrior has certain objective points
-for his fire under relatively identical circumstances of warfare.
-For example, a proportion of them, always the best marksmen,
-direct their fire entirely upon the wireless finding and
-sighting apparatus of the big guns of an attacking naval
-force; another detail attends to the smaller guns in the same
-way; others pick off the gunners; still others the officers;
-while certain other quotas concentrate their attention upon the
-other members of the crew, upon the upper works, and upon the
-steering gear and propellers.
-
-Twenty minutes after the first volley the great fleet swung
-trailing off in the direction from which it had first appeared.
-Several of the craft were limping perceptibly, and seemed
-but barely under the control of their depleted crews.  Their fire
-had ceased entirely and all their energies seemed focused
-upon escape.  Our warriors then rushed up to the roofs of the
-buildings which we occupied and followed the retreating armada
-with a continuous fusillade of deadly fire.
-
-One by one, however, the ships managed to dip below the
-crests of the outlying hills until only one barely moving craft
-was in sight.  This had received the brunt of our fire and
-seemed to be entirely unmanned, as not a moving figure was
-visible upon her decks.  Slowly she swung from her course,
-circling back toward us in an erratic and pitiful manner.
-Instantly the warriors ceased firing, for it was quite apparent
-that the vessel was entirely helpless, and, far from being in a
-position to inflict harm upon us, she could not even control
-herself sufficiently to escape.
-
-As she neared the city the warriors rushed out upon the
-plain to meet her, but it was evident that she still was too high
-for them to hope to reach her decks.  From my vantage point in
-the window I could see the bodies of her crew strewn about,
-although I could not make out what manner of creatures they
-might be.  Not a sign of life was manifest upon her as she
-drifted slowly with the light breeze in a southeasterly
-direction.
-
-She was drifting some fifty feet above the ground, followed
-by all but some hundred of the warriors who had been ordered
-back to the roofs to cover the possibility of a return of the
-fleet, or of reinforcements.  It soon became evident that she
-would strike the face of the buildings about a mile south of
-our position, and as I watched the progress of the chase I
-saw a number of warriors gallop ahead, dismount and enter
-the building she seemed destined to touch.
-
-As the craft neared the building, and just before she struck,
-the Martian warriors swarmed upon her from the windows,
-and with their great spears eased the shock of the collision,
-and in a few moments they had thrown out grappling hooks
-and the big boat was being hauled to ground by their fellows
-below.
-
-After making her fast, they swarmed the sides and searched
-the vessel from stem to stern.  I could see them examining the
-dead sailors, evidently for signs of life, and presently a party
-of them appeared from below dragging a little figure among
-them.  The creature was considerably less than half as tall as
-the green Martian warriors, and from my balcony I could see
-that it walked erect upon two legs and surmised that it was
-some new and strange Martian monstrosity with which I had
-not as yet become acquainted.
-
-They removed their prisoner to the ground and then commenced
-a systematic rifling of the vessel.  This operation required
-several hours, during which time a number of the chariots
-were requisitioned to transport the loot, which consisted
-in arms, ammunition, silks, furs, jewels, strangely carved
-stone vessels, and a quantity of solid foods and liquids,
-including many casks of water, the first I had seen since my
-advent upon Mars.
-
-After the last load had been removed the warriors made
-lines fast to the craft and towed her far out into the valley in
-a southwesterly direction.  A few of them then boarded her and
-were busily engaged in what appeared, from my distant position,
-as the emptying of the contents of various carboys upon the
-dead bodies of the sailors and over the decks and works
-of the vessel.
-
-This operation concluded, they hastily clambered over her
-sides, sliding down the guy ropes to the ground.  The last
-warrior to leave the deck turned and threw something back
-upon the vessel, waiting an instant to note the outcome of
-his act.  As a faint spurt of flame rose from the point where
-the missile struck he swung over the side and was quickly
-upon the ground.  Scarcely had he alighted than the guy ropes
-were simultaneous released, and the great warship, lightened
-by the removal of the loot, soared majestically into the air,
-her decks and upper works a mass of roaring flames.
-
-Slowly she drifted to the southeast, rising higher and higher
-as the flames ate away her wooden parts and diminished the
-weight upon her.  Ascending to the roof of the building I
-watched her for hours, until finally she was lost in the dim
-vistas of the distance.  The sight was awe-inspiring in the
-extreme as one contemplated this mighty floating funeral pyre,
-drifting unguided and unmanned through the lonely wastes of
-the Martian heavens; a derelict of death and destruction,
-typifying the life story of these strange and ferocious
-creatures into whose unfriendly hands fate had carried it.
-
-Much depressed, and, to me, unaccountably so, I slowly
-descended to the street.  The scene I had witnessed seemed
-to mark the defeat and annihilation of the forces of a kindred
-people, rather than the routing by our green warriors of
-a horde of similar, though unfriendly, creatures.  I could not
-fathom the seeming hallucination, nor could I free myself
-from it; but somewhere in the innermost recesses of my
-soul I felt a strange yearning toward these unknown foemen,
-and a mighty hope surged through me that the fleet would
-return and demand a reckoning from the green warriors
-who had so ruthlessly and wantonly attacked it.
-
-Close at my heel, in his now accustomed place, followed
-Woola, the hound, and as I emerged upon the street Sola
-rushed up to me as though I had been the object of some
-search on her part.  The cavalcade was returning to the plaza,
-the homeward march having been given up for that day; nor,
-in fact, was it recommenced for more than a week, owing
-to the fear of a return attack by the air craft.
-
-Lorquas Ptomel was too astute an old warrior to be
-caught upon the open plains with a caravan of chariots and
-children, and so we remained at the deserted city until the
-danger seemed passed.
-
-As Sola and I entered the plaza a sight met my eyes which
-filled my whole being with a great surge of mingled hope,
-fear, exultation, and depression, and yet most dominant
-was a subtle sense of relief and happiness; for just
-as we neared the throng of Martians I caught a glimpse of
-the prisoner from the battle craft who was being roughly
-dragged into a nearby building by a couple of green
-Martian females.
-
-And the sight which met my eyes was that of a slender,
-girlish figure, similar in every detail to the earthly women
-of my past life.  She did not see me at first, but just as she
-was disappearing through the portal of the building which
-was to be her prison she turned, and her eyes met mine.
-Her face was oval and beautiful in the extreme, her every
-feature was finely chiseled and exquisite, her eyes large and
-lustrous and her head surmounted by a mass of coal black,
-waving hair, caught loosely into a strange yet becoming coiffure.
-Her skin was of a light reddish copper color, against which
-the crimson glow of her cheeks and the ruby of her beautifully
-molded lips shone with a strangely enhancing effect.
-
-She was as destitute of clothes as the green Martians who
-accompanied her; indeed, save for her highly wrought ornaments
-she was entirely naked, nor could any apparel have enhanced
-the beauty of her perfect and symmetrical figure.
-
-As her gaze rested on me her eyes opened wide in
-astonishment, and she made a little sign with her free hand;
-a sign which I did not, of course, understand.  Just a moment
-we gazed upon each other, and then the look of hope and
-renewed courage which had glorified her face as she
-discovered me, faded into one of utter dejection, mingled
-with loathing and contempt.  I realized I had not answered her
-signal, and ignorant as I was of Martian customs, I intuitively
-felt that she had made an appeal for succor and protection
-which my unfortunate ignorance had prevented me from answering.
-And then she was dragged out of my sight into the depths of the
-deserted edifice.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-
-I LEARN THE LANGUAGE
-
-
-As I came back to myself I glanced at Sola, who had
-witnessed this encounter and I was surprised to note a
-strange expression upon her usually expressionless
-countenance.  What her thoughts were I did not know,
-for as yet I had learned but little of the Martian tongue;
-enough only to suffice for my daily needs.
-
-As I reached the doorway of our building a strange surprise
-awaited me.  A warrior approached bearing the arms,
-ornaments, and full accouterments of his kind.  These he
-presented to me with a few unintelligible words, and a
-bearing at once respectful and menacing.
-
-Later, Sola, with the aid of several of the other women,
-remodeled the trappings to fit my lesser proportions, and
-after they completed the work I went about garbed in all the
-panoply of war.
-
-From then on Sola instructed me in the mysteries of the
-various weapons, and with the Martian young I spent several
-hours each day practicing upon the plaza.  I was not yet
-proficient with all the weapons, but my great familiarity
-with similar earthly weapons made me an unusually apt
-pupil, and I progressed in a very satisfactory manner.
-
-The training of myself and the young Martians was
-conducted solely by the women, who not only attend to the
-education of the young in the arts of individual defense
-and offense, but are also the artisans who produce every
-manufactured article wrought by the green Martians.  They make
-the powder, the cartridges, the firearms; in fact everything
-of value is produced by the females.  In time of actual warfare
-they form a part of the reserves, and when the necessity
-arises fight with even greater intelligence and ferocity
-than the men.
-
-The men are trained in the higher branches of the art of war;
-in strategy and the maneuvering of large bodies of troops.
-They make the laws as they are needed; a new law for
-each emergency.  They are unfettered by precedent in
-the administration of justice.  Customs have been handed
-down by ages of repetition, but the punishment for ignoring
-a custom is a matter for individual treatment by a jury of
-the culprit's peers, and I may say that justice seldom
-misses fire, but seems rather to rule in inverse ratio to
-the ascendency of law.  In one respect at least the Martians
-are a happy people; they have no lawyers.
-
-I did not see the prisoner again for several days subsequent
-to our first encounter, and then only to catch a fleeting
-glimpse of her as she was being conducted to the great
-audience chamber where I had had my first meeting with
-Lorquas Ptomel.  I could not but note the unnecessary
-harshness and brutality with which her guards treated her;
-so different from the almost maternal kindliness which Sola
-manifested toward me, and the respectful attitude of the few
-green Martians who took the trouble to notice me at all.
-
-I had observed on the two occasions when I had seen her
-that the prisoner exchanged words with her guards, and this
-convinced me that they spoke, or at least could make
-themselves understood by a common language.  With this added
-incentive I nearly drove Sola distracted by my importunities
-to hasten on my education and within a few more days
-I had mastered the Martian tongue sufficiently well to enable
-me to carry on a passable conversation and to fully understand
-practically all that I heard.
-
-At this time our sleeping quarters were occupied by three
-or four females and a couple of the recently hatched young,
-beside Sola and her youthful ward, myself, and Woola the
-hound.  After they had retired for the night it was customary
-for the adults to carry on a desultory conversation for a
-short time before lapsing into sleep, and now that I could
-understand their language I was always a keen listener,
-although I never proffered any remarks myself.
-
-On the night following the prisoner's visit to the audience
-chamber the conversation finally fell upon this subject, and
-I was all ears on the instant.  I had feared to question Sola
-relative to the beautiful captive, as I could not but recall the
-strange expression I had noted upon her face after my first
-encounter with the prisoner.  That it denoted jealousy I could
-not say, and yet, judging all things by mundane standards
-as I still did, I felt it safer to affect indifference in the matter
-until I learned more surely Sola's attitude toward the object
-of my solicitude.
-
-Sarkoja, one of the older women who shared our domicile,
-had been present at the audience as one of the captive's
-guards, and it was toward her the question turned.
-
-"When," asked one of the women, "will we enjoy the
-death throes of the red one? or does Lorquas Ptomel, Jed,
-intend holding her for ransom?"
-
-"They have decided to carry her with us back to Thark,
-and exhibit her last agonies at the great games before Tal
-Hajus," replied Sarkoja.
-
-"What will be the manner of her going out?" inquired
-Sola.  "She is very small and very beautiful; I had hoped that
-they would hold her for ransom."
-
-Sarkoja and the other women grunted angrily at this evidence
-of weakness on the part of Sola.
-
-"It is sad, Sola, that you were not born a million years
-ago," snapped Sarkoja, "when all the hollows of the land
-were filled with water, and the peoples were as soft as the
-stuff they sailed upon.  In our day we have progressed to a
-point where such sentiments mark weakness and atavism.  It
-will not be well for you to permit Tars Tarkas to learn
-that you hold such degenerate sentiments, as I doubt
-that he would care to entrust such as you with the
-grave responsibilities of maternity."
-
-"I see nothing wrong with my expression of interest in
-this red woman," retorted Sola.  "She has never harmed us,
-nor would she should we have fallen into her hands.  it is
-only the men of her kind who war upon us, and I have ever
-thought that their attitude toward us is but the reflection
-of ours toward them.  They live at peace with all their fellows,
-except when duty calls upon them to make war, while we
-are at peace with none; forever warring among our own
-kind as well as upon the red men, and even in our own
-communities the individuals fight amongst themselves.
-Oh, it is one continual, awful period of bloodshed from the
-time we break the shell until we gladly embrace the bosom of
-the river of mystery, the dark and ancient Iss which carries us
-to an unknown, but at least no more frightful and terrible
-existence!  Fortunate indeed is he who meets his end in an
-early death.  Say what you please to Tars Tarkas, he can mete
-out no worse fate to me than a continuation of the horrible
-existence we are forced to lead in this life."
-
-This wild outbreak on the part of Sola so greatly surprised
-and shocked the other women, that, after a few words of
-general reprimand, they all lapsed into silence and were
-soon asleep.  One thing the episode had accomplished was
-to assure me of Sola's friendliness toward the poor girl, and
-also to convince me that I had been extremely fortunate in
-falling into her hands rather than those of some of the other
-females.  I knew that she was fond of me, and now that I
-had discovered that she hated cruelty and barbarity I was
-confident that I could depend upon her to aid me and the
-girl captive to escape, provided of course that such a thing
-was within the range of possibilities.
-
-I did not even know that there were any better conditions
-to escape to, but I was more than willing to take my chances
-among people fashioned after my own mold rather than
-to remain longer among the hideous and bloodthirsty green
-men of Mars.  But where to go, and how, was as much of a
-puzzle to me as the age-old search for the spring of eternal
-life has been to earthly men since the beginning of time.
-
-I decided that at the first opportunity I would take Sola
-into my confidence and openly ask her to aid me, and with
-this resolution strong upon me I turned among my silks and
-furs and slept the dreamless and refreshing sleep of Mars.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-
-CHAMPION AND CHIEF
-
-
-Early the next morning I was astir.  Considerable freedom was
-allowed me, as Sola had informed me that so long as I did
-not attempt to leave the city I was free to go and come as
-I pleased.  She had warned me, however, against venturing forth
-unarmed, as this city, like all other deserted metropolises of
-an ancient Martian civilization, was peopled by the great
-white apes of my second day's adventure.
-
-In advising me that I must not leave the boundaries of
-the city Sola had explained that Woola would prevent this
-anyway should I attempt it, and she warned me most urgently
-not to arouse his fierce nature by ignoring his warnings
-should I venture too close to the forbidden territory.  His
-nature was such, she said, that he would bring me back into
-the city dead or alive should I persist in opposing him;
-"preferably dead," she added.
-
-On this morning I had chosen a new street to explore when
-suddenly I found myself at the limits of the city.  Before
-me were low hills pierced by narrow and inviting ravines.
-I longed to explore the country before me, and, like the
-pioneer stock from which I sprang, to view what the
-landscape beyond the encircling hills might disclose
-from the summits which shut out my view.
-
-It also occurred to me that this would prove an excellent
-opportunity to test the qualities of Woola.  I was convinced
-that the brute loved me; I had seen more evidences of affection
-in him than in any other Martian animal, man or beast,
-and I was sure that gratitude for the acts that had twice
-saved his life would more than outweigh his loyalty to the
-duty imposed upon him by cruel and loveless masters.
-
-As I approached the boundary line Woola ran anxiously
-before me, and thrust his body against my legs.  His expression
-was pleading rather than ferocious, nor did he bare his
-great tusks or utter his fearful guttural warnings.  Denied
-the friendship and companionship of my kind, I had developed
-considerable affection for Woola and Sola, for the normal
-earthly man must have some outlet for his natural affections,
-and so I decided upon an appeal to a like instinct in this
-great brute, sure that I would not be disappointed.
-
-I had never petted nor fondled him, but now I sat upon
-the ground and putting my arms around his heavy neck I
-stroked and coaxed him, talking in my newly acquired
-Martian tongue as I would have to my hound at home, as I
-would have talked to any other friend among the lower
-animals.  His response to my manifestation of affection was
-remarkable to a degree; he stretched his great mouth to its
-full width, baring the entire expanse of his upper rows of
-tusks and wrinkling his snout until his great eyes were
-almost hidden by the folds of flesh.  If you have ever seen a
-collie smile you may have some idea of Woola's facial distortion.
-
-He threw himself upon his back and fairly wallowed at
-my feet; jumped up and sprang upon me, rolling me upon
-the ground by his great weight; then wriggling and squirming
-around me like a playful puppy presenting its back for
-the petting it craves.  I could not resist the ludicrousness
-of the spectacle, and holding my sides I rocked back and forth
-in the first laughter which had passed my lips in many days;
-the first, in fact, since the morning Powell had left camp
-when his horse, long unused, had precipitately and unexpectedly
-bucked him off headforemost into a pot of frijoles.
-
-My laughter frightened Woola, his antics ceased and he
-crawled pitifully toward me, poking his ugly head far into
-my lap; and then I remembered what laughter signified on
-Mars--torture, suffering, death.  Quieting myself, I rubbed
-the poor old fellow's head and back, talked to him for a few
-minutes, and then in an authoritative tone commanded him
-to follow me, and arising started for the hills.
-
-There was no further question of authority between us;
-Woola was my devoted slave from that moment hence, and
-I his only and undisputed master.  My walk to the hills
-occupied but a few minutes, and I found nothing of particular
-interest to reward me.  Numerous brilliantly colored and
-strangely formed wild flowers dotted the ravines and from
-the summit of the first hill I saw still other hills stretching off
-toward the north, and rising, one range above another, until
-lost in mountains of quite respectable dimensions; though I
-afterward found that only a few peaks on all Mars exceed
-four thousand feet in height; the suggestion of magnitude
-was merely relative.
-
-My morning's walk had been large with importance to
-me for it had resulted in a perfect understanding with Woola,
-upon whom Tars Tarkas relied for my safe keeping.  I now
-knew that while theoretically a prisoner I was virtually free,
-and I hastened to regain the city limits before the defection
-of Woola could be discovered by his erstwhile masters.  The
-adventure decided me never again to leave the limits of my
-prescribed stamping grounds until I was ready to venture forth
-for good and all, as it would certainly result in a curtailment
-of my liberties, as well as the probable death of Woola, were we
-to be discovered.
-
-On regaining the plaza I had my third glimpse of the
-captive girl.  She was standing with her guards before the
-entrance to the audience chamber, and as I approached she
-gave me one haughty glance and turned her back full upon
-me.  The act was so womanly, so earthly womanly, that
-though it stung my pride it also warmed my heart with a
-feeling of companionship; it was good to know that someone
-else on Mars beside myself had human instincts of a civilized
-order, even though the manifestation of them was so painful
-and mortifying.
-
-Had a green Martian woman desired to show dislike or contempt
-she would, in all likelihood, have done it with a sword
-thrust or a movement of her trigger finger; but as their
-sentiments are mostly atrophied it would have required a
-serious injury to have aroused such passions in them.  Sola,
-let me add, was an exception; I never saw her perform a cruel
-or uncouth act, or fail in uniform kindliness and good
-nature.  She was indeed, as her fellow Martian had said of her,
-an atavism; a dear and precious reversion to a former type
-of loved and loving ancestor.
-
-Seeing that the prisoner seemed the center of attraction I
-halted to view the proceedings.  I had not long to wait
-for presently Lorquas Ptomel and his retinue of chieftains
-approached the building and, signing the guards to follow with
-the prisoner entered the audience chamber.  Realizing that I
-was a somewhat favored character, and also convinced that
-the warriors did not know of my proficiency in their language,
-as I had pleaded with Sola to keep this a secret on the
-grounds that I did not wish to be forced to talk with the
-men until I had perfectly mastered the Martian tongue, I
-chanced an attempt to enter the audience chamber and listen
-to the proceedings.
-
-The council squatted upon the steps of the rostrum, while
-below them stood the prisoner and her two guards.  I saw
-that one of the women was Sarkoja, and thus understood
-how she had been present at the hearing of the preceding
-day, the results of which she had reported to the occupants
-of our dormitory last night.  Her attitude toward the captive
-was most harsh and brutal.  When she held her, she sunk her
-rudimentary nails into the poor girl's flesh, or twisted her
-arm in a most painful manner.  When it was necessary to
-move from one spot to another she either jerked her roughly,
-or pushed her headlong before her.  She seemed to be venting
-upon this poor defenseless creature all the hatred, cruelty,
-ferocity, and spite of her nine hundred years, backed by
-unguessable ages of fierce and brutal ancestors.
-
-The other woman was less cruel because she was entirely
-indifferent; if the prisoner had been left to her alone, and
-fortunately she was at night, she would have received no
-harsh treatment, nor, by the same token would she have
-received any attention at all.
-
-As Lorquas Ptomel raised his eyes to address the prisoner
-they fell on me and he turned to Tars Tarkas with a word,
-and gesture of impatience.  Tars Tarkas made some reply
-which I could not catch, but which caused Lorquas Ptomel to
-smile; after which they paid no further attention to me.
-
-"What is your name?" asked Lorquas Ptomel, addressing
-the prisoner.
-
-"Dejah Thoris, daughter of Mors Kajak of Helium."
-
-"And the nature of your expedition?" he continued.
-
-"It was a purely scientific research party sent out by my
-father's father, the Jeddak of Helium, to rechart the air
-currents, and to take atmospheric density tests," replied
-the fair prisoner, in a low, well-modulated voice.
-
-"We were unprepared for battle," she continued, "as we
-were on a peaceful mission, as our banners and the colors of
-our craft denoted.  The work we were doing was as much in
-your interests as in ours, for you know full well that were it
-not for our labors and the fruits of our scientific operations
-there would not be enough air or water on Mars to support
-a single human life.  For ages we have maintained the air and
-water supply at practically the same point without an
-appreciable loss, and we have done this in the face of
-the brutal and ignorant interference of your green men.
-
-"Why, oh, why will you not learn to live in amity with
-your fellows, must you ever go on down the ages to your
-final extinction but little above the plane of the dumb brutes
-that serve you!  A people without written language, without
-art, without homes, without love; the victim of eons of the
-horrible community idea.  Owning everything in common,
-even to your women and children, has resulted in your
-owning nothing in common.  You hate each other as you hate
-all else except yourselves.  Come back to the ways of our
-common ancestors, come back to the light of kindliness
-and fellowship.  The way is open to you, you will find the
-hands of the red men stretched out to aid you.  Together we
-may do still more to regenerate our dying planet.  The grand-
-daughter of the greatest and mightiest of the red jeddaks has
-asked you.  Will you come?"
-
-Lorquas Ptomel and the warriors sat looking silently and
-intently at the young woman for several moments after she
-had ceased speaking.  What was passing in their minds no
-man may know, but that they were moved I truly believe,
-and if one man high among them had been strong enough
-to rise above custom, that moment would have marked a
-new and mighty era for Mars.
-
-I saw Tars Tarkas rise to speak, and on his face was such
-an expression as I had never seen upon the countenance of a
-green Martian warrior.  It bespoke an inward and mighty
-battle with self, with heredity, with age-old custom, and
-as he opened his mouth to speak, a look almost of benignity,
-of kindliness, momentarily lighted up his fierce and terrible
-countenance.
-
-What words of moment were to have fallen from his lips
-were never spoken, as just then a young warrior, evidently
-sensing the trend of thought among the older men, leaped
-down from the steps of the rostrum, and striking the frail
-captive a powerful blow across the face, which felled her to
-the floor, placed his foot upon her prostrate form and turning
-toward the assembled council broke into peals of horrid,
-mirthless laughter.
-
-For an instant I thought Tars Tarkas would strike him
-dead, nor did the aspect of Lorquas Ptomel augur any too
-favorably for the brute, but the mood passed, their old selves
-reasserted their ascendency, and they smiled.  It was portentous
-however that they did not laugh aloud, for the brute's act
-constituted a side-splitting witticism according to the
-ethics which rule green Martian humor.
-
-That I have taken moments to write down a part of what
-occurred as that blow fell does not signify that I remained
-inactive for any such length of time.  I think I must have
-sensed something of what was coming, for I realize now that
-I was crouched as for a spring as I saw the blow aimed at
-her beautiful, upturned, pleading face, and ere the hand
-descended I was halfway across the hall.
-
-Scarcely had his hideous laugh rang out but once, when
-I was upon him.  The brute was twelve feet in height and
-armed to the teeth, but I believe that I could have accounted
-for the whole roomful in the terrific intensity of my rage.
-Springing upward, I struck him full in the face as he turned
-at my warning cry and then as he drew his short-sword I
-drew mine and sprang up again upon his breast, hooking one
-leg over the butt of his pistol and grasping one of his huge
-tusks with my left hand while I delivered blow after blow
-upon his enormous chest.
-
-He could not use his short-sword to advantage because I
-was too close to him, nor could he draw his pistol, which
-he attempted to do in direct opposition to Martian custom
-which says that you may not fight a fellow warrior in
-private combat with any other than the weapon with which you
-are attacked.  In fact he could do nothing but make a wild
-and futile attempt to dislodge me.  With all his immense bulk
-he was little if any stronger than I, and it was but the matter
-of a moment or two before he sank, bleeding and lifeless,
-to the floor.
-
-Dejah Thoris had raised herself upon one elbow and was
-watching the battle with wide, staring eyes.  When I had
-regained my feet I raised her in my arms and bore her to
-one of the benches at the side of the room.
-
-Again no Martian interfered with me, and tearing a piece
-of silk from my cape I endeavored to staunch the flow of
-blood from her nostrils.  I was soon successful as her
-injuries amounted to little more than an ordinary nosebleed,
-and when she could speak she placed her hand upon my
-arm and looking up into my eyes, said:
-
-"Why did you do it?  You who refused me even friendly recognition
-in the first hour of my peril!  And now you risk your life and
-kill one of your companions for my sake.  I cannot understand.
-What strange manner of man are you, that you consort with the
-green men, though your form is that of my race, while your color
-is little darker than that of the white ape?  Tell me, are you
-human, or are you more than human?"
-
-"It is a strange tale," I replied, "too long to attempt to tell
-you now, and one which I so much doubt the credibility of myself
-that I fear to hope that others will believe it.  Suffice it,
-for the present, that I am your friend, and, so far as our
-captors will permit, your protector and your servant."
-
-"Then you too are a prisoner?  But why, then, those arms
-and the regalia of a Tharkian chieftain?  What is your name?
-Where your country?"
-
-"Yes, Dejah Thoris, I too am a prisoner; my name is John
-Carter, and I claim Virginia, one of the United States of
-America, Earth, as my home; but why I am permitted to
-wear arms I do not know, nor was I aware that my regalia
-was that of a chieftain."
-
-We were interrupted at this juncture by the approach of one
-of the warriors, bearing arms, accouterments and ornaments,
-and in a flash one of her questions was answered and a
-puzzle cleared up for me.  I saw that the body of my dead
-antagonist had been stripped, and I read in the menacing
-yet respectful attitude of the warrior who had brought me
-these trophies of the kill the same demeanor as that evinced
-by the other who had brought me my original equipment, and now
-for the first time I realized that my blow, on the occasion of
-my first battle in the audience chamber had resulted in the
-death of my adversary.
-
-The reason for the whole attitude displayed toward me was
-now apparent; I had won my spurs, so to speak, and in the
-crude justice, which always marks Martian dealings, and which,
-among other things, has caused me to call her the planet of
-paradoxes, I was accorded the honors due a conqueror;
-the trappings and the position of the man I killed.
-In truth, I was a Martian chieftain, and this I learned later
-was the cause of my great freedom and my toleration in the
-audience chamber.
-
-As I had turned to receive the dead warrior's chattels I
-had noticed that Tars Tarkas and several others had pushed
-forward toward us, and the eyes of the former rested upon
-me in a most quizzical manner.  Finally he addressed me:
-
-"You speak the tongue of Barsoom quite readily for one
-who was deaf and dumb to us a few short days ago.  Where
-did you learn it, John Carter?"
-
-"You, yourself, are responsible, Tars Tarkas," I replied, "in
-that you furnished me with an instructress of remarkable
-ability; I have to thank Sola for my learning."
-
-"She has done well," he answered, "but your education in
-other respects needs considerable polish.  Do you know what
-your unprecedented temerity would have cost you had you
-failed to kill either of the two chieftains whose metal you
-now wear?"
-
-"I presume that that one whom I had failed to kill, would
-have killed me," I answered, smiling.
-
-"No, you are wrong.  Only in the last extremity of self-defense
-would a Martian warrior kill a prisoner; we like to save them
-for other purposes," and his face bespoke possibilities that
-were not pleasant to dwell upon.
-
-"But one thing can save you now," he continued.  "Should
-you, in recognition of your remarkable valor, ferocity,
-and prowess, be considered by Tal Hajus as worthy of his
-service you may be taken into the community and become a
-full-fledged Tharkian.  Until we reach the headquarters of Tal
-Hajus it is the will of Lorquas Ptomel that you be accorded
-the respect your acts have earned you.  You will be treated by
-us as a Tharkian chieftain, but you must not forget that every
-chief who ranks you is responsible for your safe delivery to
-our mighty and most ferocious ruler.  I am done."
-
-"I hear you, Tars Tarkas," I answered.  "As you know I
-am not of Barsoom; your ways are not my ways, and I can
-only act in the future as I have in the past, in accordance
-with the dictates of my conscience and guided by the standards
-of mine own people.  If you will leave me alone I will go
-in peace, but if not, let the individual Barsoomians with
-whom I must deal either respect my rights as a stranger
-among you, or take whatever consequences may befall.  Of
-one thing let us be sure, whatever may be your ultimate
-intentions toward this unfortunate young woman, whoever
-would offer her injury or insult in the future must figure on
-making a full accounting to me.  I understand that you belittle
-all sentiments of generosity and kindliness, but I do not,
-and I can convince your most doughty warrior that these
-characteristics are not incompatible with an ability to fight."
-
-Ordinarily I am not given to long speeches, nor ever before
-had I descended to bombast, but I had guessed at the keynote
-which would strike an answering chord in the breasts of the
-green Martians, nor was I wrong, for my harangue evidently
-deeply impressed them, and their attitude toward me
-thereafter was still further respectful.
-
-Tars Tarkas himself seemed pleased with my reply, but his
-only comment was more or less enigmatical--  "And I think I
-know Tal Hajus, Jeddak of Thark."
-
-I now turned my attention to Dejah Thoris, and assisting
-her to her feet I turned with her toward the exit, ignoring
-her hovering guardian harpies as well as the inquiring
-glances of the chieftains.  Was I not now a chieftain also!
-Well, then, I would assume the responsibilities of one.
-They did not molest us, and so Dejah Thoris, Princess of
-Helium, and John Carter, gentleman of Virginia, followed
-by the faithful Woola, passed through utter silence from the
-audience chamber of Lorquas Ptomel, Jed among the Tharks
-of Barsoom.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-
-WITH DEJAH THORIS
-
-
-As we reached the open the two female guards who had
-been detailed to watch over Dejah Thoris hurried up and
-made as though to assume custody of her once more.  The
-poor child shrank against me and I felt her two little hands
-fold tightly over my arm.  Waving the women away, I informed
-them that Sola would attend the captive hereafter, and I
-further warned Sarkoja that any more of her cruel attentions
-bestowed upon Dejah Thoris would result in Sarkoja's sudden
-and painful demise.
-
-My threat was unfortunate and resulted in more harm
-than good to Dejah Thoris, for, as I learned later, men do
-not kill women upon Mars, nor women, men.  So Sarkoja
-merely gave us an ugly look and departed to hatch up
-deviltries against us.
-
-I soon found Sola and explained to her that I wished her
-to guard Dejah Thoris as she had guarded me; that I wished
-her to find other quarters where they would not be molested
-by Sarkoja, and I finally informed her that I myself would
-take up my quarters among the men.
-
-Sola glanced at the accouterments which were carried in
-my hand and slung across my shoulder.
-
-"You are a great chieftain now, John Carter," she said,
-"and I must do your bidding, though indeed I am glad to do
-it under any circumstances.  The man whose metal you carry
-was young, but he was a great warrior, and had by his
-promotions and kills won his way close to the rank of Tars
-Tarkas, who, as you know, is second to Lorquas Ptomel only.
-You are eleventh, there are but ten chieftains in this
-community who rank you in prowess."
-
-"And if I should kill Lorquas Ptomel?" I asked.
-
-"You would be first, John Carter; but you may only win
-that honor by the will of the entire council that Lorquas
-Ptomel meet you in combat, or should he attack you, you
-may kill him in self-defense, and thus win first place."
-
-I laughed, and changed the subject.  I had no particular
-desire to kill Lorquas Ptomel, and less to be a jed among
-the Tharks.
-
-I accompanied Sola and Dejah Thoris in a search for new
-quarters, which we found in a building nearer the audience
-chamber and of far more pretentious architecture than our
-former habitation.  We also found in this building real
-sleeping apartments with ancient beds of highly wrought
-metal swinging from enormous gold chains depending from the
-marble ceilings.  The decoration of the walls was most elaborate,
-and, unlike the frescoes in the other buildings I had examined,
-portrayed many human figures in the compositions.
-These were of people like myself, and of a much lighter
-color than Dejah Thoris.  They were clad in graceful,
-flowing robes, highly ornamented with metal and jewels, and
-their luxuriant hair was of a beautiful golden and reddish
-bronze.  The men were beardless and only a few wore arms.
-The scenes depicted for the most part, a fair-skinned,
-fair-haired people at play.
-
-Dejah Thoris clasped her hands with an exclamation of
-rapture as she gazed upon these magnificent works of art,
-wrought by a people long extinct; while Sola, on the other
-hand, apparently did not see them.
-
-We decided to use this room, on the second floor and
-overlooking the plaza, for Dejah Thoris and Sola, and
-another room adjoining and in the rear for the cooking and
-supplies.  I then dispatched Sola to bring the bedding and
-such food and utensils as she might need, telling her that
-I would guard Dejah Thoris until her return.
-
-As Sola departed Dejah Thoris turned to me with a faint smile.
-
-"And whereto, then, would your prisoner escape should
-you leave her, unless it was to follow you and crave your
-protection, and ask your pardon for the cruel thoughts she
-has harbored against you these past few days?"
-
-"You are right," I answered, "there is no escape for either
-of us unless we go together."
-
-"I heard your challenge to the creature you call Tars Tarkas,
-and I think I understand your position among these people,
-but what I cannot fathom is your statement that you are
-not of Barsoom."
-
-"In the name of my first ancestor, then," she continued,
-"where may you be from?  You are like unto my people,
-and yet so unlike.  You speak my language, and yet I heard
-you tell Tars Tarkas that you had but learned it recently.
-All Barsoomians speak the same tongue from the ice-clad
-south to the ice-clad north, though their written languages
-differ.  Only in the valley Dor, where the river Iss empties
-into the lost sea of Korus, is there supposed to
-be a different language spoken, and, except in the legends of
-our ancestors, there is no record of a Barsoomian returning
-up the river Iss, from the shores of Korus in the valley of
-Dor.  Do not tell me that you have thus returned!  They
-would kill you horribly anywhere upon the surface of Barsoom
-if that were true; tell me it is not!"
-
-Her eyes were filled with a strange, weird light; her voice
-was pleading, and her little hands, reached up upon my
-breast, were pressed against me as though to wring a denial
-from my very heart.
-
-"I do not know your customs, Dejah Thoris, but in my
-own Virginia a gentleman does not lie to save himself; I am
-not of Dor; I have never seen the mysterious Iss; the lost
-sea of Korus is still lost, so far as I am concerned.  Do you
-believe me?"
-
-And then it struck me suddenly that I was very anxious that
-she should believe me.  It was not that I feared the results
-which would follow a general belief that I had returned
-from the Barsoomian heaven or hell, or whatever it was.
-Why was it, then!  Why should I care what she thought?
-I looked down at her; her beautiful face upturned, and her
-wonderful eyes opening up the very depth of her soul; and
-as my eyes met hers I knew why, and--I shuddered.
-
-A similar wave of feeling seemed to stir her; she drew
-away from me with a sigh, and with her earnest, beautiful
-face turned up to mine, she whispered: "I believe you, John
-Carter; I do not know what a 'gentleman' is, nor have I ever
-he does not wish to speak the truth he is silent.  Where is
-this Virginia, your country, John Carter?" she asked, and it
-seemed that this fair name of my fair land had never sounded
-more beautiful than as it fell from those perfect lips on that
-far-gone day.
-
-"I am of another world," I answered, "the great planet
-Earth, which revolves about our common sun and next within
-the orbit of your Barsoom, which we know as Mars.  How I
-came here I cannot tell you, for I do not know; but here I
-am, and since my presence has permitted me to serve Dejah
-Thoris I am glad that I am here."
-
-She gazed at me with troubled eyes, long and questioningly.
-That it was difficult to believe my statement I well knew,
-nor could I hope that she would do so however much I craved
-her confidence and respect.  I would much rather not have
-told her anything of my antecedents, but no man could look
-into the depth of those eyes and refuse her slightest behest.
-
-Finally she smiled, and, rising, said: "I shall have to
-believe even though I cannot understand.  I can readily
-perceive that you are not of the Barsoom of today; you are
-like us, yet different--but why should I trouble my poor head
-with such a problem, when my heart tells me that I believe
-because I wish to believe!"
-
-It was good logic, good, earthly, feminine logic, and if it
-satisfied her I certainly could pick no flaws in it.  As a
-matter of fact it was about the only kind of logic that could
-be brought to bear upon my problem.  We fell into a general
-conversation then, asking and answering many questions on each
-side.  She was curious to learn of the customs of my people
-and displayed a remarkable knowledge of events on Earth.
-When I questioned her closely on this seeming familiarity
-with earthly things she laughed, and cried out:
-
-"Why, every school boy on Barsoom knows the geography,
-and much concerning the fauna and flora, as well as the
-history of your planet fully as well as of his own.  Can we
-not see everything which takes place upon Earth, as you call
-it; is it not hanging there in the heavens in plain sight?"
-
-This baffled me, I must confess, fully as much as my statements
-had confounded her; and I told her so.  She then explained
-in general the instruments her people had used and been
-perfecting for ages, which permit them to throw upon
-a screen a perfect image of what is transpiring upon any
-planet and upon many of the stars.  These pictures are so
-perfect in detail that, when photographed and enlarged,
-objects no greater than a blade of grass may be distinctly
-recognized.  I afterward, in Helium, saw many of these
-pictures, as well as the instruments which produced them.
-
-"If, then, you are so familiar with earthly things," I asked,
-"why is it that you do not recognize me as identical with the
-inhabitants of that planet?"
-
-She smiled again as one might in bored indulgence of a
-questioning child.
-
-"Because, John Carter," she replied, "nearly every planet
-and star having atmospheric conditions at all approaching
-those of Barsoom, shows forms of animal life almost
-identical with you and me; and, further, Earth men, almost
-without exception, cover their bodies with strange, unsightly
-pieces of cloth, and their heads with hideous contraptions
-the purpose of which we have been unable to conceive; while
-you, when found by the Tharkian warriors, were entirely
-undisfigured and unadorned.
-
-"The fact that you wore no ornaments is a strong proof of
-your un-Barsoomian origin, while the absence of grotesque
-coverings might cause a doubt as to your earthliness."
-
-I then narrated the details of my departure from the Earth,
-explaining that my body there lay fully clothed in all the, to
-her, strange garments of mundane dwellers.  At this point
-Sola returned with our meager belongings and her young
-Martian protege, who, of course, would have to share the
-quarters with them.
-
-Sola asked us if we had had a visitor during her absence,
-and seemed much surprised when we answered in the negative.
-It seemed that as she had mounted the approach to the
-upper floors where our quarters were located, she had met
-Sarkoja descending.  We decided that she must have been
-eavesdropping, but as we could recall nothing of importance
-that had passed between us we dismissed the matter as of
-little consequence, merely promising ourselves to be warned
-to the utmost caution in the future.
-
-Dejah Thoris and I then fell to examining the architecture and
-decorations of the beautiful chambers of the building we were
-occupying.  She told me that these people had presumably
-flourished over a hundred thousand years before.
-They were the early progenitors of her race, but had mixed
-with the other great race of early Martians, who were very
-dark, almost black, and also with the reddish yellow race
-which had flourished at the same time.
-
-These three great divisions of the higher Martians had
-been forced into a mighty alliance as the drying up of the
-Martian seas had compelled them to seek the comparatively few
-and always diminishing fertile areas, and to defend themselves,
-under new conditions of life, against the wild hordes of green men.
-
-Ages of close relationship and intermarrying had resulted
-in the race of red men, of which Dejah Thoris was a fair
-and beautiful daughter.  During the ages of hardships and
-incessant warring between their own various races, as well
-as with the green men, and before they had fitted themselves
-to the changed conditions, much of the high civilization
-and many of the arts of the fair-haired Martians had
-become lost; but the red race of today has reached a point
-where it feels that it has made up in new discoveries and in
-a more practical civilization for all that lies irretrievably
-buried with the ancient Barsoomians, beneath the countless
-intervening ages.
-
-These ancient Martians had been a highly cultivated and
-literary race, but during the vicissitudes of those trying
-centuries of readjustment to new conditions, not only did their
-advancement and production cease entirely, but practically
-all their archives, records, and literature were lost.
-
-Dejah Thoris related many interesting facts and legends
-concerning this lost race of noble and kindly people.  She
-said that the city in which we were camping was supposed
-to have been a center of commerce and culture known as
-Korad.  It had been built upon a beautiful, natural harbor,
-landlocked by magnificent hills.  The little valley on the west
-front of the city, she explained, was all that remained of the
-harbor, while the pass through the hills to the old sea bottom
-had been the channel through which the shipping passed up
-to the city's gates.
-
-The shores of the ancient seas were dotted with just such
-cities, and lesser ones, in diminishing numbers, were to be
-found converging toward the center of the oceans, as the
-people had found it necessary to follow the receding waters
-until necessity had forced upon them their ultimate salvation,
-the so-called Martian canals.
-
-We had been so engrossed in exploration of the building
-and in our conversation that it was late in the afternoon
-before we realized it.  We were brought back to a realization
-of our present conditions by a messenger bearing a summons
-from Lorquas Ptomel directing me to appear before him
-forthwith.  Bidding Dejah Thoris and Sola farewell, and
-commanding Woola to remain on guard, I hastened to the
-audience chamber, where I found Lorquas Ptomel and Tars
-Tarkas seated upon the rostrum.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-
-A PRISONER WITH POWER
-
-
-As I entered and saluted, Lorquas Ptomel signaled me to advance,
-and, fixing his great, hideous eyes upon me, addressed me thus:
-
-"You have been with us a few days, yet during that time
-you have by your prowess won a high position among us.
-Be that as it may, you are not one of us; you owe us no
-allegiance.
-
-"Your position is a peculiar one," he continued; "you are
-a prisoner and yet you give commands which must be obeyed;
-you are an alien and yet you are a Tharkian chieftain; you
-are a midget and yet you can kill a mighty warrior with one
-blow of your fist.  And now you are reported to have been
-plotting to escape with another prisoner of another race; a
-prisoner who, from her own admission, half believes you are
-returned from the valley of Dor.  Either one of these accusations,
-if proved, would be sufficient grounds for your execution,
-but we are a just people and you shall have a trial on our
-return to Thark, if Tal Hajus so commands.
-
-"But," he continued, in his fierce guttural tones, "if you
-run off with the red girl it is I who shall have to account to
-Tal Hajus; it is I who shall have to face Tars Tarkas, and
-either demonstrate my right to command, or the metal from
-my dead carcass will go to a better man, for such is the
-custom of the Tharks.
-
-"I have no quarrel with Tars Tarkas; together we rule
-supreme the greatest of the lesser communities among the
-green men; we do not wish to fight between ourselves; and so
-if you were dead, John Carter, I should be glad.  Under two
-conditions only, however, may you be killed by us without
-orders from Tal Hajus; in personal combat in self-defense,
-should you attack one of us, or were you apprehended in an
-attempt to escape.
-
-"As a matter of justice I must warn you that we only
-await one of these two excuses for ridding ourselves of so
-great a responsibility.  The safe delivery of the red girl to
-Tal Hajus is of the greatest importance.  Not in a thousand
-years have the Tharks made such a capture; she is the
-granddaughter of the greatest of the red jeddaks, who is also
-our bitterest enemy.  I have spoken.  The red girl told us that
-we were without the softer sentiments of humanity, but we
-are a just and truthful race.  You may go."
-
-Turning, I left the audience chamber.  So this was the
-beginning of Sarkoja's persecution!  I knew that none other
-could be responsible for this report which had reached the
-ears of Lorquas Ptomel so quickly, and now I recalled those
-portions of our conversation which had touched upon escape
-and upon my origin.
-
-Sarkoja was at this time Tars Tarkas' oldest and most
-trusted female.  As such she was a mighty power behind the
-throne, for no warrior had the confidence of Lorquas Ptomel
-to such an extent as did his ablest lieutenant, Tars Tarkas.
-
-However, instead of putting thoughts of possible escape
-from my mind, my audience with Lorquas Ptomel only served
-to center my every faculty on this subject.  Now, more than
-before, the absolute necessity for escape, in so far as Dejah
-Thoris was concerned, was impressed upon me, for I was
-convinced that some horrible fate awaited her at the
-headquarters of Tal Hajus.
-
-As described by Sola, this monster was the exaggerated
-personification of all the ages of cruelty, ferocity, and
-brutality from which he had descended.  Cold, cunning,
-calculating; he was, also, in marked contrast to most of his
-fellows, a slave to that brute passion which the waning
-demands for procreation upon their dying planet has almost
-stilled in the Martian breast.
-
-The thought that the divine Dejah Thoris might fall into
-the clutches of such an abysmal atavism started the cold
-sweat upon me.  Far better that we save friendly bullets for
-ourselves at the last moment, as did those brave frontier
-women of my lost land, who took their own lives rather than
-fall into the hands of the Indian braves.
-
-As I wandered about the plaza lost in my gloomy forebodings
-Tars Tarkas approached me on his way from the audience
-chamber.  His demeanor toward me was unchanged, and he
-greeted me as though we had not just parted a few
-moments before.
-
-"Where are your quarters, John Carter?" he asked.
-
-"I have selected none," I replied.  "It seemed best that I
-quartered either by myself or among the other warriors, and
-I was awaiting an opportunity to ask your advice.  As you
-know," and I smiled, "I am not yet familiar with all the
-customs of the Tharks."
-
-"Come with me," he directed, and together we moved off
-across the plaza to a building which I was glad to see
-adjoined that occupied by Sola and her charges.
-
-"My quarters are on the first floor of this building," he
-said, "and the second floor also is fully occupied by warriors,
-but the third floor and the floors above are vacant; you may
-take your choice of these.
-
-"I understand," he continued, "that you have given up
-your woman to the red prisoner.  Well, as you have said,
-your ways are not our ways, but you can fight well enough
-to do about as you please, and so, if you wish to give your
-woman to a captive, it is your own affair; but as a chieftain
-you should have those to serve you, and in accordance with
-our customs you may select any or all the females from the
-retinues of the chieftains whose metal you now wear."
-
-I thanked him, but assured him that I could get alone
-very nicely without assistance except in the matter of
-preparing food, and so he promised to send women to me for
-this purpose and also for the care of my arms and the
-manufacture of my ammunition, which he said would be
-necessary.  I suggested that they might also bring some of
-the sleeping silks and furs which belonged to me as spoils of
-combat, for the nights were cold and I had none of my own.
-
-He promised to do so, and departed.  Left alone, I ascended
-the winding corridor to the upper floors in search of
-suitable quarters.  The beauties of the other buildings were
-repeated in this, and, as usual, I was soon lost in a tour of
-investigation and discovery.
-
-I finally chose a front room on the third floor, because
-this brought me nearer to Dejah Thoris, whose apartment
-was on the second floor of the adjoining building, and it
-flashed upon me that I could rig up some means of communication
-whereby she might signal me in case she needed either my
-services or my protection.
-
-Adjoining my sleeping apartment were baths, dressing
-rooms, and other sleeping and living apartments, in all some
-ten rooms on this floor.  The windows of the back rooms
-overlooked an enormous court, which formed the center of
-the square made by the buildings which faced the four
-contiguous streets, and which was now given over to the
-quartering of the various animals belonging to the warriors
-occupying the adjoining buildings.
-
-While the court was entirely overgrown with the yellow,
-moss-like vegetation which blankets practically the entire
-surface of Mars, yet numerous fountains, statuary, benches,
-and pergola-like contraptions bore witness to the beauty
-which the court must have presented in bygone times, when
-graced by the fair-haired, laughing people whom stern and
-unalterable cosmic laws had driven not only from their homes,
-but from all except the vague legends of their descendants.
-
-One could easily picture the gorgeous foliage of the luxuriant
-Martian vegetation which once filled this scene with life
-and color; the graceful figures of the beautiful women, the
-straight and handsome men; the happy frolicking children--
-all sunlight, happiness and peace.  It was difficult to realize
-that they had gone; down through ages of darkness, cruelty,
-and ignorance, until their hereditary instincts of culture and
-humanitarianism had risen ascendant once more in the final
-composite race which now is dominant upon Mars.
-
-My thoughts were cut short by the advent of several
-young females bearing loads of weapons, silks, furs, jewels,
-cooking utensils, and casks of food and drink, including
-considerable loot from the air craft.  All this, it seemed, had
-been the property of the two chieftains I had slain, and now,
-by the customs of the Tharks, it had become mine.  At my
-direction they placed the stuff in one of the back rooms, and
-then departed, only to return with a second load, which
-they advised me constituted the balance of my goods.  On the
-second trip they were accompanied by ten or fifteen other
-women and youths, who, it seemed, formed the retinues of
-the two chieftains.
-
-They were not their families, nor their wives, nor their
-servants; the relationship was peculiar, and so unlike
-anything known to us that it is most difficult to describe.
-All property among the green Martians is owned in common by
-the community, except the personal weapons, ornaments and
-sleeping silks and furs of the individuals.  These alone can
-one claim undisputed right to, nor may he accumulate more
-of these than are required for his actual needs.  The surplus
-he holds merely as custodian, and it is passed on to the
-younger members of the community as necessity demands.
-
-The women and children of a man's retinue may be likened
-to a military unit for which he is responsible in various
-ways, as in matters of instruction, discipline, sustenance, and
-the exigencies of their continual roamings and their unending
-strife with other communities and with the red Martians.
-His women are in no sense wives.  The green Martians use no
-word corresponding in meaning with this earthly word.  Their
-mating is a matter of community interest solely, and is
-directed without reference to natural selection.  The council
-of chieftains of each community control the matter as surely as
-the owner of a Kentucky racing stud directs the scientific
-breeding of his stock for the improvement of the whole.
-
-In theory it may sound well, as is often the case with
-theories, but the results of ages of this unnatural practice,
-coupled with the community interest in the offspring being
-held paramount to that of the mother, is shown in the cold,
-cruel creatures, and their gloomy, loveless, mirthless existence.
-
-It is true that the green Martians are absolutely virtuous,
-both men and women, with the exception of such degenerates
-as Tal Hajus; but better far a finer balance of human
-characteristics even at the expense of a slight and
-occasional loss of chastity.
-
-Finding that I must assume responsibility for these creatures,
-whether I would or not, I made the best of it and directed
-them to find quarters on the upper floors, leaving the
-third floor to me.  One of the girls I charged with the duties
-of my simple cuisine, and directed the others to take up
-the various activities which had formerly constituted their
-vocations.  Thereafter I saw little of them, nor did I care to.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-
-LOVE-MAKING ON MARS
-
-
-Following the battle with the air ships, the community
-remained within the city for several days, abandoning the
-homeward march until they could feel reasonably assured
-that the ships would not return; for to be caught on the
-open plains with a cavalcade of chariots and children was
-far from the desire of even so warlike a people as the green
-Martians.
-
-During our period of inactivity, Tars Tarkas had instructed
-me in many of the customs and arts of war familiar to the
-Tharks, including lessons in riding and guiding the great
-beasts which bore the warriors.  These creatures, which are
-known as thoats, are as dangerous and vicious as their masters,
-but when once subdued are sufficiently tractable for the
-purposes of the green Martians.
-
-Two of these animals had fallen to me from the warriors
-whose metal I wore, and in a short time I could handle them
-quite as well as the native warriors.  The method was not at
-all complicated.  If the thoats did not respond with sufficient
-celerity to the telepathic instructions of their riders they
-were dealt a terrific blow between the ears with the butt of a
-pistol, and if they showed fight this treatment was continued
-until the brutes either were subdued, or had unseated their
-riders.
-
-In the latter case it became a life and death struggle
-between the man and the beast.  If the former were quick
-enough with his pistol he might live to ride again, though
-upon some other beast; if not, his torn and mangled body
-was gathered up by his women and burned in accordance
-with Tharkian custom.
-
-My experience with Woola determined me to attempt the
-experiment of kindness in my treatment of my thoats.  First I
-taught them that they could not unseat me, and even rapped
-them sharply between the ears to impress upon them my
-authority and mastery.  Then, by degrees, I won their
-confidence in much the same manner as I had adopted countless
-times with my many mundane mounts.  I was ever a good hand
-with animals, and by inclination, as well as because
-it brought more lasting and satisfactory results, I was
-always kind and humane in my dealings with the lower orders.
-I could take a human life, if necessary, with far less compunction
-than that of a poor, unreasoning, irresponsible brute.
-
-In the course of a few days my thoats were the wonder
-of the entire community.  They would follow me like dogs,
-rubbing their great snouts against my body in awkward evidence
-of affection, and respond to my every command with an alacrity
-and docility which caused the Martian warriors to ascribe to me
-the possession of some earthly power unknown on Mars.
-
-"How have you bewitched them?" asked Tars Tarkas one
-afternoon, when he had seen me run my arm far between
-the great jaws of one of my thoats which had wedged a
-piece of stone between two of his teeth while feeding upon
-the moss-like vegetation within our court yard.
-
-"By kindness," I replied.  "You see, Tars Tarkas, the softer
-sentiments have their value, even to a warrior.  In the height
-of battle as well as upon the march I know that my thoats
-will obey my every command, and therefore my fighting
-efficiency is enhanced, and I am a better warrior for the
-reason that I am a kind master.  Your other warriors would find
-it to the advantage of themselves as well as of the community
-to adopt my methods in this respect.  Only a few days since you,
-yourself, told me that these great brutes, by the uncertainty
-of their tempers, often were the means of turning victory
-into defeat, since, at a crucial moment, they might elect
-to unseat and rend their riders."
-
-"Show me how you accomplish these results," was Tars Tarkas'
-only rejoinder.
-
-And so I explained as carefully as I could the entire
-method of training I had adopted with my beasts, and later
-he had me repeat it before Lorquas Ptomel and the assembled
-warriors.  That moment marked the beginning of a new existence
-for the poor thoats, and before I left the community of
-Lorquas Ptomel I had the satisfaction of observing a regiment
-of as tractable and docile mounts as one might care to
-see.  The effect on the precision and celerity of the military
-movements was so remarkable that Lorquas Ptomel presented
-me with a massive anklet of gold from his own leg, as a sign
-of his appreciation of my service to the horde.
-
-On the seventh day following the battle with the air craft
-we again took up the march toward Thark, all probability of
-another attack being deemed remote by Lorquas Ptomel.
-
-During the days just preceding our departure I had seen
-but little of Dejah Thoris, as I had been kept very busy by
-Tars Tarkas with my lessons in the art of Martian warfare,
-as well as in the training of my thoats.  The few times I had
-visited her quarters she had been absent, walking upon the
-streets with Sola, or investigating the buildings in the near
-vicinity of the plaza.  I had warned them against venturing
-far from the plaza for fear of the great white apes, whose
-ferocity I was only too well acquainted with.  However, since
-Woola accompanied them on all their excursions, and as
-Sola was well armed, there was comparatively little cause for
-fear.
-
-On the evening before our departure I saw them approaching
-along one of the great avenues which lead into the
-plaza from the east.  I advanced to meet them, and telling
-Sola that I would take the responsibility for Dejah Thoris'
-safekeeping, I directed her to return to her quarters on some
-trivial errand.  I liked and trusted Sola, but for some reason I
-desired to be alone with Dejah Thoris, who represented to
-me all that I had left behind upon Earth in agreeable and
-congenial companionship.  There seemed bonds of mutual
-interest between us as powerful as though we had been born
-under the same roof rather than upon different planets,
-hurtling through space some forty-eight million miles apart.
-
-That she shared my sentiments in this respect I was positive,
-for on my approach the look of pitiful hopelessness left
-her sweet countenance to be replaced by a smile of joyful
-welcome, as she placed her little right hand upon my left
-shoulder in true red Martian salute.
-
-"Sarkoja told Sola that you had become a true Thark," she
-said, "and that I would now see no more of you than of any
-of the other warriors."
-
-"Sarkoja is a liar of the first magnitude," I replied,
-"notwithstanding the proud claim of the Tharks to
-absolute verity."
-
-Dejah Thoris laughed.
-
-"I knew that even though you became a member of the
-community you would not cease to be my friend; 'A warrior
-may change his metal, but not his heart,' as the saying
-is upon Barsoom."
-
-"I think they have been trying to keep us apart," she
-continued, "for whenever you have been off duty one of the
-older women of Tars Tarkas' retinue has always arranged to
-trump up some excuse to get Sola and me out of sight.
-They have had me down in the pits below the buildings
-helping them mix their awful radium powder, and make their
-terrible projectiles.  You know that these have to be
-manufactured by artificial light, as exposure to sunlight always
-results in an explosion.  You have noticed that their bullets
-explode when they strike an object?  Well, the opaque, outer
-coating is broken by the impact, exposing a glass cylinder,
-almost solid, in the forward end of which is a minute particle
-of radium powder.  The moment the sunlight, even though
-diffused, strikes this powder it explodes with a violence which
-nothing can withstand.  If you ever witness a night battle
-you will note the absence of these explosions, while the
-morning following the battle will be filled at sunrise with the
-sharp detonations of exploding missiles fired the preceding
-night.  As a rule, however, non-exploding projectiles are used
-at night."1
-
-While I was much interested in Dejah Thoris' explanation
-of this wonderful adjunct to Martian warfare, I was more
-concerned by the immediate problem of their treatment of
-her.  That they were keeping her away from me was not a
-matter for surprise, but that they should subject her to
-dangerous and arduous labor filled me with rage.
-
-"Have they ever subjected you to cruelty and ignominy,
-Dejah Thoris?" I asked, feeling the hot blood of my fighting
-ancestors leap in my veins as I awaited her reply.
-
-"Only in little ways, John Carter," she answered.  "Nothing
-that can harm me outside my pride.  They know that I am
-the daughter of ten thousand jeddaks, that I trace my
-ancestry straight back without a break to the builder of
-the first great waterway, and they, who do not even know
-their own mothers, are jealous of me.  At heart they hate
-their horrid fates, and so wreak their poor spite on me who
-stand for everything they have not, and for all they most
-crave and never can attain.  Let us pity them, my chieftain,
-for even though we die at their hands we can afford them
-pity, since we are greater than they and they know it."
-
-Had I known the significance of those words "my chieftain,"
-as applied by a red Martian woman to a man, I should have
-had the surprise of my life, but I did not know at that time,
-nor for many months thereafter.  Yes, I still had much to
-learn upon Barsoom.
-
-"I presume it is the better part of wisdom that we bow to
-our fate with as good grace as possible, Dejah Thoris; but I
-hope, nevertheless, that I may be present the next time that
-any Martian, green, red, pink, or violet, has the temerity to
-even so much as frown on you, my princess."
-
-Dejah Thoris caught her breath at my last words, and
-
-
-I have used the word radium in describing this powder because in
-the light of recent discoveries on Earth I believe it to be a mixture of
-which radium is the base.  In Captain Carter's manuscript it is mentioned
-always by the name used in the written language of Helium and is
-spelled in hieroglyphics which it would be difficult and useless to
-reproduce.
-
-gazed upon me with dilated eyes and quickening breath, and
-then, with an odd little laugh, which brought roguish dimples
-to the corners of her mouth, she shook her head and cried:
-
-"What a child!  A great warrior and yet a stumbling little
-child."
-
-"What have I done now?" I asked, in sore perplexity.
-
-"Some day you shall know, John Carter, if we live; but
-I may not tell you.  And I, the daughter of Mors Kajak, son of
-Tardos Mors, have listened without anger," she soliloquized
-in conclusion.
-
-Then she broke out again into one of her gay, happy, laughing moods;
-joking with me on my prowess as a Thark warrior as contrasted with
-my soft heart and natural kindliness.
-
-"I presume that should you accidentally wound an enemy
-you would take him home and nurse him back to health,"
-she laughed.
-
-"That is precisely what we do on Earth," I answered.
-"At least among civilized men."
-
-This made her laugh again.  She could not understand it,
-for, with all her tenderness and womanly sweetness, she was
-still a Martian, and to a Martian the only good enemy is a
-dead enemy; for every dead foeman means so much more to
-divide between those who live.
-
-I was very curious to know what I had said or done to
-cause her so much perturbation a moment before and so I
-continued to importune her to enlighten me.
-
-"No," she exclaimed, "it is enough that you have said it
-and that I have listened.  And when you learn, John Carter,
-and if I be dead, as likely I shall be ere the further
-moon has circled Barsoom another twelve times, remember
-that I listened and that I--smiled."
-
-It was all Greek to me, but the more I begged her to
-explain the more positive became her denials of my request,
-and, so, in very hopelessness, I desisted.
-
-Day had now given away to night and as we wandered
-along the great avenue lighted by the two moons of
-Barsoom, and with Earth looking down upon us out of her
-luminous green eye, it seemed that we were alone in the
-universe, and I, at least, was content that it should be so.
-
-The chill of the Martian night was upon us, and removing
-my silks I threw them across the shoulders of Dejah
-Thoris.  As my arm rested for an instant upon her I felt a
-thrill pass through every fiber of my being such as contact
-with no other mortal had even produced; and it seemed to
-me that she had leaned slightly toward me, but of that I
-was not sure.  Only I knew that as my arm rested there
-across her shoulders longer than the act of adjusting the
-silk required she did not draw away, nor did she speak.
-And so, in silence, we walked the surface of a dying world,
-but in the breast of one of us at least had been born that
-which is ever oldest, yet ever new.
-
-I loved Dejah Thoris.  The touch of my arm upon her naked
-shoulder had spoken to me in words I would not mistake,
-and I knew that I had loved her since the first moment
-that my eyes had met hers that first time in the plaza
-of the dead city of Korad.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-
-
-A DUEL TO THE DEATH
-
-
-My first impulse was to tell her of my love, and then I
-thought of the helplessness of her position wherein I alone
-could lighten the burdens of her captivity, and protect her in
-my poor way against the thousands of hereditary enemies
-she must face upon our arrival at Thark.  I could not chance
-causing her additional pain or sorrow by declaring a love
-which, in all probability she did not return.  Should I be so
-indiscreet, her position would be even more unbearable than
-now, and the thought that she might feel that I was taking
-advantage of her helplessness, to influence her decision was
-the final argument which sealed my lips.
-
-"Why are you so quiet, Dejah Thoris?" I asked.  "Possibly
-you would rather return to Sola and your quarters."
-
-"No," she murmured, "I am happy here.  I do not know
-why it is that I should always be happy and contented
-when you, John Carter, a stranger, are with me; yet at such
-times it seems that I am safe and that, with you, I shall soon
-return to my father's court and feel his strong arms about me
-and my mother's tears and kisses on my cheek."
-
-"Do people kiss, then, upon Barsoom?" I asked, when she
-had explained the word she used, in answer to my inquiry as
-to its meaning.
-
-"Parents, brothers, and sisters, yes; and," she added in a
-low, thoughtful tone, "lovers."
-
-"And you, Dejah Thoris, have parents and brothers and
-sisters?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"And a--lover?"
-
-She was silent, nor could I venture to repeat the question.
-
-"The man of Barsoom," she finally ventured, "does not
-ask personal questions of women, except his mother, and the
-woman he has fought for and won."
-
-"But I have fought--" I started, and then I wished my
-tongue had been cut from my mouth; for she turned even as
-I caught myself and ceased, and drawing my silks from her
-shoulder she held them out to me, and without a word, and
-with head held high, she moved with the carriage of the
-queen she was toward the plaza and the doorway of her
-quarters.
-
-I did not attempt to follow her, other than to see that she
-reached the building in safety, but, directing Woola to
-accompany her, I turned disconsolately and entered my own house.
-I sat for hours cross-legged, and cross-tempered, upon my silks
-meditating upon the queer freaks chance plays upon us poor
-devils of mortals.
-
-So this was love!  I had escaped it for all the years I had
-roamed the five continents and their encircling seas; in spite
-of beautiful women and urging opportunity; in spite of a half-
-desire for love and a constant search for my ideal, it had
-remained for me to fall furiously and hopelessly in love with a
-creature from another world, of a species similar possibly,
-yet not identical with mine.  A woman who was hatched from
-an egg, and whose span of life might cover a thousand years;
-whose people had strange customs and ideas; a woman whose
-hopes, whose pleasures, whose standards of virtue and of
-right and wrong might vary as greatly from mine as did those
-of the green Martians.
-
-Yes, I was a fool, but I was in love, and though I was
-suffering the greatest misery I had ever known I would not
-have had it otherwise for all the riches of Barsoom.  Such is
-love, and such are lovers wherever love is known.
-
-To me, Dejah Thoris was all that was perfect; all that was
-virtuous and beautiful and noble and good.  I believed that
-from the bottom of my heart, from the depth of my soul on
-that night in Korad as I sat cross-legged upon my silks while
-the nearer moon of Barsoom raced through the western sky
-toward the horizon, and lighted up the gold and marble, and
-jeweled mosaics of my world-old chamber, and I believe it
-today as I sit at my desk in the little study overlooking the
-Hudson.  Twenty years have intervened; for ten of them I
-lived and fought for Dejah Thoris and her people, and for
-ten I have lived upon her memory.
-
-The morning of our departure for Thark dawned clear
-and hot, as do all Martian mornings except for the six weeks
-when the snow melts at the poles.
-
-I sought out Dejah Thoris in the throng of departing chariots,
-but she turned her shoulder to me, and I could see the red blood
-mount to her cheek.  With the foolish inconsistency
-of love I held my peace when I might have plead ignorance
-of the nature of my offense, or at least the gravity of it,
-and so have effected, at worst, a half conciliation.
-
-My duty dictated that I must see that she was comfortable,
-and so I glanced into her chariot and rearranged her silks
-and furs.  In doing so I noted with horror that she was
-heavily chained by one ankle to the side of the vehicle.
-
-"What does this mean?" I cried, turning to Sola.
-
-"Sarkoja thought it best," she answered, her face betokening
-her disapproval of the procedure.
-
-Examining the manacles I saw that they fastened with a
-massive spring lock.
-
-"Where is the key, Sola?  Let me have it."
-
-"Sarkoja wears it, John Carter," she answered.
-
-I turned without further word and sought out Tars Tarkas,
-to whom I vehemently objected to the unnecessary humiliations
-and cruelties, as they seemed to my lover's eyes, that were
-being heaped upon Dejah Thoris.
-
-"John Carter," he answered, "if ever you and Dejah Thoris
-escape the Tharks it will be upon this journey.  We know that
-you will not go without her.  You have shown yourself a
-mighty fighter, and we do not wish to manacle you, so we
-hold you both in the easiest way that will yet ensure security.
-I have spoken."
-
-I saw the strength of his reasoning at a flash, and knew
-that it were futile to appeal from his decision, but I asked
-that the key be taken from Sarkoja and that she be directed
-to leave the prisoner alone in future.
-
-"This much, Tars Tarkas, you may do for me in return for
-the friendship that, I must confess, I feel for you."
-
-"Friendship?" he replied.  "There is no such thing, John
-Carter; but have your will.  I shall direct that Sarkoja cease
-to annoy the girl, and I myself will take the custody of the
-key."
-
-"Unless you wish me to assume the responsibility," I said,
-smiling.
-
-He looked at me long and earnestly before he spoke.
-
-"Were you to give me your word that neither you nor
-Dejah Thoris would attempt to escape until after we have
-safely reached the court of Tal Hajus you might have the
-key and throw the chains into the river Iss."
-
-"It were better that you held the key, Tars Tarkas," I replied
-
-He smiled, and said no more, but that night as we were
-making camp I saw him unfasten Dejah Thoris' fetters himself.
-
-With all his cruel ferocity and coldness there was an
-undercurrent of something in Tars Tarkas which he seemed
-ever battling to subdue.  Could it be a vestige of some human
-instinct come back from an ancient forbear to haunt him
-with the horror of his people's ways!
-
-As I was approaching Dejah Thoris' chariot I passed Sarkoja,
-and the black, venomous look she accorded me was the sweetest
-balm I had felt for many hours.  Lord, how she hated me!
-It bristled from her so palpably that one might almost
-have cut it with a sword.
-
-A few moments later I saw her deep in conversation with
-a warrior named Zad; a big, hulking, powerful brute, but
-one who had never made a kill among his own chieftains, and
-a second name only with the metal of some chieftain.  It was
-this custom which entitled me to the names of either of the
-chieftains I had killed; in fact, some of the warriors
-addressed me as Dotar Sojat, a combination of the surnames
-of the two warrior chieftains whose metal I had taken, or, in
-other words, whom I had slain in fair fight.
-
-As Sarkoja talked with Zad he cast occasional glances in
-my direction, while she seemed to be urging him very strongly
-to some action.  I paid little attention to it at the time, but
-the next day I had good reason to recall the circumstances,
-and at the same time gain a slight insight into the depths of
-Sarkoja's hatred and the lengths to which she was capable of
-going to wreak her horrid vengeance on me.
-
-Dejah Thoris would have none of me again on this evening,
-and though I spoke her name she neither replied, nor conceded
-by so much as the flutter of an eyelid that she realized
-my existence.  In my extremity I did what most other lovers
-would have done; I sought word from her through an intimate.
-In this instance it was Sola whom I intercepted in another
-part of camp.
-
-"What is the matter with Dejah Thoris?" I blurted out at her.
-"Why will she not speak to me?"
-
-Sola seemed puzzled herself, as though such strange actions
-on the part of two humans were quite beyond her, as indeed
-they were, poor child.
-
-"She says you have angered her, and that is all she will
-say, except that she is the daughter of a jed and the grand-
-daughter of a jeddak and she has been humiliated by a
-creature who could not polish the teeth of her grandmother's
-sorak."
-
-I pondered over this report for some time, finally asking,
-"What might a sorak be, Sola?"
-
-"A little animal about as big as my hand, which the red
-Martian women keep to play with," explained Sola.
-
-Not fit to polish the teeth of her grandmother's cat!  I must
-rank pretty low in the consideration of Dejah Thoris, I
-thought; but I could not help laughing at the strange figure
-of speech, so homely and in this respect so earthly.  It made
-me homesick, for it sounded very much like "not fit to polish
-her shoes."  And then commenced a train of thought quite
-new to me.  I began to wonder what my people at home were doing.
-I had not seen them for years.  There was a family of
-Carters in Virginia who claimed close relationship with me;
-I was supposed to be a great uncle, or something of the
-kind equally foolish.  I could pass anywhere for twenty-five
-to thirty years of age, and to be a great uncle always seemed
-the height of incongruity, for my thoughts and feelings were
-those of a boy.  There was two little kiddies in the Carter
-family whom I had loved and who had thought there was
-no one on Earth like Uncle Jack; I could see them just as
-plainly, as I stood there under the moonlit skies of Barsoom,
-and I longed for them as I had never longed for any mortals
-before.  By nature a wanderer, I had never known the
-true meaning of the word home, but the great hall of the
-Carters had always stood for all that the word did mean to
-me, and now my heart turned toward it from the cold and
-unfriendly peoples I had been thrown amongst.  For did not
-even Dejah Thoris despise me!  I was a low creature, so low
-in fact that I was not even fit to polish the teeth of her
-grandmother's cat; and then my saving sense of humor came
-to my rescue, and laughing I turned into my silks and furs
-and slept upon the moon-haunted ground the sleep of a tired
-and healthy fighting man.
-
-We broke camp the next day at an early hour and marched
-with only a single halt until just before dark.  Two incidents
-broke the tediousness of the march.  About noon we espied
-far to our right what was evidently an incubator, and Lorquas
-Ptomel directed Tars Tarkas to investigate it.  The latter
-took a dozen warriors, including myself, and we raced across
-the velvety carpeting of moss to the little enclosure.
-
-It was indeed an incubator, but the eggs were very small
-in comparison with those I had seen hatching in ours at the
-time of my arrival on Mars.
-
-Tars Tarkas dismounted and examined the enclosure minutely,
-finally announcing that it belonged to the green men
-of Warhoon and that the cement was scarcely dry where it
-had been walled up.
-
-"They cannot be a day's march ahead of us," he exclaimed,
-the light of battle leaping to his fierce face.
-
-The work at the incubator was short indeed.  The warriors
-tore open the entrance and a couple of them, crawling
-in, soon demolished all the eggs with their short-swords.
-Then remounting we dashed back to join the cavalcade.
-During the ride I took occasion to ask Tars Tarkas if these
-Warhoons whose eggs we had destroyed were a smaller people
-than his Tharks.
-
-"I noticed that their eggs were so much smaller than those
-I saw hatching in your incubator," I added.
-
-He explained that the eggs had just been placed there; but,
-like all green Martian eggs, they would grow during the
-five-year period of incubation until they obtained the size of
-those I had seen hatching on the day of my arrival on Barsoom.
-This was indeed an interesting piece of information,
-for it had always seemed remarkable to me that the green
-Martian women, large as they were, could bring forth such
-enormous eggs as I had seen the four-foot infants emerging
-from.  As a matter of fact, the new-laid egg is but little larger
-than an ordinary goose egg, and as it does not commence to
-grow until subjected to the light of the sun the chieftains
-have little difficulty in transporting several hundreds of them
-at one time from the storage vaults to the incubators.
-
-Shortly after the incident of the Warhoon eggs we halted
-to rest the animals, and it was during this halt that the
-second of the day's interesting episodes occurred.  I was
-engaged in changing my riding cloths from one of my thoats
-to the other, for I divided the day's work between them,
-when Zad approached me, and without a word struck my
-animal a terrific blow with his long-sword.
-
-I did not need a manual of green Martian etiquette to know
-what reply to make, for, in fact, I was so wild with anger
-that I could scarcely refrain from drawing my pistol and
-shooting him down for the brute he was; but he stood waiting
-with drawn long-sword, and my only choice was to draw my own
-and meet him in fair fight with his choice of weapons or
-a lesser one.
-
-This latter alternative is always permissible, therefore I
-could have used my short-sword, my dagger, my hatchet, or
-my fists had I wished, and been entirely within my rights,
-but I could not use firearms or a spear while he held only
-his long-sword.
-
-I chose the same weapon he had drawn because I knew he
-prided himself upon his ability with it, and I wished, if I
-worsted him at all, to do it with his own weapon.  The fight
-that followed was a long one and delayed the resumption of
-the march for an hour.  The entire community surrounded
-us, leaving a clear space about one hundred feet in diameter
-for our battle.
-
-Zad first attempted to rush me down as a bull might a
-wolf, but I was much too quick for him, and each time I
-side-stepped his rushes he would go lunging past me, only
-to receive a nick from my sword upon his arm or back.  He
-was soon streaming blood from a half dozen minor wounds,
-but I could not obtain an opening to deliver an effective
-thrust.  Then he changed his tactics, and fighting warily and
-with extreme dexterity, he tried to do by science what he
-was unable to do by brute strength.  I must admit that he was
-a magnificent swordsman, and had it not been for my greater
-endurance and the remarkable agility the lesser gravitation
-of Mars lent me I might not have been able to put up the
-creditable fight I did against him.
-
-We circled for some time without doing much damage on
-either side; the long, straight, needle-like swords flashing in
-the sunlight, and ringing out upon the stillness as they
-crashed together with each effective parry.  Finally Zad,
-realizing that he was tiring more than I, evidently decided to
-close in and end the battle in a final blaze of glory for himself;
-just as he rushed me a blinding flash of light struck full
-in my eyes, so that I could not see his approach and could
-only leap blindly to one side in an effort to escape the
-mighty blade that it seemed I could already feel in my vitals.
-I was only partially successful, as a sharp pain in my left
-shoulder attested, but in the sweep of my glance as I sought
-to again locate my adversary, a sight met my astonished
-gaze which paid me well for the wound the temporary blindness
-had caused me.  There, upon Dejah Thoris' chariot
-stood three figures, for the purpose evidently of witnessing
-the encounter above the heads of the intervening Tharks.
-There were Dejah Thoris, Sola, and Sarkoja, and as my
-fleeting glance swept over them a little tableau was presented
-which will stand graven in my memory to the day of my death.
-
-As I looked, Dejah Thoris turned upon Sarkoja with the
-fury of a young tigress and struck something from her
-upraised hand; something which flashed in the sunlight as
-it spun to the ground.  Then I knew what had blinded me at
-that crucial moment of the fight, and how Sarkoja had found
-a way to kill me without herself delivering the final thrust.
-Another thing I saw, too, which almost lost my life for me
-then and there, for it took my mind for the fraction of an
-instant entirely from my antagonist; for, as Dejah Thoris
-struck the tiny mirror from her hand, Sarkoja, her face livid
-with hatred and baffled rage, whipped out her dagger and
-aimed a terrific blow at Dejah Thoris; and then Sola, our dear
-and faithful Sola, sprang between them; the last I saw was
-the great knife descending upon her shielding breast.
-
-My enemy had recovered from his thrust and was making it
-extremely interesting for me, so I reluctantly gave my
-attention to the work in hand, but my mind was not upon the
-battle.
-
-We rushed each other furiously time after time, 'til suddenly,
-feeling the sharp point of his sword at my breast in a thrust
-I could neither parry nor escape, I threw myself upon him
-with outstretched sword and with all the weight of my
-body, determined that I would not die alone if I could
-prevent it.  I felt the steel tear into my chest, all went
-black before me, my head whirled in dizziness, and I felt my
-knees giving beneath me.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV
-
-
-SOLA TELLS ME HER STORY
-
-
-When consciousness returned, and, as I soon learned, I was
-down but a moment, I sprang quickly to my feet searching
-for my sword, and there I found it, buried to the hilt in the
-green breast of Zad, who lay stone dead upon the ochre
-moss of the ancient sea bottom.  As I regained my full senses
-I found his weapon piercing my left breast, but only through
-the flesh and muscles which cover my ribs, entering near
-the center of my chest and coming out below the shoulder.
-As I had lunged I had turned so that his sword merely
-passed beneath the muscles, inflicting a painful but not
-dangerous wound.
-
-Removing the blade from my body I also regained my
-own, and turning my back upon his ugly carcass, I moved,
-sick, sore, and disgusted, toward the chariots which bore my
-retinue and my belongings.  A murmur of Martian applause
-greeted me, but I cared not for it.
-
-Bleeding and weak I reached my women, who, accustomed to
-such happenings, dressed my wounds, applying the wonderful
-healing and remedial agents which make only the most
-instantaneous of death blows fatal.  Give a Martian woman
-a chance and death must take a back seat.  They soon had
-me patched up so that, except for weakness from loss of
-blood and a little soreness around the wound, I suffered no
-great distress from this thrust which, under earthly treatment,
-undoubtedly would have put me flat on my back for days.
-
-As soon as they were through with me I hastened to the
-chariot of Dejah Thoris, where I found my poor Sola with
-her chest swathed in bandages, but apparently little the
-worse for her encounter with Sarkoja, whose dagger it seemed
-had struck the edge of one of Sola's metal breast ornaments
-and, thus deflected, had inflicted but a slight flesh wound.
-
-As I approached I found Dejah Thoris lying prone upon
-her silks and furs, her lithe form wracked with sobs.  She did
-not notice my presence, nor did she hear me speaking with
-Sola, who was standing a short distance from the vehicle.
-
-"Is she injured?" I asked of sola, indicating Dejah Thoris
-by an inclination of my head.
-
-"No," she answered, "she thinks that you are dead."
-
-"And that her grandmother's cat may now have no one to
-polish its teeth?" I queried, smiling.
-
-"I think you wrong her, John Carter," said Sola.  "I do not
-understand either her ways or yours, but I am sure the
-granddaughter of ten thousand jeddaks would never grieve
-like this over any who held but the highest claim upon her
-affections.  They are a proud race, but they are just, as are
-all Barsoomians, and you must have hurt or wronged her
-grievously that she will not admit your existence living,
-though she mourns you dead.
-
-"Tears are a strange sight upon Barsoom," she continued,
-"and so it is difficult for me to interpret them.  I have seen
-but two people weep in all my life, other than Dejah Thoris;
-one wept from sorrow, the other from baffled rage.  The first
-was my mother, years ago before they killed her; the other
-was Sarkoja, when they dragged her from me today."
-
-"Your mother!" I exclaimed, "but, Sola, you could not
-have known your mother, child."
-
-"But I did.  And my father also," she added.  "If you
-would like to hear the strange and un-Barsoomian story
-come to the chariot tonight, John Carter, and I will tell you
-that of which I have never spoken in all my life before.  And
-now the signal has been given to resume the march, you
-must go."
-
-"I will come tonight, Sola," I promised.  "Be sure to tell
-Dejah Thoris I am alive and well.  I shall not force myself
-upon her, and be sure that you do not let her know I saw her tears.
-If she would speak with me I but await her command.
-
-Sola mounted the chariot, which was swinging into its place
-in line, and I hastened to my waiting thoat and galloped
-to my station beside Tars Tarkas at the rear of the column.
-
-We made a most imposing and awe-inspiring spectacle as
-we strung out across the yellow landscape; the two hundred
-and fifty ornate and brightly colored chariots, preceded by
-an advance guard of some two hundred mounted warriors
-and chieftains riding five abreast and one hundred yards
-apart, and followed by a like number in the same formation,
-with a score or more of flankers on either side; the fifty extra
-mastodons, or heavy draught animals, known as zitidars,
-and the five or six hundred extra thoats of the warriors
-running loose within the hollow square formed by the
-surrounding warriors.  The gleaming metal and jewels of
-the gorgeous ornaments of the men and women, duplicated in
-the trappings of the zitidars and thoats, and interspersed
-with the flashing colors of magnificent silks and furs and
-feathers, lent a barbaric splendor to the caravan which would
-have turned an East Indian potentate green with envy.
-
-The enormous broad tires of the chariots and the padded
-feet of the animals brought forth no sound from the moss-
-covered sea bottom; and so we moved in utter silence, like
-some huge phantasmagoria, except when the stillness was
-broken by the guttural growling of a goaded zitidar, or the
-squealing of fighting thoats.  The green Martians converse
-but little, and then usually in monosyllables, low and like
-the faint rumbling of distant thunder.
-
-We traversed a trackless waste of moss which, bending to
-the pressure of broad tire or padded foot, rose up again
-behind us, leaving no sign that we had passed.  We might
-indeed have been the wraiths of the departed dead upon the
-dead sea of that dying planet for all the sound or sign we
-made in passing.  It was the first march of a large body of
-men and animals I had ever witnessed which raised no dust
-and left no spoor; for there is no dust upon Mars except in
-the cultivated districts during the winter months, and even
-then the absence of high winds renders it almost unnoticeable.
-
-We camped that night at the foot of the hills we had been
-approaching for two days and which marked the southern
-boundary of this particular sea.  Our animals had been two
-days without drink, nor had they had water for nearly two
-months, not since shortly after leaving Thark; but, as Tars
-Tarkas explained to me, they require but little and can live
-almost indefinitely upon the moss which covers Barsoom, and
-which, he told me, holds in its tiny stems sufficient moisture
-to meet the limited demands of the animals.
-After partaking of my evening meal of cheese-like food
-and vegetable milk I sought out Sola, whom I found working
-by the light of a torch upon some of Tars Tarkas' trappings.
-She looked up at my approach, her face lighting with pleasure
-and with welcome.
-
-"I am glad you came," she said; "Dejah Thoris sleeps and
-I am lonely.  Mine own people do not care for me, John Carter;
-I am too unlike them.  It is a sad fate, since I must live
-my life amongst them, and I often wish that I were a true
-green Martian woman, without love and without hope; but I
-have known love and so I am lost.
-
-"I promised to tell you my story, or rather the story of
-my parents.  From what I have learned of you and the ways
-of your people I am sure that the tale will not seem strange
-to you, but among green Martians it has no parallel within
-the memory of the oldest living Thark, nor do our legends
-hold many similar tales.
-
-"My mother was rather small, in fact too small to be allowed
-the responsibilities of maternity, as our chieftains breed
-principally for size.  She was also less cold and cruel
-than most green Martian women, and caring little for their
-society, she often roamed the deserted avenues of Thark
-alone, or went and sat among the wild flowers that deck
-the nearby hills, thinking thoughts and wishing wishes
-which I believe I alone among Tharkian women today may
-understand, for am I not the child of my mother?
-
-"And there among the hills she met a young warrior, whose
-duty it was to guard the feeding zitidars and thoats and see
-that they roamed not beyond the hills.  They spoke at first
-only of such things as interest a community of Tharks, but
-gradually, as they came to meet more often, and, as was
-now quite evident to both, no longer by chance, they talked
-about themselves, their likes, their ambitions and their hopes.
-She trusted him and told him of the awful repugnance she
-felt for the cruelties of their kind, for the hideous, loveless
-lives they must ever lead, and then she waited for the storm
-of denunciation to break from his cold, hard lips; but instead
-he took her in his arms and kissed her.
-
-"They kept their love a secret for six long years.  She, my
-mother, was of the retinue of the great Tal Hajus, while her
-lover was a simple warrior, wearing only his own metal.
-Had their defection from the traditions of the Tharks been
-discovered both would have paid the penalty in the great
-arena before Tal Hajus and the assembled hordes.
-
-"The egg from which I came was hidden beneath a great
-glass vessel upon the highest and most inaccessible of the
-partially ruined towers of ancient Thark.  Once each year my
-mother visited it for the five long years it lay there in the
-process of incubation.  She dared not come oftener, for in the
-mighty guilt of her conscience she feared that her every
-move was watched.  During this period my father gained great
-distinction as a warrior and had taken the metal from several
-chieftains.  His love for my mother had never diminished,
-and his own ambition in life was to reach a point where
-he might wrest the metal from Tal Hajus himself, and thus,
-as ruler of the Tharks, be free to claim her as his own,
-as well as, by the might of his power, protect the child
-which otherwise would be quickly dispatched should the
-truth become known.
-
-"It was a wild dream, that of wresting the metal from Tal
-Hajus in five short years, but his advance was rapid, and he
-soon stood high in the councils of Thark.  But one day the
-chance was lost forever, in so far as it could come in time
-to save his loved ones, for he was ordered away upon a long
-expedition to the ice-clad south, to make war upon the
-natives there and despoil them of their furs, for such is
-the manner of the green Barsoomian; he does not labor for
-what he can wrest in battle from others.
-
-"He was gone for four years, and when he returned all
-had been over for three; for about a year after his departure,
-and shortly before the time for the return of an expedition
-which had gone forth to fetch the fruits of a community
-incubator, the egg had hatched.  Thereafter my mother
-continued to keep me in the old tower, visiting me nightly
-and lavishing upon me the love the community life would
-have robbed us both of.  She hoped, upon the return of the
-expedition from the incubator, to mix me with the other young
-assigned to the quarters of Tal Hajus, and thus escape the
-fate which would surely follow discovery of her sin against
-the ancient traditions of the green men.
-
-"She taught me rapidly the language and customs of my kind,
-and one night she told me the story I have told to you up to
-this point, impressing upon me the necessity for absolute
-secrecy and the great caution I must exercise after she had
-placed me with the other young Tharks to permit no one to
-guess that I was further advanced in education than they,
-nor by any sign to divulge in the presence of others my
-affection for her, or my knowledge of my parentage; and
-then drawing me close to her she whispered in my ear the
-name of my father.
-
-"And then a light flashed out upon the darkness of the
-tower chamber, and there stood Sarkoja, her gleaming,
-baleful eyes fixed in a frenzy of loathing and contempt
-upon my mother.  The torrent of hatred and abuse she
-poured out upon her turned my young heart cold in terror.
-That she had heard the entire story was apparent, and that
-she had suspected something wrong from my mother's long nightly
-absences from her quarters accounted for her presence there
-on that fateful night.
-
-"One thing she had not heard, nor did she know, the
-whispered name of my father.  This was apparent from her
-repeated demands upon my mother to disclose the name of
-her partner in sin, but no amount of abuse or threats could
-wring this from her, and to save me from needless torture
-she lied, for she told Sarkoja that she alone knew nor would
-she even tell her child.
-
-"With final imprecations, Sarkoja hastened away to Tal
-Hajus to report her discovery, and while she was gone my
-mother, wrapping me in the silks and furs of her night coverings,
-so that I was scarcely noticeable, descended to the streets
-and ran wildly away toward the outskirts of the city,
-in the direction which led to the far south, out toward the
-man whose protection she might not claim, but on whose
-face she wished to look once more before she died.
-
-"As we neared the city's southern extremity a sound came
-to us from across the mossy flat, from the direction of the
-only pass through the hills which led to the gates, the pass
-by which caravans from either north or south or east or
-west would enter the city.  The sounds we heard were the
-squealing of thoats and the grumbling of zitidars, with the
-occasional clank of arms which announced the approach of
-a body of warriors.  The thought uppermost in her mind was
-that it was my father returned from his expedition, but the
-cunning of the Thark held her from headlong and precipitate
-flight to greet him.
-
-"Retreating into the shadows of a doorway she awaited the
-coming of the cavalcade which shortly entered the avenue,
-breaking its formation and thronging the thoroughfare
-from wall to wall.  As the head of the procession passed us
-the lesser moon swung clear of the overhanging roofs and lit
-up the scene with all the brilliancy of her wondrous light.
-My mother shrank further back into the friendly shadows,
-and from her hiding place saw that the expedition was not
-that of my father, but the returning caravan bearing the
-young Tharks.  Instantly her plan was formed, and as a great
-chariot swung close to our hiding place she slipped stealthily
-in upon the trailing tailboard, crouching low in the shadow
-of the high side, straining me to her bosom in a frenzy of
-love.
-
-"She knew, what I did not, that never again after that
-night would she hold me to her breast, nor was it likely we
-would ever look upon each other's face again.  In the
-confusion of the plaza she mixed me with the other children,
-whose guardians during the journey were now free to relinquish
-their responsibility.  We were herded together into a great room,
-fed by women who had not accompanied the expedition, and the next
-day we were parceled out among the retinues of the chieftains.
-
-"I never saw my mother after that night.  She was imprisoned
-by Tal Hajus, and every effort, including the most horrible
-and shameful torture, was brought to bear upon her to wring
-from her lips the name of my father; but she remained
-steadfast and loyal, dying at last amidst the laughter of
-Tal Hajus and his chieftains during some awful torture
-she was undergoing.
-
-"I learned afterwards that she told them that she had
-killed me to save me from a like fate at their hands, and
-that she had thrown my body to the white apes.  Sarkoja
-alone disbelieved her, and I feel to this day that she suspects
-my true origin, but does not dare expose me, at the present,
-at all events, because she also guesses, I am sure, the identity
-of my father.
-
-"When he returned from his expedition and learned the story
-of my mother's fate I was present as Tal Hajus told him;
-but never by the quiver of a muscle did he betray the slightest
-emotion; only he did not laugh as Tal Hajus gleefully
-described her death struggles.  From that moment on he was
-the cruelest of the cruel, and I am awaiting the day when
-he shall win the goal of his ambition, and feel the carcass of
-Tal Hajus beneath his foot, for I am as sure that he but
-waits the opportunity to wreak a terrible vengeance, and that
-his great love is as strong in his breast as when it first
-transfigured him nearly forty years ago, as I am that we sit
-here upon the edge of a world-old ocean while sensible people
-sleep, John Carter."
-
-"And your father, Sola, is he with us now?" I asked.
-
-"Yes," she replied, "but he does not know me for what I
-am, nor does he know who betrayed my mother to Tal Hajus.
-I alone know my father's name, and only I and Tal Hajus
-and Sarkoja know that it was she who carried the tale that
-brought death and torture upon her he loved."
-
-We sat silent for a few moments, she wrapped in the
-gloomy thoughts of her terrible past, and I in pity for the
-poor creatures whom the heartless, senseless customs of their
-race had doomed to loveless lives of cruelty and of hate.
-Presently she spoke.
-
-"John Carter, if ever a real man walked the cold, dead
-bosom of Barsoom you are one.  I know that I can trust you,
-and because the knowledge may someday help you or him
-or Dejah Thoris or myself, I am going to tell you the name
-of my father, nor place any restrictions or conditions upon
-your tongue.  When the time comes, speak the truth if it
-seems best to you.  I trust you because I know that you are
-not cursed with the terrible trait of absolute and unswerving
-truthfulness, that you could lie like one of your own Virginia
-gentlemen if a lie would save others from sorrow or suffering.
-My father's name is Tars Tarkas."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-
-
-WE PLAN ESCAPE
-
-
-The remainder of our journey to Thark was uneventful.
-We were twenty days upon the road, crossing two sea bottoms
-and passing through or around a number of ruined cities,
-mostly smaller than Korad.  Twice we crossed the famous
-Martian waterways, or canals, so-called by our earthly
-astronomers.  When we approached these points a warrior
-would be sent far ahead with a powerful field glass, and if
-no great body of red Martian troops was in sight we would
-advance as close as possible without chance of being seen and
-then camp until dark, when we would slowly approach the
-cultivated tract, and, locating one of the numerous, broad
-highways which cross these areas at regular intervals, creep
-silently and stealthily across to the arid lands upon the other
-side.  It required five hours to make one of these crossings
-without a single halt, and the other consumed the entire night,
-so that we were just leaving the confines of the high-walled
-fields when the sun broke out upon us.
-
-Crossing in the darkness, as we did, I was unable to see
-but little, except as the nearer moon, in her wild and
-ceaseless hurtling through the Barsoomian heavens, lit up
-little patches of the landscape from time to time, disclosing
-walled fields and low, rambling buildings, presenting much
-the appearance of earthly farms.  There were many trees,
-methodically arranged, and some of them were of enormous height;
-there were animals in some of the enclosures, and they announced
-their presence by terrified squealings and snortings as they
-scented our queer, wild beasts and wilder human beings.
-
-Only once did I perceive a human being, and that was
-at the intersection of our crossroad with the wide, white
-turnpike which cuts each cultivated district longitudinally
-at its exact center.  The fellow must have been sleeping
-beside the road, for, as I came abreast of him, he raised upon
-one elbow and after a single glance at the approaching caravan
-leaped shrieking to his feet and fled madly down the road,
-scaling a nearby wall with the agility of a scared cat.
-The Tharks paid him not the slightest attention; they were
-not out upon the warpath, and the only sign that I had
-that they had seen him was a quickening of the pace of the
-caravan as we hastened toward the bordering desert which
-marked our entrance into the realm of Tal Hajus.
-
-Not once did I have speech with Dejah Thoris, as she
-sent no word to me that I would be welcome at her chariot,
-and my foolish pride kept me from making any advances.
-I verily believe that a man's way with women is in inverse
-ratio to his prowess among men.  The weakling and the saphead
-have often great ability to charm the fair sex, while the
-fighting man who can face a thousand real dangers unafraid,
-sits hiding in the shadows like some frightened child.
-
-Just thirty days after my advent upon Barsoom we entered
-the ancient city of Thark, from whose long-forgotten
-people this horde of green men have stolen even their name.
-The hordes of Thark number some thirty thousand souls,
-and are divided into twenty-five communities.  Each community
-has its own jed and lesser chieftains, but all are under
-the rule of Tal Hajus, Jeddak of Thark.  Five communities
-make their headquarters at the city of Thark, and the
-balance are scattered among other deserted cities of
-ancient Mars throughout the district claimed by Tal Hajus.
-
-We made our entry into the great central plaza early in
-the afternoon.  There were no enthusiastic friendly greetings
-for the returned expedition.  Those who chanced to be in
-sight spoke the names of warriors or women with whom
-they came in direct contact, in the formal greeting of their
-kind, but when it was discovered that they brought two
-captives a greater interest was aroused, and Dejah Thoris
-and I were the centers of inquiring groups.
-
-We were soon assigned to new quarters, and the balance
-of the day was devoted to settling ourselves to the changed
-conditions.  My home now was upon an avenue leading into
-the plaza from the south, the main artery down which we
-had marched from the gates of the city.  I was at the far
-end of the square and had an entire building to myself.  The
-same grandeur of architecture which was so noticeable
-a characteristic of Korad was in evidence here, only, if
-that were possible, on a larger and richer scale.  My quarters
-would have been suitable for housing the greatest of earthly
-emperors, but to these queer creatures nothing about a building
-appealed to them but its size and the enormity of its chambers;
-the larger the building, the more desirable; and so Tal Hajus
-occupied what must have been an enormous public building, the
-largest in the city, but entirely unfitted for residence purposes;
-the next largest was reserved for Lorquas Ptomel, the next for the
-jed of a lesser rank, and so on to the bottom of the list of five jeds.
-The warriors occupied the buildings with the chieftains to whose
-retinues they belonged; or, if they preferred, sought shelter
-among any of the thousands of untenanted buildings in their own
-quarter of town; each community being assigned a certain
-section of the city.  The selection of building had to be made
-in accordance with these divisions, except in so far as the
-jeds were concerned, they all occupying edifices which
-fronted upon the plaza.
-
-When I had finally put my house in order, or rather seen
-that I had been done, it was nearing sunset, and I hastened
-out with the intention of locating Sola and her charges, as
-I had determined upon having speech with Dejah Thoris
-and trying to impress on her the necessity of our at least
-patching up a truce until I could find some way of aiding
-her to escape.  I searched in vain until the upper rim of the
-great red sun was just disappearing behind the horizon and
-then I spied the ugly head of Woola peering from a second-
-story window on the opposite side of the very street where
-I was quartered, but nearer the plaza.
-
-Without waiting for a further invitation I bolted up the
-winding runway which led to the second floor, and entering
-a great chamber at the front of the building was greeted
-by the frenzied Woola, who threw his great carcass upon
-me, nearly hurling me to the floor; the poor old fellow was
-so glad to see me that I thought he would devour me, his
-head split from ear to ear, showing his three rows of tusks
-in his hobgoblin smile.
-
-Quieting him with a word of command and a caress, I
-looked hurriedly through the approaching gloom for a sign
-of Dejah Thoris, and then, not seeing her, I called her name.
-There was an answering murmur from the far corner of the
-apartment, and with a couple of quick strides I was standing
-beside her where she crouched among the furs and silks
-upon an ancient carved wooden seat.  As I waited she rose
-to her full height and looking me straight in the eye said:
-
-"What would Dotar Sojat, Thark, of Dejah Thoris his captive?"
-
-"Dejah Thoris, I do not know how I have angered you.
-It was furtherest from my desire to hurt or offend you,
-whom I had hoped to protect and comfort.  Have none of
-me if it is your will, but that you must aid me in effecting
-your escape, if such a thing be possible, is not my request,
-but my command.  When you are safe once more at your
-father's court you may do with me as you please, but from
-now on until that day I am your master, and you must
-obey and aid me."
-
-She looked at me long and earnestly and I thought that
-she was softening toward me.
-
-"I understand your words, Dotar Sojat," she replied, "but
-you I do not understand.  You are a queer mixture of child
-and man, of brute and noble.  I only wish that I might read
-your heart."
-
-"Look down at your feet, Dejah Thoris; it lies there now
-where it has lain since that other night at Korad, and where
-it will ever lie beating alone for you until death stills it
-forever."
-
-She took a little step toward me, her beautiful hands
-outstretched in a strange, groping gesture.
-
-"What do you mean, John Carter?" she whispered.
-"What are you saying to me?"
-
-"I am saying what I had promised myself that I would
-not say to you, at least until you were no longer a captive
-among the green men; what from your attitude toward me
-for the past twenty days I had thought never to say to you;
-I am saying, Dejah Thoris, that I am yours, body and soul,
-to serve you, to fight for you, and to die for you.  Only
-one thing I ask of you in return, and that is that you make
-no sign, either of condemnation or of approbation of my
-words until you are safe among your own people, and that
-whatever sentiments you harbor toward me they be not
-influenced or colored by gratitude; whatever I may do to
-serve you will be prompted solely from selfish motives,
-since it gives me more pleasure to serve you than not."
-
-"I will respect your wishes, John Carter, because I
-understand the motives which prompt them, and I accept
-your service no more willingly than I bow to your authority;
-your word shall be my law.  I have twice wronged you
-in my thoughts and again I ask your forgiveness."
-
-Further conversation of a personal nature was prevented
-by the entrance of Sola, who was much agitated and wholly
-unlike her usual calm and possessed self.
-
-"That horrible Sarkoja has been before Tal Hajus," she
-cried, "and from what I heard upon the plaza there is
-little hope for either of you."
-
-"What do they say?" inquired Dejah Thoris.
-
-"That you will be thrown to the wild calots [dogs
-
- in
-the great arena as soon as the hordes have assembled for
-the yearly games."
-
-"Sola," I said, "you are a Thark, but you hate and loathe
-the customs of your people as much as we do.  Will you
-not accompany us in one supreme effort to escape?  I am
-sure that Dejah Thoris can offer you a home and protection
-among her people, and your fate can be no worse among
-them than it must ever be here."
-
-"Yes," cried Dejah Thoris, "come with us, Sola, you will
-be better off among the red men of Helium than you are
-here, and I can promise you not only a home with us, but
-the love and affection your nature craves and which must
-always be denied you by the customs of your own race.
-Come with us, Sola; we might go without you, but your
-fate would be terrible if they thought you had connived to
-aid us.  I know that even that fear would not tempt you to
-interfere in our escape, but we want you with us, we want
-you to come to a land of sunshine and happiness, amongst
-a people who know the meaning of love, of sympathy, and
-of gratitude.  Say that you will, Sola; tell me that you will."
-
-"The great waterway which leads to Helium is but fifty
-miles to the south," murmured Sola, half to herself; "a
-swift thoat might make it in three hours; and then to
-Helium it is five hundred miles, most of the way through
-thinly settled districts.  They would know and they would
-follow us.  We might hide among the great trees for a time,
-but the chances are small indeed for escape.  They would
-follow us to the very gates of Helium, and they would take
-toll of life at every step; you do not know them."
-
-"Is there no other way we might reach Helium?" I asked.
-"Can you not draw me a rough map of the country we
-must traverse, Dejah Thoris?"
-
-"Yes," she replied, and taking a great diamond from
-her hair she drew upon the marble floor the first map of
-Barsoomian territory I had ever seen.  It was crisscrossed in
-every direction with long straight lines, sometimes running
-parallel and sometimes converging toward some great circle.
-The lines, she said, were waterways; the circles, cities; and
-one far to the northwest of us she pointed out as Helium.
-There were other cities closer, but she said she feared to
-enter many of them, as they were not all friendly toward Helium.
-
-Finally, after studying the map carefully in the moonlight
-which now flooded the room, I pointed out a waterway far
-to the north of us which also seemed to lead to Helium.
-
-"Does not this pierce your grandfather's territory?" I
-asked.
-
-"Yes," she answered, "but it is two hundred miles north
-of us; it is one of the waterways we crossed on the trip
-to Thark."
-
-"They would never suspect that we would try for that
-distant waterway," I answered, "and that is why I think
-that it is the best route for our escape."
-
-Sola agreed with me, and it was decided that we should
-leave Thark this same night; just as quickly, in fact, as I
-could find and saddle my thoats.  Sola was to ride one and
-Dejah Thoris and I the other; each of us carrying sufficient
-food and drink to last us for two days, since the animals
-could not be urged too rapidly for so long a distance.
-
-I directed Sola to proceed with Dejah Thoris along one
-of the less frequented avenues to the southern boundary of
-the city, where I would overtake them with the thoats as
-quickly as possible; then, leaving them to gather what food,
-silks, and furs we were to need, I slipped quietly to the
-rear of the first floor, and entered the courtyard, where
-our animals were moving restlessly about, as was their habit,
-before settling down for the night.
-
-In the shadows of the buildings and out beneath the radiance
-of the Martian moons moved the great herd of thoats and
-zitidars, the latter grunting their low gutturals and
-the former occasionally emitting the sharp squeal which
-denotes the almost habitual state of rage in which these
-creatures passed their existence.  They were quieter now,
-owing to the absence of man, but as they scented me they became
-more restless and their hideous noise increased.  It was risky
-business, this entering a paddock of thoats alone and at night;
-first, because their increasing noisiness might warn the nearby
-warriors that something was amiss, and also because for the
-slightest cause, or for no cause at all some great bull thoat
-might take it upon himself to lead a charge upon me.
-
-Having no desire to awaken their nasty tempers upon such
-a night as this, where so much depended upon secrecy and
-dispatch, I hugged the shadows of the buildings, ready at
-an instant's warning to leap into the safety of a nearby
-door or window.  Thus I moved silently to the great gates
-which opened upon the street at the back of the court, and
-as I neared the exit I called softly to my two animals.  How
-I thanked the kind providence which had given me the foresight
-to win the love and confidence of these wild dumb brutes, for
-presently from the far side of the court I saw two huge bulks
-forcing their way toward me through the surging mountains of flesh.
-
-They came quite close to me, rubbing their muzzles
-against my body and nosing for the bits of food it was
-always my practice to reward them with.  Opening the gates
-I ordered the two great beasts to pass out, and then
-slipping quietly after them I closed the portals behind me.
-
-I did not saddle or mount the animals there, but instead
-walked quietly in the shadows of the buildings toward an
-unfrequented avenue which led toward the point I had arranged
-to meet Dejah Thoris and Sola.  With the noiselessness
-of disembodied spirits we moved stealthily along the
-deserted streets, but not until we were within sight of
-the plain beyond the city did I commence to breathe freely.
-I was sure that Sola and Dejah Thoris would find no difficulty
-in reaching our rendezvous undetected, but with my great thoats
-I was not so sure for myself, as it was quite unusual for warriors
-to leave the city after dark; in fact there was no place for them
-to go within any but a long ride.
-
-I reached the appointed meeting place safely, but as Dejah
-Thoris and Sola were not there I led my animals into the
-entrance hall of one of the large buildings.  Presuming that
-one of the other women of the same household may have
-come in to speak to Sola, and so delayed their departure,
-I did not feel any undue apprehension until nearly an hour
-had passed without a sign of them, and by the time another
-half hour had crawled away I was becoming filled with grave
-anxiety.  Then there broke upon the stillness of the night
-the sound of an approaching party, which, from the noise, I
-knew could be no fugitives creeping stealthily toward liberty.
-Soon the party was near me, and from the black shadows of my
-entranceway I perceived a score of mounted warriors, who,
-in passing, dropped a dozen words that fetched my heart clean
-into the top of my head.
-
-"He would likely have arranged to meet them just without
-the city, and so--"  I heard no more, they had passed on;
-but it was enough.  Our plan had been discovered, and
-the chances for escape from now on to the fearful end
-would be small indeed.  My one hope now was to return
-undetected to the quarters of Dejah Thoris and learn what
-fate had overtaken her, but how to do it with these great
-monstrous thoats upon my hands, now that the city probably
-was aroused by the knowledge of my escape was a problem
-of no mean proportions.
-
-Suddenly an idea occurred to me, and acting on my knowledge
-of the construction of the buildings of these ancient
-Martian cities with a hollow court within the center of each
-square, I groped my way blindly through the dark chambers,
-calling the great thoats after me.  They had difficulty in
-negotiating some of the doorways, but as the buildings fronting
-the city's principal exposures were all designed upon a
-magnificent scale, they were able to wriggle through without
-sticking fast; and thus we finally made the inner court where
-I found, as I had expected, the usual carpet of moss-like
-vegetation which would prove their food and drink until I
-could return them to their own enclosure.  That they would
-be as quiet and contented here as elsewhere I was confident,
-nor was there but the remotest possibility that they would
-be discovered, as the green men had no great desire to enter
-these outlying buildings, which were frequented by the
-only thing, I believe, which caused them the sensation of
-fear--the great white apes of Barsoom.
-
-Removing the saddle trappings, I hid them just within
-the rear doorway of the building through which we had
-entered the court, and, turning the beasts loose, quickly
-made my way across the court to the rear of the buildings
-upon the further side, and thence to the avenue beyond.
-Waiting in the doorway of the building until I was assured
-that no one was approaching, I hurried across to the opposite
-side and through the first doorway to the court beyond;
-thus, crossing through court after court with only the slight
-chance of detection which the necessary crossing of the
-avenues entailed, I made my way in safety to the courtyard
-in the rear of Dejah Thoris' quarters.
-
-Here, of course, I found the beasts of the warriors who
-quartered in the adjacent buildings, and the warriors
-themselves I might expect to meet within if I entered; but,
-fortunately for me, I had another and safer method of reaching
-the upper story where Dejah Thoris should be found, and,
-after first determining as nearly as possible which of the
-buildings she occupied, for I had never observed them before
-from the court side, I took advantage of my relatively great
-strength and agility and sprang upward until I grasped the
-sill of a second-story window which I thought to be in the
-rear of her apartment.  Drawing myself inside the room I
-moved stealthily toward the front of the building, and not
-until I had quite reached the doorway of her room was I
-made aware by voices that it was occupied.
-
-I did not rush headlong in, but listened without to assure
-myself that it was Dejah Thoris and that it was safe to
-venture within.  It was well indeed that I took this precaution,
-for the conversation I heard was in the low gutturals of men,
-and the words which finally came to me proved a most timely warning.
-The speaker was a chieftain and he was giving orders to four of
-his warriors.
-
-"And when he returns to this chamber," he was saying, "as he
-surely will when he finds she does not meet him at the city's edge,
-you four are to spring upon him and disarm him.  It will require
-the combined strength of all of you to do it if the reports they
-bring back from Korad are correct.  When you have him fast bound
-bear him to the vaults beneath the jeddak's quarters and chain
-him securely where he may be found when Tal Hajus wishes him.
-Allow him to speak with none, nor permit any other to enter
-this apartment before he comes.  There will be no danger of
-the girl returning, for by this time she is safe in the arms
-of Tal Hajus, and may all her ancestors have pity upon her,
-for Tal Hajus will have none; the great Sarkoja has done a
-noble night's work.  I go, and if you fail to capture him when
-he comes, I commend your carcasses to the cold bosom of Iss."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII
-
-
-A COSTLY RECAPTURE
-
-
-As the speaker ceased he turned to leave the apartment by
-the door where I was standing, but I needed to wait no
-longer; I had heard enough to fill my soul with dread, and
-stealing quietly away I returned to the courtyard by the
-way I had come.  My plan of action was formed upon the
-instant, and crossing the square and the bordering avenue
-upon the opposite side I soon stood within the courtyard
-of Tal Hajus.
-
-The brilliantly lighted apartments of the first floor told
-me where first to seek, and advancing to the windows I
-peered within.  I soon discovered that my approach was not
-to be the easy thing I had hoped, for the rear rooms bordering
-the court were filled with warriors and women.  I then
-glanced up at the stories above, discovering that the third
-was apparently unlighted, and so decided to make my entrance
-to the building from that point.  It was the work of
-but a moment for me to reach the windows above, and
-soon I had drawn myself within the sheltering shadows of
-the unlighted third floor.
-
-Fortunately the room I had selected was untenanted, and
-creeping noiselessly to the corridor beyond I discovered
-a light in the apartments ahead of me.  Reaching what
-appeared to be a doorway I discovered that it was but an
-opening upon an immense inner chamber which towered from
-the first floor, two stories below me, to the dome-like roof
-of the building, high above my head.  The floor of this
-great circular hall was thronged with chieftains, warriors
-and women, and at one end was a great raised platform
-upon which squatted the most hideous beast I had ever put
-my eyes upon.  He had all the cold, hard, cruel, terrible
-features of the green warriors, but accentuated and debased
-by the animal passions to which he had given himself over
-for many years.  There was not a mark of dignity or pride
-upon his bestial countenance, while his enormous bulk spread
-itself out upon the platform where he squatted like some
-huge devil fish, his six limbs accentuating the similarity in
-a horrible and startling manner.
-
-But the sight that froze me with apprehension was that
-of Dejah Thoris and Sola standing there before him, and
-the fiendish leer of him as he let his great protruding eyes
-gloat upon the lines of her beautiful figure.  She was
-speaking, but I could not hear what she said, nor could I make
-out the low grumbling of his reply.  She stood there erect
-before him, her head high held, and even at the distance I
-was from them I could read the scorn and disgust upon
-her face as she let her haughty glance rest without sign of
-fear upon him.  She was indeed the proud daughter of a
-thousand jeddaks, every inch of her dear, precious little body;
-so small, so frail beside the towering warriors around her,
-but in her majesty dwarfing them into insignificance; she
-was the mightiest figure among them and I verily believe
-that they felt it.
-
-Presently Tal Hajus made a sign that the chamber be
-cleared, and that the prisoners be left alone before him.
-Slowly the chieftains, the warriors and the women melted
-away into the shadows of the surrounding chambers, and
-Dejah Thoris and Sola stood alone before the jeddak of the
-Tharks.
-
-One chieftain alone had hesitated before departing; I
-saw him standing in the shadows of a mighty column, his
-fingers nervously toying with the hilt of his great-sword and
-his cruel eyes bent in implacable hatred upon Tal Hajus.
-It was Tars Tarkas, and I could read his thoughts as they
-were an open book for the undisguised loathing upon his
-face.  He was thinking of that other woman who, forty years
-ago, had stood before this beast, and could I have spoken
-a word into his ear at that moment the reign of Tal Hajus
-would have been over; but finally he also strode from the
-room, not knowing that he left his own daughter at the
-mercy of the creature he most loathed.
-
-Tal Hajus arose, and I, half fearing, half anticipating his
-intentions, hurried to the winding runway which led to the
-floors below.  No one was near to intercept me, and I reached
-the main floor of the chamber unobserved, taking my station
-in the shadow of the same column that Tars Tarkas had but
-just deserted.  As I reached the floor Tal Hajus was speaking.
-
-"Princess of Helium, I might wring a mighty ransom from
-your people would I but return you to them unharmed, but a
-thousand times rather would I watch that beautiful face
-writhe in the agony of torture; it shall be long drawn out,
-that I promise you; ten days of pleasure were all too short to
-show the love I harbor for your race.  The terrors of your
-death shall haunt the slumbers of the red men through all
-the ages to come; they will shudder in the shadows of the
-night as their fathers tell them of the awful vengeance of
-the green men; of the power and might and hate and cruelty
-of Tal Hajus.  But before the torture you shall be mine for
-one short hour, and word of that too shall go forth to
-Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium, your grandfather, that he
-may grovel upon the ground in the agony of his sorrow.
-Tomorrow the torture will commence; tonight thou art Tal
-Hajus'; come!"
-
-He sprang down from the platform and grasped her roughly
-by the arm, but scarcely had he touched her than I leaped
-between them.  My short-sword, sharp and gleaming was in
-my right hand; I could have plunged it into his putrid heart
-before he realized that I was upon him; but as I raised my
-arm to strike I thought of Tars Tarkas, and, with all my rage,
-with all my hatred, I could not rob him of that sweet
-moment for which he had lived and hoped all these long,
-weary years, and so, instead, I swung my good right fist full
-upon the point of his jaw.  Without a sound he slipped to the
-floor as one dead.
-
-In the same deathly silence I grasped Dejah Thoris by the
-hand, and motioning Sola to follow we sped noiselessly
-from the chamber and to the floor above.  Unseen we reached
-a rear window and with the straps and leather of my trappings
-I lowered, first Sola and then Dejah Thoris to the ground below.
-Dropping lightly after them I drew them rapidly around the court
-in the shadows of the buildings, and thus we returned over the
-same course I had so recently followed from the distant boundary
-of the city.
-
-We finally came upon my thoats in the courtyard where
-I had left them, and placing the trappings upon them we
-hastened through the building to the avenue beyond.
-Mounting, Sola upon one beast, and Dejah Thoris behind me
-upon the other, we rode from the city of Thark through the
-hills to the south.
-
-Instead of circling back around the city to the northwest
-and toward the nearest waterway which lay so short a distance
-from us, we turned to the northeast and struck out upon the mossy
-waste across which, for two hundred dangerous and weary miles,
-lay another main artery leading to Helium.
-
-No word was spoken until we had left the city far behind,
-but I could hear the quiet sobbing of Dejah Thoris as she
-clung to me with her dear head resting against my shoulder.
-
-"If we make it, my chieftain, the debt of Helium will be
-a mighty one; greater than she can ever pay you; and should
-we not make it," she continued, "the debt is no less, though
-Helium will never know, for you have saved the last of our
-line from worse than death."
-
-I did not answer, but instead reached to my side and
-pressed the little fingers of her I loved where they clung to
-me for support, and then, in unbroken silence, we sped over
-the yellow, moonlit moss; each of us occupied with his own
-thoughts.  For my part I could not be other than joyful had I
-tried, with Dejah Thoris' warm body pressed close to mine,
-and with all our unpassed danger my heart was singing as
-gaily as though we were already entering the gates of Helium.
-
-Our earlier plans had been so sadly upset that we now
-found ourselves without food or drink, and I alone was
-armed.  We therefore urged our beasts to a speed that must
-tell on them sorely before we could hope to sight the ending
-of the first stage of our journey.
-
-We rode all night and all the following day with only a
-few short rests.  On the second night both we and our animals
-were completely fagged, and so we lay down upon the moss
-and slept for some five or six hours, taking up the journey
-once more before daylight.  All the following day we rode,
-and when, late in the afternoon we had sighted no distant
-trees, the mark of the great waterways throughout all Barsoom,
-the terrible truth flashed upon us--we were lost.
-
-Evidently we had circled, but which way it was difficult
-to say, nor did it seem possible with the sun to guide us by
-day and the moons and stars by night.  At any rate no waterway
-was in sight, and the entire party was almost ready to
-drop from hunger, thirst and fatigue.  Far ahead of us and
-a trifle to the right we could distinguish the outlines of low
-mountains.  These we decided to attempt to reach in the hope
-that from some ridge we might discern the missing waterway.
-Night fell upon us before we reached our goal, and, almost
-fainting from weariness and weakness, we lay down and slept.
-
-I was awakened early in the morning by some huge body
-pressing close to mine, and opening my eyes with a start I
-beheld my blessed old Woola snuggling close to me; the faithful
-brute had followed us across that trackless waste to share
-our fate, whatever it might be.  Putting my arms about his
-neck I pressed my cheek close to his, nor am I ashamed
-that I did it, nor of the tears that came to my eyes as I
-thought of his love for me.  Shortly after this Dejah Thoris
-and Sola awakened, and it was decided that we push on at
-once in an effort to gain the hills.
-
-We had gone scarcely a mile when I noticed that my
-thoat was commencing to stumble and stagger in a most
-pitiful manner, although we had not attempted to force
-them out of a walk since about noon of the preceding day.
-Suddenly he lurched wildly to one side and pitched violently to
-the ground.  Dejah Thoris and I were thrown clear of him
-and fell upon the soft moss with scarcely a jar; but the poor
-beast was in a pitiable condition, not even being able to rise,
-although relieved of our weight.  Sola told me that the coolness
-of the night, when it fell, together with the rest would
-doubtless revive him, and so I decided not to kill him, as
-was my first intention, as I had thought it cruel to leave him
-alone there to die of hunger and thirst.  Relieving him of his
-trappings, which I flung down beside him, we left the poor
-fellow to his fate, and pushed on with the one thoat as best
-we could.  Sola and I walked, making Dejah Thoris ride, much
-against her will.  In this way we had progressed to within
-about a mile of the hills we were endeavoring to reach when
-Dejah Thoris, from her point of vantage upon the thoat,
-cried out that she saw a great party of mounted men filing
-down from a pass in the hills several miles away.  Sola and I
-both looked in the direction she indicated, and there, plainly
-discernible, were several hundred mounted warriors.  They
-seemed to be headed in a southwesterly direction, which
-would take them away from us.
-
-They doubtless were Thark warriors who had been sent
-out to capture us, and we breathed a great sigh of relief that
-they were traveling in the opposite direction.  Quickly lifting
-Dejah Thoris from the thoat, I commanded the animal to lie
-down and we three did the same, presenting as small an object
-as possible for fear of attracting the attention of the
-warriors toward us.
-
-We could see them as they filed out of the pass, just for
-an instant, before they were lost to view behind a friendly
-ridge; to us a most providential ridge; since, had they
-been in view for any great length of time, they scarcely
-could have failed to discover us.  As what proved to be the
-last warrior came into view from the pass, he halted and, to our
-consternation, threw his small but powerful fieldglass to his
-eye and scanned the sea bottom in all directions.  Evidently
-he was a chieftain, for in certain marching formations among the
-green men a chieftain brings up the extreme rear of the column.
-As his glass swung toward us our hearts stopped in our breasts,
-and I could feel the cold sweat start from every pore in my body.
-
-Presently it swung full upon us and--stopped.  The tension
-on our nerves was near the breaking point, and I doubt if
-any of us breathed for the few moments he held us covered
-by his glass; and then he lowered it and we could see him
-shout a command to the warriors who had passed from our
-sight behind the ridge.  He did not wait for them to join
-him, however, instead he wheeled his thoat and came tearing
-madly in our direction.
-
-There was but one slight chance and that we must take
-quickly.  Raising my strange Martian rifle to my shoulder I
-sighted and touched the button which controlled the trigger;
-there was a sharp explosion as the missile reached its goal, and
-the charging chieftain pitched backward from his flying
-mount.
-
-Springing to my feet I urged the thoat to rise, and directed
-Sola to take Dejah Thoris with her upon him and make a
-mighty effort to reach the hills before the green warriors were
-upon us.  I knew that in the ravines and gullies they might
-find a temporary hiding place, and even though they died
-there of hunger and thirst it would be better so than that
-they fell into the hands of the Tharks.  Forcing my two
-revolvers upon them as a slight means of protection, and,
-as a last resort, as an escape for themselves from the horrid
-death which recapture would surely mean, I lifted Dejah
-Thoris in my arms and placed her upon the thoat behind
-Sola, who had already mounted at my command.
-
-"Good-bye, my princess," I whispered, "we may meet in
-Helium yet.  I have escaped from worse plights than this,"
-and I tried to smile as I lied.
-
-"What," she cried, "are you not coming with us?"
-
-"How may I, Dejah Thoris?  Someone must hold these
-fellows off for a while, and I can better escape them alone
-than could the three of us together."
-
-She sprang quickly from the thoat and, throwing her dear
-arms about my neck, turned to Sola, saying with quiet dignity:
-"Fly, Sola!  Dejah Thoris remains to die with the man she
-loves."
-
-Those words are engraved upon my heart.  Ah, gladly
-would I give up my life a thousand times could I only hear
-them once again; but I could not then give even a second to
-the rapture of her sweet embrace, and pressing my lips to
-hers for the first time, I picked her up bodily and tossed
-her to her seat behind Sola again, commanding the latter
-in peremptory tones to hold her there by force, and then,
-slapping the thoat upon the flank, I saw them borne away;
-Dejah Thoris struggling to the last to free herself from
-Sola's grasp.
-
-Turning, I beheld the green warriors mounting the ridge
-and looking for their chieftain.  In a moment they saw him,
-and then me; but scarcely had they discovered me than I
-commenced firing, lying flat upon my belly in the moss.  I had
-an even hundred rounds in the magazine of my rifle, and
-another hundred in the belt at my back, and I kept up a
-continuous stream of fire until I saw all of the warriors who
-had been first to return from behind the ridge either dead or
-scurrying to cover.
-
-My respite was short-lived however, for soon the entire
-party, numbering some thousand men, came charging into
-view, racing madly toward me.  I fired until my rifle was
-empty and they were almost upon me, and then a glance
-showing me that Dejah Thoris and Sola had disappeared
-among the hills, I sprang up, throwing down my useless gun,
-and started away in the direction opposite to that taken by
-Sola and her charge.
-
-If ever Martians had an exhibition of jumping, it was
-granted those astonished warriors on that day long years ago,
-but while it led them away from Dejah Thoris it did not distract
-their attention from endeavoring to capture me.
-
-They raced wildly after me until, finally, my foot struck a
-projecting piece of quartz, and down I went sprawling upon
-the moss.  As I looked up they were upon me, and although
-I drew my long-sword in an attempt to sell my life as
-dearly as possible, it was soon over.  I reeled beneath their
-blows which fell upon me in perfect torrents; my head swam;
-all was black, and I went down beneath them to oblivion.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII
-
-
-CHAINED IN WARHOON
-
-
-It must have been several hours before I regained consciousness
-and I well remember the feeling of surprise which swept over me
-as I realized that I was not dead.
-
-I was lying among a pile of sleeping silks and furs in the
-corner of a small room in which were several green warriors,
-and bending over me was an ancient and ugly female.
-
-As I opened my eyes she turned to one of the warriors, saying,
-
-"He will live, O Jed."
-
-"'Tis well," replied the one so addressed, rising and approaching
-my couch, "he should render rare sport for the great games."
-
-And now as my eyes fell upon him, I saw that he was no
-Thark, for his ornaments and metal were not of that horde.
-He was a huge fellow, terribly scarred about the face and
-chest, and with one broken tusk and a missing ear.  Strapped
-on either breast were human skulls and depending from
-these a number of dried human hands.
-
-His reference to the great games of which I had heard so
-much while among the Tharks convinced me that I had but
-jumped from purgatory into gehenna.
-
-After a few more words with the female, during which
-she assured him that I was now fully fit to travel, the jed
-ordered that we mount and ride after the main column.
-
-I was strapped securely to as wild and unmanageable a
-thoat as I had ever seen, and, with a mounted warrior on
-either side to prevent the beast from bolting, we rode forth
-at a furious pace in pursuit of the column.  My wounds gave
-me but little pain, so wonderfully and rapidly had the
-applications and injections of the female exercised their
-therapeutic powers, and so deftly had she bound and plastered
-the injuries.
-
-Just before dark we reached the main body of troops
-shortly after they had made camp for the night.  I was
-immediately taken before the leader, who proved to be the
-jeddak of the hordes of Warhoon.
-
-Like the jed who had brought me, he was frightfully
-scarred, and also decorated with the breastplate of human
-skulls and dried dead hands which seemed to mark all the
-greater warriors among the Warhoons, as well as to indicate
-their awful ferocity, which greatly transcends even that of
-the Tharks.
-
-The jeddak, Bar Comas, who was comparatively young,
-was the object of the fierce and jealous hatred of his old
-lieutenant, Dak Kova, the jed who had captured me, and I
-could not but note the almost studied efforts which the
-latter made to affront his superior.
-
-He entirely omitted the usual formal salutation as we entered
-the presence of the jeddak, and as he pushed me roughly before
-the ruler he exclaimed in a loud and menacing voice.
-
-"I have brought a strange creature wearing the metal of a
-Thark whom it is my pleasure to have battle with a wild
-thoat at the great games."
-
-"He will die as Bar Comas, your jeddak, sees fit, if at all,"
-replied the young ruler, with emphasis and dignity.
-
-"If at all?" roared Dak Kova.  "By the dead hands at my
-throat but he shall die, Bar Comas.  No maudlin weakness
-on your part shall save him.  O, would that Warhoon were
-ruled by a real jeddak rather than by a water-hearted
-weakling from whom even old Dak Kova could tear the metal
-with his bare hands!"
-
-Bar Comas eyed the defiant and insubordinate chieftain for
-an instant, his expression one of haughty, fearless contempt
-and hate, and then without drawing a weapon and without
-uttering a word he hurled himself at the throat of his defamer.
-
-I never before had seen two green Martian warriors battle
-with nature's weapons and the exhibition of animal ferocity
-which ensued was as fearful a thing as the most disordered
-imagination could picture.  They tore at each others' eyes
-and ears with their hands and with their gleaming tusks
-repeatedly slashed and gored until both were cut fairly to
-ribbons from head to foot.
-
-Bar Comas had much the better of the battle as he was
-stronger, quicker and more intelligent.  It soon seemed that
-the encounter was done saving only the final death thrust
-when Bar Comas slipped in breaking away from a clinch.  It
-was the one little opening that Dak Kova needed, and hurling
-himself at the body of his adversary he buried his single
-mighty tusk in Bar Comas' groin and with a last powerful
-effort ripped the young jeddak wide open the full length of
-his body, the great tusk finally wedging in the bones of Bar
-Comas' jaw.  Victor and vanquished rolled limp and lifeless
-upon the moss, a huge mass of torn and bloody flesh.
-
-Bar Comas was stone dead, and only the most herculean efforts on
-the part of Dak Kova's females saved him from the fate he deserved.
-Three days later he walked without assistance to the body of Bar
-Comas which, by custom, had not been moved from where it fell,
-and placing his foot upon the neck of his erstwhile ruler he
-assumed the title of Jeddak of Warhoon.
-
-The dead jeddak's hands and head were removed to be added
-to the ornaments of his conqueror, and then his women
-cremated what remained, amid wild and terrible laughter.
-
-The injuries to Dak Kova had delayed the march so
-greatly that it was decided to give up the expedition, which
-was a raid upon a small Thark community in retaliation for
-the destruction of the incubator, until after the great games,
-and the entire body of warriors, ten thousand in number,
-turned back toward Warhoon.
-
-My introduction to these cruel and bloodthirsty people
-was but an index to the scenes I witnessed almost daily
-while with them.  They are a smaller horde than the Tharks
-but much more ferocious.  Not a day passed but that some
-members of the various Warhoon communities met in deadly
-combat.  I have seen as high as eight mortal duels within a
-single day.
-
-We reached the city of Warhoon after some three days
-march and I was immediately cast into a dungeon and heavily
-chained to the floor and walls.  Food was brought me at
-intervals but owing to the utter darkness of the place I do not
-know whether I lay there days, or weeks, or months.  It was
-the most horrible experience of all my life and that my
-mind did not give way to the terrors of that inky blackness
-has been a wonder to me ever since.  The place was filled
-with creeping, crawling things; cold, sinuous bodies passed
-over me when I lay down, and in the darkness I occasionally
-caught glimpses of gleaming, fiery eyes, fixed in horrible
-intentness upon me.  No sound reached me from the world
-above and no word would my jailer vouchsafe when my
-food was brought to me, although I at first bombarded him
-with questions.
-
-Finally all the hatred and maniacal loathing for these
-awful creatures who had placed me in this horrible place was
-centered by my tottering reason upon this single emissary
-who represented to me the entire horde of Warhoons.
-
-I had noticed that he always advanced with his dim
-torch to where he could place the food within my reach and
-as he stooped to place it upon the floor his head was about
-on a level with my breast.  So, with the cunning of a madman,
-I backed into the far corner of my cell when next I heard
-him approaching and gathering a little slack of the great
-chain which held me in my hand I waited his coming,
-crouching like some beast of prey.  As he stooped to place
-my food upon the ground I swung the chain above my head
-and crashed the links with all my strength upon his skull.
-Without a sound he slipped to the floor, stone dead.
-
-Laughing and chattering like the idiot I was fast becoming
-I fell upon his prostrate form my fingers feeling for his
-dead throat.  Presently they came in contact with a small
-chain at the end of which dangled a number of keys.  The
-touch of my fingers on these keys brought back my reason
-with the suddenness of thought.  No longer was I a jibbering
-idiot, but a sane, reasoning man with the means of escape
-within my very hands.
-
-As I was groping to remove the chain from about my victim's
-neck I glanced up into the darkness to see six pairs of gleaming
-eyes fixed, unwinking, upon me.  Slowly they approached and slowly
-I shrank back from the awful horror of them.  Back into my corner
-I crouched holding my hands palms out, before me, and stealthily
-on came the awful eyes until they reached the dead body at my feet.
-Then slowly they retreated but this time with a strange grating
-sound and finally they disappeared in some black and distant recess
-of my dungeon.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX
-
-
-BATTLING IN THE ARENA
-
-
-Slowly I regained my composure and finally essayed again
-to attempt to remove the keys from the dead body of my
-former jailer.  But as I reached out into the darkness to locate
-it I found to my horror that it was gone.  Then the truth
-flashed on me; the owners of those gleaming eyes had dragged
-my prize away from me to be devoured in their neighboring lair;
-as they had been waiting for days, for weeks, for months,
-through all this awful eternity of my imprisonment to drag
-my dead carcass to their feast.
-
-For two days no food was brought me, but then a new
-messenger appeared and my incarceration went on as before,
-but not again did I allow my reason to be submerged by the
-horror of my position.
-
-Shortly after this episode another prisoner was brought in
-and chained near me.  By the dim torch light I saw that he
-was a red Martian and I could scarcely await the departure
-of his guards to address him.  As their retreating footsteps
-died away in the distance, I called out softly the Martian
-word of greeting, kaor.
-
-"Who are you who speaks out of the darkness?" he answered
-
-"John Carter, a friend of the red men of Helium."
-
-"I am of Helium," he said, "but I do not recall your name."
-
-And then I told him my story as I have written it here,
-omitting only any reference to my love for Dejah Thoris.
-He was much excited by the news of Helium's princess and
-seemed quite positive that she and Sola could easily have
-reached a point of safety from where they left me.  He said
-that he knew the place well because the defile through which
-the Warhoon warriors had passed when they discovered us was
-the only one ever used by them when marching to the south.
-
-"Dejah Thoris and sola entered the hills not five miles
-from a great waterway and are now probably quite safe,"
-he assured me.
-
-My fellow prisoner was Kantos Kan, a padwar (lieutenant)
-in the navy of Helium.  He had been a member of the ill-
-fated expedition which had fallen into the hands of the
-Tharks at the time of Dejah Thoris' capture, and he briefly
-related the events which followed the defeat of the battleships.
-
-Badly injured and only partially manned they had limped
-slowly toward Helium, but while passing near the city of
-Zodanga, the capital of Helium's hereditary enemies among
-the red men of Barsoom, they had been attacked by a great
-body of war vessels and all but the craft to which Kantos Kan
-belonged were either destroyed or captured.  His vessel was
-chased for days by three of the Zodangan war ships but
-finally escaped during the darkness of a moonless night.
-
-Thirty days after the capture of Dejah Thoris, or about
-the time of our coming to Thark, his vessel had reached
-Helium with about ten survivors of the original crew of seven
-hundred officers and men.  Immediately seven great fleets,
-each of one hundred mighty war ships, had been dispatched
-to search for Dejah Thoris, and from these vessels two
-thousand smaller craft had been kept out continuously in
-futile search for the missing princess.
-
-Two green Martian communities had been wiped off the
-face of Barsoom by the avenging fleets, but no trace of Dejah
-Thoris had been found.  They had been searching among the
-northern hordes, and only within the past few days had
-they extended their quest to the south.
-
-Kantos Kan had been detailed to one of the small one-man
-fliers and had had the misfortune to be discovered by the
-Warhoons while exploring their city.  The bravery and daring
-of the man won my greatest respect and admiration.  Alone he
-had landed at the city's boundary and on foot had penetrated
-to the buildings surrounding the plaza.  For two days and
-nights he had explored their quarters and their dungeons in
-search of his beloved princess only to fall into the
-hands of a party of Warhoons as he was about to leave, after
-assuring himself that Dejah Thoris was not a captive there.
-
-During the period of our incarceration Kantos Kan and I
-became well acquainted, and formed a warm personal friendship.
-A few days only elapsed, however, before we were dragged forth
-from our dungeon for the great games.  We were conducted early
-one morning to an enormous amphitheater, which instead of having
-been built upon the surface of the ground was excavated below
-the surface.  it had partially filled with debris so that how
-large it had originally been was difficult to say.  In its
-present condition it held the entire twenty thousand Warhoons
-of the assembled hordes.
-
-The arena was immense but extremely uneven and unkempt.
-Around it the Warhoons had piled building stone from
-some of the ruined edifices of the ancient city to prevent
-the animals and the captives from escaping into the
-audience, and at each end had been constructed cages
-to hold them until their turns came to meet some horrible
-death upon the arena.
-
-Kantos Kan and I were confined together in one of the cages.
-In the others were wild calots, thoats, mad zitidars,
-green warriors, and women of other hordes, and many
-strange and ferocious wild beasts of Barsoom which I had
-never before seen.  The din of their roaring, growling and
-squealing was deafening and the formidable appearance of
-any one of them was enough to make the stoutest heart feel
-grave forebodings.
-
-Kantos Kan explained to me that at the end of the day one
-of these prisoners would gain freedom and the others would
-lie dead about the arena.  The winners in the various contests
-of the day would be pitted against each other until only two
-remained alive; the victor in the last encounter being set free,
-whether animal or man.  The following morning the cages would
-be filled with a new consignment of victims, and so on
-throughout the ten days of the games.
-
-Shortly after we had been caged the amphitheater began to fill
-and within an hour every available part of the seating space
-was occupied.  Dak Kova, with his jeds and chieftains, sat at
-the center of one side of the arena upon a large raised platform.
-
-At a signal from Dak Kova the doors of two cages were
-thrown open and a dozen green Martian females were
-driven to the center of the arena.  Each was given a
-dagger and then, at the far end, a pack of twelve calots,
-or wild dogs were loosed upon them.
-
-As the brutes, growling and foaming, rushed upon the almost
-defenseless women I turned my head that I might not see the
-horrid sight.  The yells and laughter of the green horde
-bore witness to the excellent quality of the sport and
-when I turned back to the arena, as Kantos Kan told me it
-was over, I saw three victorious calots, snarling and growling
-over the bodies of their prey.  The women had given a good account
-of themselves.
-
-Next a mad zitidar was loosed among the remaining dogs,
-and so it went throughout the long, hot, horrible day.
-
-During the day I was pitted against first men and then
-beasts, but as I was armed with a long-sword and always
-outclassed my adversary in agility and generally in strength
-as well, it proved but child's play to me.  Time and time again
-I won the applause of the bloodthirsty multitude, and toward
-the end there were cries that I be taken from the arena
-and be made a member of the hordes of Warhoon.
-
-Finally there were but three of us left, a great green warrior
-of some far northern horde, Kantos Kan, and myself.
-
-The other two were to battle and then I to fight the conqueror
-for the liberty which was accorded the final winner.
-
-Kantos Kan had fought several times during the day and
-like myself had always proven victorious, but occasionally
-by the smallest of margins, especially when pitted against
-the green warriors.  I had little hope that he could best his
-giant adversary who had mowed down all before him during
-the day.  The fellow towered nearly sixteen feet in height,
-while Kantos Kan was some inches under six feet.  As they
-advanced to meet one another I saw for the first time a trick
-of Martian swordsmanship which centered Kantos Kan's
-every hope of victory and life on one cast of the dice, for,
-as he came to within about twenty feet of the huge fellow
-he threw his sword arm far behind him over his shoulder
-and with a mighty sweep hurled his weapon point foremost
-at the green warrior.  It flew true as an arrow and piercing
-the poor devil's heart laid him dead upon the arena.
-
-Kantos Kan and I were now pitted against each other but
-as we approached to the encounter I whispered to him to
-prolong the battle until nearly dark in the hope that we
-might find some means of escape.  The horde evidently
-guessed that we had no hearts to fight each other and so
-they howled in rage as neither of us placed a fatal thrust.
-Just as I saw the sudden coming of dark I whispered to
-Kantos Kan to thrust his sword between my left arm and my
-body.  As he did so I staggered back clasping the sword
-tightly with my arm and thus fell to the ground with his
-weapon apparently protruding from my chest.  Kantos Kan
-perceived my coup and stepping quickly to my side he placed his
-foot upon my neck and withdrawing his sword from my body
-gave me the final death blow through the neck which is supposed
-to sever the jugular vein, but in this instance the cold
-blade slipped harmlessly into the sand of the arena.  In the
-darkness which had now fallen none could tell but that he
-had really finished me.  I whispered to him to go and claim
-his freedom and then look for me in the hills east of the
-city, and so he left me.
-
-When the amphitheater had cleared I crept stealthily to
-the top and as the great excavation lay far from the plaza
-and in an untenanted portion of the great dead city I had
-little trouble in reaching the hills beyond.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX
-
-
-IN THE ATMOSPHERE FACTORY
-
-
-For two days I waited there for Kantos Kan, but as he did
-not come I started off on foot in a northwesterly direction
-toward a point where he had told me lay the nearest waterway.
-My only food consisted of vegetable milk from the
-plants which gave so bounteously of this priceless fluid.
-
-Through two long weeks I wandered, stumbling through
-the nights guided only by the stars and hiding during the
-days behind some protruding rock or among the occasional
-hills I traversed.  Several times I was attacked by wild beasts;
-strange, uncouth monstrosities that leaped upon me in the
-dark, so that I had ever to grasp my long-sword in my hand
-that I might be ready for them.  Usually my strange, newly
-acquired telepathic power warned me in ample time, but
-once I was down with vicious fangs at my jugular and a
-hairy face pressed close to mine before I knew that I was
-even threatened.
-
-What manner of thing was upon me I did not know, but
-that it was large and heavy and many-legged I could feel.
-My hands were at its throat before the fangs had a chance to
-bury themselves in my neck, and slowly I forced the hairy face
-from me and closed my fingers, vise-like, upon its windpipe.
-
-Without sound we lay there, the beast exerting every effort
-to reach me with those awful fangs, and I straining to
-maintain my grip and choke the life from it as I kept it from
-my throat.  Slowly my arms gave to the unequal struggle,
-and inch by inch the burning eyes and gleaming tusks of my
-antagonist crept toward me, until, as the hairy face touched
-mine again, I realized that all was over.  And then a living
-mass of destruction sprang from the surrounding darkness
-full upon the creature that held me pinioned to the ground.
-The two rolled growling upon the moss, tearing and rending
-one another in a frightful manner, but it was soon over and
-my preserver stood with lowered head above the throat of
-the dead thing which would have killed me.
-
-The nearer moon, hurtling suddenly above the horizon
-and lighting up the Barsoomian scene, showed me that my
-preserver was Woola, but from whence he had come, or how
-found me, I was at a loss to know.  That I was glad of his
-companionship it is needless to say, but my pleasure at seeing
-him was tempered by anxiety as to the reason of his leaving
-Dejah Thoris.  Only her death I felt sure, could account for
-his absence from her, so faithful I knew him to be to my
-commands.
-
-By the light of the now brilliant moons I saw that he was
-but a shadow of his former self, and as he turned from my
-caress and commenced greedily to devour the dead carcass
-at my feet I realized that the poor fellow was more than half
-starved.  I, myself, was in but little better plight but I could
-not bring myself to eat the uncooked flesh and I had no
-means of making a fire.  When Woola had finished his meal
-I again took up my weary and seemingly endless wandering
-in quest of the elusive waterway.
-
-At daybreak of the fifteenth day of my search I was overjoyed
-to see the high trees that denoted the object of my search.
-About noon I dragged myself wearily to the portals of a
-huge building which covered perhaps four square miles
-and towered two hundred feet in the air.  It showed no
-aperture in the mighty walls other than the tiny door at which
-I sank exhausted, nor was there any sign of life about it.
-
-I could find no bell or other method of making my presence
-known to the inmates of the place, unless a small round
-role in the wall near the door was for that purpose.  It was
-of about the bigness of a lead pencil and thinking that it
-might be in the nature of a speaking tube I put my mouth to
-it and was about to call into it when a voice issued from it
-asking me whom I might be, where from, and the nature of
-my errand.
-
-I explained that I had escaped from the Warhoons and
-was dying of starvation and exhaustion.
-
-"You wear the metal of a green warrior and are followed
-by a calot, yet you are of the figure of a red man.  In color
-you are neither green nor red.  In the name of the ninth day,
-what manner of creature are you?"
-
-"I am a friend of the red men of Barsoom and I am starving.
-In the name of humanity open to us," I replied.
-
-Presently the door commenced to recede before me until it had
-sunk into the wall fifty feet, then it stopped and slid easily
-to the left, exposing a short, narrow corridor of concrete,
-at the further end of which was another door, similar in
-every respect to the one I had just passed.  No one was in
-sight, yet immediately we passed the first door it slid gently
-into place behind us and receded rapidly to its original position
-in the front wall of the building.  As the door had slipped
-aside I had noted its great thickness, fully twenty feet, and
-as it reached its place once more after closing behind us,
-great cylinders of steel had dropped from the ceiling behind
-it and fitted their lower ends into apertures countersunk in
-the floor.
-
-A second and third door receded before me and slipped to one
-side as the first, before I reached a large inner chamber
-where I found food and drink set out upon a great stone table.
-A voice directed me to satisfy my hunger and to feed
-my calot, and while I was thus engaged my invisible host
-put me through a severe and searching cross-examination.
-
-"Your statements are most remarkable," said the voice, on
-concluding its questioning, "but you are evidently speaking the
-truth, and it is equally evident that you are not of Barsoom.
-I can tell that by the conformation of your brain and the
-strange location of your internal organs and the shape and
-size of your heart."
-
-"Can you see through me?" I exclaimed.
-
-"Yes, I can see all but your thoughts, and were you a Barsoomian
-I could read those."
-
-Then a door opened at the far side of the chamber and a
-strange, dried up, little mummy of a man came toward me.
-He wore but a single article of clothing or adornment, a
-small collar of gold from which depended upon his chest a
-great ornament as large as a dinner plate set solid with huge
-diamonds, except for the exact center which was occupied
-by a strange stone, an inch in diameter, that scintillated nine
-different and distinct rays; the seven colors of our earthly
-prism and two beautiful rays which, to me, were new and
-nameless.  I cannot describe them any more than you could
-describe red to a blind man.  I only know that they were
-beautiful in the extreme.
-
-The old man sat and talked with me for hours, and the
-strangest part of our intercourse was that I could read his
-every thought while he could not fathom an iota from my
-mind unless I spoke.
-
-I did not apprise him of my ability to sense his mental
-operations, and thus I learned a great deal which proved of
-immense value to me later and which I would never have
-known had he suspected my strange power, for the Martians
-have such perfect control of their mental machinery that they
-are able to direct their thoughts with absolute precision.
-
-The building in which I found myself contained the machinery
-which produces that artificial atmosphere which sustains
-life on Mars.  The secret of the entire process hinges on
-the use of the ninth ray, one of the beautiful scintillations
-which I had noted emanating from the great stone in my
-host's diadem.
-
-This ray is separated from the other rays of the sun by
-means of finely adjusted instruments placed upon the roof
-of the huge building, three-quarters of which is used for
-reservoirs in which the ninth ray is stored.  This product is
-then treated electrically, or rather certain proportions of
-refined electric vibrations are incorporated with it, and the
-result is then pumped to the five principal air centers of the
-planet where, as it is released, contact with the ether of
-space transforms it into atmosphere.
-
-There is always sufficient reserve of the ninth ray stored in
-the great building to maintain the present Martian atmosphere for
-a thousand years, and the only fear, as my new friend told me,
-was that some accident might befall the pumping apparatus.
-
-He led me to an inner chamber where I beheld a battery
-of twenty radium pumps any one of which was equal to the
-task of furnishing all Mars with the atmosphere compound.
-For eight hundred years, he told me, he had watched these
-pumps which are used alternately a day each at a stretch, or
-a little over twenty-four and one-half Earth hours.  He has one
-assistant who divides the watch with him.  Half a Martian
-year, about three hundred and forty-four of our days, each
-of these men spend alone in this huge, isolated plant.
-
-Every red Martian is taught during earliest childhood the
-principles of the manufacture of atmosphere, but only two
-at one time ever hold the secret of ingress to the great building,
-which, built as it is with walls a hundred and fifty feet
-thick, is absolutely unassailable, even the roof being guarded
-from assault by air craft by a glass covering five feet thick.
-
-The only fear they entertain of attack is from the green
-Martians or some demented red man, as all Barsoomians
-realize that the very existence of every form of life of Mars
-is dependent upon the uninterrupted working of this plant.
-
-One curious fact I discovered as I watched his thoughts
-was that the outer doors are manipulated by telepathic
-means.  The locks are so finely adjusted that the doors are
-released by the action of a certain combination of thought
-waves.  To experiment with my new-found toy I thought to
-surprise him into revealing this combination and so I asked
-him in a casual manner how he had managed to unlock the
-massive doors for me from the inner chambers of the building.
-As quick as a flash there leaped to his mind nine Martian sounds,
-but as quickly faded as he answered that this was a secret
-he must not divulge.
-
-From then on his manner toward me changed as though he feared
-that he had been surprised into divulging his great secret,
-and I read suspicion and fear in his looks and thoughts,
-though his words were still fair.
-
-Before I retired for the night he promised to give me a
-letter to a nearby agricultural officer who would help me on
-my way to Zodanga, which he said, was the nearest Martian city.
-
-"But be sure that you do not let them know you are
-bound for Helium as they are at war with that country.
-My assistant and I are of no country, we belong to all Barsoom
-and this talisman which we wear protects us in all lands,
-even among the green men--though we do not trust ourselves
-to their hands if we can avoid it," he added.
-
-"And so good-night, my friend," he continued, "may you
-have a long and restful sleep--yes, a long sleep."
-
-And though he smiled pleasantly I saw in his thoughts the
-wish that he had never admitted me, and then a picture of
-him standing over me in the night, and the swift thrust of
-a long dagger and the half formed words, "I am sorry, but it
-is for the best good of Barsoom."
-
-As he closed the door of my chamber behind him his
-thoughts were cut off from me as was the sight of him, which
-seemed strange to me in my little knowledge of thought
-transference.
-
-What was I to do?  How could I escape through these
-mighty walls?  Easily could I kill him now that I was warned,
-but once he was dead I could no more escape, and with the
-stopping of the machinery of the great plant I should die
-with all the other inhabitants of the planet--all, even Dejah
-Thoris were she not already dead.  For the others I did not
-give the snap of my finger, but the thought of Dejah Thoris
-drove from my mind all desire to kill my mistaken host.
-
-Cautiously I opened the door of my apartment and, followed
-by Woola, sought the inner of the great doors.  A wild
-scheme had come to me; I would attempt to force the great
-locks by the nine thought waves I had read in my host's mind.
-
-Creeping stealthily through corridor after corridor and
-down winding runways which turned hither and thither I
-finally reached the great hall in which I had broken my long
-fast that morning.  Nowhere had I seen my host, nor did I
-know where he kept himself by night.
-
-I was on the point of stepping boldly out into the room
-when a slight noise behind me warned me back into the
-shadows of a recess in the corridor.  Dragging Woola after
-me I crouched low in the darkness.
-
-Presently the old man passed close by me, and as he entered
-the dimly lighted chamber which I had been about to
-pass through I saw that he held a long thin dagger in his
-hand and that he was sharpening it upon a stone.  In his mind
-was the decision to inspect the radium pumps, which would
-take about thirty minutes, and then return to my bed chamber
-and finish me.
-
-As he passed through the great hall and disappeared down
-the runway which led to the pump-room, I stole stealthily
-from my hiding place and crossed to the great door, the inner
-of the three which stood between me and liberty.
-
-Concentrating my mind upon the massive lock I hurled
-the nine thought waves against it.  In breathless expectancy
-I waited, when finally the great door moved softly toward
-me and slid quietly to one side.  One after the other the
-remaining mighty portals opened at my command and Woola
-and I stepped forth into the darkness, free, but little better
-off than we had been before, other than that we had full
-stomachs.
-
-Hastening away from the shadows of the formidable pile
-I made for the first crossroad, intending to strike the central
-turnpike as quickly as possible.  This I reached about morning
-and entering the first enclosure I came to I searched for
-some evidences of a habitation.
-
-There were low rambling buildings of concrete barred
-with heavy impassable doors, and no amount of hammering
-and hallooing brought any response.  Weary and exhausted
-from sleeplessness I threw myself upon the ground commanding
-Woola to stand guard.
-
-Some time later I was awakened by his frightful growlings
-and opened my eyes to see three red Martians standing a
-short distance from us and covering me with their rifles.
-
-"I am unarmed and no enemy," I hastened to explain.  "I
-have been a prisoner among the green men and am on my
-way to Zodanga.  All I ask is food and rest for myself and
-my calot and the proper directions for reaching my destination."
-
-They lowered their rifles and advanced pleasantly toward
-me placing their right hands upon my left shoulder, after the
-manner of their custom of salute, and asking me many questions
-about myself and my wanderings.  They then took me to the
-house of one of them which was only a short distance away.
-
-The buildings I had been hammering at in the early
-morning were occupied only by stock and farm produce,
-the house proper standing among a grove of enormous trees,
-and, like all red-Martian homes, had been raised at night
-some forty or fifty feet from the ground on a large round
-metal shaft which slid up or down within a sleeve sunk in
-the ground, and was operated by a tiny radium engine in
-the entrance hall of the building.  Instead of bothering with
-bolts and bars for their dwellings, the red Martians simply
-run them up out of harm's way during the night.  They also
-have private means for lowering or raising them from the
-ground without if they wish to go away and leave them.
-
-These brothers, with their wives and children, occupied three
-similar houses on this farm.  They did no work themselves,
-being government officers in charge.  The labor was
-performed by convicts, prisoners of war, delinquent debtors
-and confirmed bachelors who were too poor to pay the high
-celibate tax which all red-Martian governments impose.
-
-They were the personification of cordiality and hospitality
-and I spent several days with them, resting and recuperating
-from my long and arduous experiences.
-
-When they had heard my story--I omitted all reference
-to Dejah Thoris and the old man of the atmosphere plant--
-they advised me to color my body to more nearly resemble
-their own race and then attempt to find employment in Zodanga,
-either in the army or the navy.
-
-"The chances are small that your tale will be believed
-until after you have proven your trustworthiness and won
-friends among the higher nobles of the court.  This you can
-most easily do through military service, as we are a warlike
-people on Barsoom," explained one of them, "and save our
-richest favors for the fighting man."
-
-When I was ready to depart they furnished me with a
-small domestic bull thoat, such as is used for saddle
-purposes by all red Martians.  The animal is about the size
-of a horse and quite gentle, but in color and shape an exact
-replica of his huge and fierce cousin of the wilds.
-
-The brothers had supplied me with a reddish oil with which
-I anointed my entire body and one of them cut my hair,
-which had grown quite long, in the prevailing fashion of the
-time, square at the back and banged in front, so that I could
-have passed anywhere upon Barsoom as a full-fledged red
-Martian.  My metal and ornaments were also renewed in the
-style of a Zodangan gentleman, attached to the house of
-Ptor, which was the family name of my benefactors.
-
-They filled a little sack at my side with Zodangan money.
-The medium of exchange upon Mars is not dissimilar from
-our own except that the coins are oval.  Paper money is
-issued by individuals as they require it and redeemed twice
-yearly.  If a man issues more than he can redeem, the
-government pays his creditors in full and the debtor works out
-the amount upon the farms or in mines, which are all owned
-by the government.  This suits everybody except the debtor as
-it has been a difficult thing to obtain sufficient voluntary
-labor to work the great isolated farm lands of Mars, stretching
-as they do like narrow ribbons from pole to pole, through wild
-stretches peopled by wild animals and wilder men.
-
-When I mentioned my inability to repay them for their kindness
-to me they assured me that I would have ample opportunity
-if I lived long upon Barsoom, and bidding me farewell
-they watched me until I was out of sight upon the broad
-white turnpike.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI
-
-
-AN AIR SCOUT FOR ZODANGA
-
-
-As I proceeded on my journey toward Zodanga many strange and
-interesting sights arrested my attention, and at the several
-farm houses where I stopped I learned a number of new and
-instructive things concerning the methods and manners of Barsoom.
-
-The water which supplies the farms of Mars is collected
-in immense underground reservoirs at either pole from the
-melting ice caps, and pumped through long conduits to the
-various populated centers.  Along either side of these conduits,
-and extending their entire length, lie the cultivated districts.
-These are divided into tracts of about the same size, each tract
-being under the supervision of one or more government officers.
-
-Instead of flooding the surface of the fields, and thus wasting
-immense quantities of water by evaporation, the precious
-liquid is carried underground through a vast network of
-small pipes directly to the roots of the vegetation.  The crops
-upon Mars are always uniform, for there are no droughts, no
-rains, no high winds, and no insects, or destroying birds.
-
-On this trip I tasted the first meat I had eaten since
-leaving Earth--large, juicy steaks and chops from the well-fed
-domestic animals of the farms.  Also I enjoyed luscious fruits
-and vegetables, but not a single article of food which was
-exactly similar to anything on Earth.  Every plant and flower
-and vegetable and animal has been so refined by ages of careful,
-scientific cultivation and breeding that the like of them on
-Earth dwindled into pale, gray, characterless nothingness
-by comparison.
-
-At a second stop I met some highly cultivated people of
-the noble class and while in conversation we chanced to
-speak of Helium.  One of the older men had been there on
-a diplomatic mission several years before and spoke with
-regret of the conditions which seemed destined ever to keep
-these two countries at war.
-
-"Helium," he said, "rightly boasts the most beautiful
-women of Barsoom, and of all her treasures the wondrous
-daughter of Mors Kajak, Dejah Thoris, is the most exquisite
-flower.
-
-"Why," he added, "the people really worship the ground
-she walks upon and since her loss on that ill-starred
-expedition all Helium has been draped in mourning.
-
-"That our ruler should have attacked the disabled fleet
-as it was returning to Helium was but another of his awful
-blunders which I fear will sooner or later compel Zodanga
-to elevate a wiser man to his place."
-
-"Even now, though our victorious armies are surrounding
-Helium, the people of Zodanga are voicing their displeasure,
-for the war is not a popular one, since it is not based on
-right or justice.  Our forces took advantage of the absence
-of the principal fleet of Helium on their search for the
-princess, and so we have been able easily to reduce the city
-to a sorry plight.  it is said she will fall within the next few
-passages of the further moon."
-
-"And what, think you, may have been the fate of the
-princess, Dejah Thoris?" I asked as casually as possible.
-
-"She is dead," he answered.  "This much was learned
-from a green warrior recently captured by our forces in
-the south.  She escaped from the hordes of Thark with a
-strange creature of another world, only to fall into the hands
-of the Warhoons.  Their thoats were found wandering upon
-the sea bottom and evidences of a bloody conflict were
-discovered nearby."
-
-While this information was in no way reassuring, neither
-was it at all conclusive proof of the death of Dejah Thoris,
-and so I determined to make every effort possible to reach
-Helium as quickly as I could and carry to Tardos Mors
-such news of his granddaughter's possible whereabouts as
-lay in my power.
-
-Ten days after leaving the three Ptor brothers I arrived
-at Zodanga.  From the moment that I had come in contact
-with the red inhabitants of Mars I had noticed that Woola
-drew a great amount of unwelcome attention to me, since
-the huge brute belonged to a species which is never
-domesticated by the red men.  Were one to stroll down
-Broadway with a Numidian lion at his heels the effect would
-be somewhat similar to that which I should have produced
-had I entered Zodanga with Woola.
-
-The very thought of parting with the faithful fellow caused
-me so great regret and genuine sorrow that I put it off until
-just before we arrived at the city's gates; but then, finally,
-it became imperative that we separate.  Had nothing further
-than my own safety or pleasure been at stake no argument
-could have prevailed upon me to turn away the one creature
-upon Barsoom that had never failed in a demonstration
-of affection and loyalty; but as I would willingly have offered
-my life in the service of her in search of whom I was about
-to challenge the unknown dangers of this, to me, mysterious
-city, I could not permit even Woola's life to threaten the
-success of my venture, much less his momentary happiness,
-for I doubted not he soon would forget me.  And so I bade
-the poor beast an affectionate farewell, promising him,
-however, that if I came through my adventure in safety that
-in some way I should find the means to search him out.
-
-He seemed to understand me fully, and when I pointed
-back in the direction of Thark he turned sorrowfully away,
-nor could I bear to watch him go; but resolutely set my
-face toward Zodanga and with a touch of heartsickness
-approached her frowning walls.
-
-The letter I bore from them gained me immediate entrance
-to the vast, walled city.  It was still very early in
-the morning and the streets were practically deserted.
-The residences, raised high upon their metal columns, resembled
-huge rookeries, while the uprights themselves presented the
-appearance of steel tree trunks.  The shops as a rule were
-not raised from the ground nor were their doors bolted or
-barred, since thievery is practically unknown upon Barsoom.
-Assassination is the ever-present fear of all Barsoomians,
-and for this reason alone their homes are raised high above
-the ground at night, or in times of danger.
-
-The Ptor brothers had given me explicit directions for
-reaching the point of the city where I could find living
-accommodations and be near the offices of the government
-agents to whom they had given me letters.  My way led to
-the central square or plaza, which is a characteristic of all
-Martian cities.
-
-The plaza of Zodanga covers a square mile and is bounded
-by the palaces of the jeddak, the jeds, and other members
-of the royalty and nobility of Zodanga, as well as by the
-principal public buildings, cafes, and shops.
-
-As I was crossing the great square lost in wonder and
-admiration of the magnificent architecture and the gorgeous
-scarlet vegetation which carpeted the broad lawns I
-discovered a red Martian walking briskly toward me from one
-of the avenues.  He paid not the slightest attention to me,
-but as he came abreast I recognized him, and turning I
-placed my hand upon his shoulder, calling out:
-
-"Kaor, Kantos Kan!"
-
-Like lightning he wheeled and before I could so much
-as lower my hand the point of his long-sword was at my
-breast.
-
-"Who are you?" he growled, and then as a backward leap
-carried me fifty feet from his sword he dropped the point
-to the ground and exclaimed, laughing,
-
-"I do not need a better reply, there is but one man upon
-all Barsoom who can bounce about like a rubber ball.  By
-the mother of the further moon, John Carter, how came
-you here, and have you become a Darseen that you can
-change your color at will?"
-
-"You gave me a bad half minute my friend," he continued,
-after I had briefly outlined my adventures since parting
-with him in the arena at Warhoon.  "Were my name
-and city known to the Zodangans I would shortly be sitting
-on the banks of the lost sea of Korus with my revered and
-departed ancestors.  I am here in the interest of Tardos
-Mors, Jeddak of Helium, to discover the whereabouts of
-Dejah Thoris, our princess.  Sab Than, prince of Zodanga,
-has her hidden in the city and has fallen madly in love
-with her.  His father, Than Kosis, Jeddak of Zodanga, has
-made her voluntary marriage to his son the price of peace
-between our countries, but Tardos Mors will not accede to
-the demands and has sent word that he and his people
-would rather look upon the dead face of their princess than
-see her wed to any than her own choice, and that personally
-he would prefer being engulfed in the ashes of a lost and
-burning Helium to joining the metal of his house with that
-of Than Kosis.  His reply was the deadliest affront he could
-have put upon Than Kosis and the Zodangans, but his people
-love him the more for it and his strength in Helium is
-greater today than ever.
-
-"I have been here three days," continued Kantos Kan,
-"but I have not yet found where Dejah Thoris is imprisoned.
-Today I join the Zodangan navy as an air scout and I hope
-in this way to win the confidence of Sab Than, the prince,
-who is commander of this division of the navy, and thus
-learn the whereabouts of Dejah Thoris.  I am glad that you
-are here, John Carter, for I know your loyalty to my princess
-and two of us working together should be able to
-accomplish much."
-
-The plaza was now commencing to fill with people going
-and coming upon the daily activities of their duties.  The
-shops were opening and the cafes filling with early morning
-patrons.  Kantos Kan led me to one of these gorgeous eating
-places where we were served entirely by mechanical apparatus.
-No hand touched the food from the time it entered the
-building in its raw state until it emerged hot and delicious
-upon the tables before the guests, in response to the touching
-of tiny buttons to indicate their desires.
-
-After our meal, Kantos Kan took me with him to the
-headquarters of the air-scout squadron and introducing me
-to his superior asked that I be enrolled as a member of the
-corps.  In accordance with custom an examination was necessary,
-but Kantos Kan had told me to have no fear on this score as he
-would attend to that part of the matter.  He accomplished
-this by taking my order for examination to the examining
-officer and representing himself as John Carter.
-
-"This ruse will be discovered later," he cheerfully
-explained, "when they check up my weights, measurements,
-and other personal identification data, but it will be
-several months before this is done and our mission should
-be accomplished or have failed long before that time."
-
-The next few days were spent by Kantos Kan in teaching
-me the intricacies of flying and of repairing the dainty
-little contrivances which the Martians use for this purpose.
-The body of the one-man air craft is about sixteen feet
-long, two feet wide and three inches thick, tapering to a
-point at each end.  The driver sits on top of this plane upon
-a seat constructed over the small, noiseless radium engine
-which propels it.  The medium of buoyancy is contained
-within the thin metal walls of the body and consists of
-the eighth Barsoomian ray, or ray of propulsion, as it may
-be termed in view of its properties.
-
-This ray, like the ninth ray, is unknown on Earth, but
-the Martians have discovered that it is an inherent property
-of all light no matter from what source it emanates.  They
-have learned that it is the solar eighth ray which propels
-the light of the sun to the various planets, and that it is
-the individual eighth ray of each planet which "reflects," or
-propels the light thus obtained out into space once more.
-The solar eighth ray would be absorbed by the surface of
-Barsoom, but the Barsoomian eighth ray, which tends to
-propel light from Mars into space, is constantly streaming
-out from the planet constituting a force of repulsion of
-gravity which when confined is able to life enormous weights
-from the surface of the ground.
-
-It is this ray which has enabled them to so perfect aviation
-that battle ships far outweighing anything known upon
-Earth sail as gracefully and lightly through the thin air of
-Barsoom as a toy balloon in the heavy atmosphere of Earth.
-
-During the early years of the discovery of this ray many
-strange accidents occurred before the Martians learned to
-measure and control the wonderful power they had found.
-In one instance, some nine hundred years before, the first
-great battle ship to be built with eighth ray reservoirs was
-stored with too great a quantity of the rays and she had
-sailed up from Helium with five hundred officers and men,
-never to return.
-
-Her power of repulsion for the planet was so great that
-it had carried her far into space, where she can be seen
-today, by the aid of powerful telescopes, hurtling through
-the heavens ten thousand miles from Mars; a tiny satellite
-that will thus encircle Barsoom to the end of time.
-
-The fourth day after my arrival at Zodanga I made my
-first flight, and as a result of it I won a promotion which
-included quarters in the palace of Than Kosis.
-
-As I rose above the city I circled several times, as I had
-seen Kantos Kan do, and then throwing my engine into top
-speed I raced at terrific velocity toward the south, following
-one of the great waterways which enter Zodanga from that
-direction.
-
-I had traversed perhaps two hundred miles in a little less
-than an hour when I descried far below me a party of
-three green warriors racing madly toward a small figure on
-foot which seemed to be trying to reach the confines of one
-of the walled fields.
-
-Dropping my machine rapidly toward them, and circling
-to the rear of the warriors, I soon saw that the object of
-their pursuit was a red Martian wearing the metal of the
-scout squadron to which I was attached.  A short distance
-away lay his tiny flier, surrounded by the tools with which
-he had evidently been occupied in repairing some damage
-when surprised by the green warriors.
-
-They were now almost upon him; their flying mounts
-charging down on the relatively puny figure at terrific speed,
-while the warriors leaned low to the right, with their great
-metal-shod spears.  Each seemed striving to be the first to
-impale the poor Zodangan and in another moment his fate
-would have been sealed had it not been for my timely arrival.
-
-Driving my fleet air craft at high speed directly behind
-the warriors I soon overtook them and without diminishing
-my speed I rammed the prow of my little flier between the
-shoulders of the nearest.  The impact sufficient to have torn
-through inches of solid steel, hurled the fellow's headless body
-into the air over the head of his thoat, where it fell sprawling
-upon the moss.  The mounts of the other two warriors
-turned squealing in terror, and bolted in opposite directions.
-
-Reducing my speed I circled and came to the ground
-at the feet of the astonished Zodangan.  He was warm in
-his thanks for my timely aid and promised that my day's
-work would bring the reward it merited, for it was none
-other than a cousin of the jeddak of Zodanga whose life I
-had saved.
-
-We wasted no time in talk as we knew that the warriors
-would surely return as soon as they had gained control of
-their mounts.  Hastening to his damaged machine we were
-bending every effort to finish the needed repairs and had
-almost completed them when we saw the two green monsters
-returning at top speed from opposite sides of us.  When
-they had approached within a hundred yards their thoats
-again became unmanageable and absolutely refused to advance
-further toward the air craft which had frightened them.
-
-The warriors finally dismounted and hobbling their animals
-advanced toward us on foot with drawn long-swords.
-
-I advanced to meet the larger, telling the Zodangan to do
-the best he could with the other.  Finishing my man with
-almost no effort, as had now from much practice become
-habitual with me, I hastened to return to my new acquaintance
-whom I found indeed in desperate straits.
-
-He was wounded and down with the huge foot of his
-antagonist upon his throat and the great long-sword raised
-to deal the final thrust.  With a bound I cleared the fifty
-feet intervening between us, and with outstretched point
-drove my sword completely through the body of the green
-warrior.  His sword fell, harmless, to the ground and he sank
-limply upon the prostrate form of the Zodangan.
-
-A cursory examination of the latter revealed no mortal
-injuries and after a brief rest he asserted that he felt fit to
-attempt the return voyage.  He would have to pilot his
-own craft, however, as these frail vessels are not intended
-to convey but a single person.
-
-Quickly completing the repairs we rose together into the
-still, cloudless Martian sky, and at great speed and without
-further mishap returned to Zodanga.
-
-As we neared the city we discovered a mighty concourse
-of civilians and troops assembled upon the plain before the
-city.  The sky was black with naval vessels and private and
-public pleasure craft, flying long streamers of gay-colored
-silks, and banners and flags of odd and picturesque design.
-
-My companion signaled that I slow down, and running
-his machine close beside mine suggested that we approach
-and watch the ceremony, which, he said, was for the purpose
-of conferring honors on individual officers and men for
-bravery and other distinguished service.  He then unfurled
-a little ensign which denoted that his craft bore a member
-of the royal family of Zodanga, and together we made our
-way through the maze of low-lying air vessels until we hung
-directly over the jeddak of Zodanga and his staff.  All were
-mounted upon the small domestic bull thoats of the red
-Martians, and their trappings and ornamentation bore such
-a quantity of gorgeously colored feathers that I could not but
-be struck with the startling resemblance the concourse bore
-to a band of the red Indians of my own Earth.
-
-One of the staff called the attention of Than Kosis to the
-presence of my companion above them and the ruler motioned
-for him to descend.  As they waited for the troops
-to move into position facing the jeddak the two talked
-earnestly together, the jeddak and his staff occasionally
-glancing up at me.  I could not hear their conversation and
-presently it ceased and all dismounted, as the last body of
-troops had wheeled into position before their emperor.  A
-member of the staff advanced toward the troops, and calling
-the name of a soldier commanded him to advance.  The
-officer then recited the nature of the heroic act which had
-won the approval of the jeddak, and the latter advanced
-and placed a metal ornament upon the left arm of the
-lucky man.
-
-Ten men had been so decorated when the aide called out,
-
-"John Carter, air scout!"
-
-Never in my life had I been so surprised, but the habit
-of military discipline is strong within me, and I dropped
-my little machine lightly to the ground and advanced on
-foot as I had seen the others do.  As I halted before the
-officer, he addressed me in a voice audible to the entire
-assemblage of troops and spectators.
-
-"In recognition, John Carter," he said, "of your remarkable
-courage and skill in defending the person of the cousin
-of the jeddak Than Kosis and, singlehanded, vanquishing
-three green warriors, it is the pleasure of our jeddak to
-confer on you the mark of his esteem."
-
-Than Kosis then advanced toward me and placing an
-ornament upon me, said:
-
-"My cousin has narrated the details of your wonderful
-achievement, which seems little short of miraculous, and if
-you can so well defend a cousin of the jeddak how much
-better could you defend the person of the jeddak himself.
-You are therefore appointed a padwar of The Guards and
-will be quartered in my palace hereafter."
-
-I thanked him, and at his direction joined the members
-of his staff.  After the ceremony I returned my machine to
-its quarters on the roof of the barracks of the air-scout
-squadron, and with an orderly from the palace to guide me
-I reported to the officer in charge of the palace.
-
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII
-
-
-I FIND DEJAH
-
-
-The major-domo to whom I reported had been given instructions
-to station me near the person of the jeddak, who, in time
-of war, is always in great danger of assassination, as the
-rule that all is fair in war seems to constitute the entire
-ethics of Martian conflict.
-
-He therefore escorted me immediately to the apartment
-in which Than Kosis then was.  The ruler was engaged in
-conversation with his son, Sab Than, and several courtiers
-of his household, and did not perceive my entrance.
-
-The walls of the apartment were completely hung with
-splendid tapestries which hid any windows or doors which
-may have pierced them.  The room was lighted by imprisoned
-rays of sunshine held between the ceiling proper and what
-appeared to be a ground-glass false ceiling a few inches
-below.
-
-My guide drew aside one of the tapestries, disclosing a
-passage which encircled the room, between the hangings and
-the walls of the chamber.  Within this passage I was to
-remain, he said, so long as Than Kosis was in the apartment.
-When he left I was to follow.  My only duty was to guard
-the ruler and keep out of sight as much as possible.  I
-would be relieved after a period of four hours.  The major-
-domo then left me.
-
-The tapestries were of a strange weaving which gave the
-appearance of heavy solidity from one side, but from my hiding
-place I could perceive all that took place within the room as
-readily as though there had been no curtain intervening.
-
-Scarcely had I gained my post than the tapestry at the
-opposite end of the chamber separated and four soldiers of
-The Guard entered, surrounding a female figure.  As they
-approached Than Kosis the soldiers fell to either side and
-there standing before the jeddak and not ten feet from me,
-her beautiful face radiant with smiles, was Dejah Thoris.
-
-Sab Than, Prince of Zodanga, advanced to meet her, and
-hand in hand they approached close to the jeddak.  Than
-Kosis looked up in surprise, and, rising, saluted her.
-
-"To what strange freak do I owe this visit from the Princess
-of Helium, who, two days ago, with rare consideration
-for my pride, assured me that she would prefer Tal Hajus,
-the green Thark, to my son?"
-
-Dejah Thoris only smiled the more and with the roguish dimples
-playing at the corners of her mouth she made answer:
-
-"From the beginning of time upon Barsoom it has been
-the prerogative of woman to change her mind as she listed
-and to dissemble in matters concerning her heart.  That you
-will forgive, Than Kosis, as has your son.  Two days ago I
-was not sure of his love for me, but now I am, and I have
-come to beg of you to forget my rash words and to accept
-the assurance of the Princess of Helium that when the time
-comes she will wed Sab Than, Prince of Zodanga."
-
-"I am glad that you have so decided," replied Than Kosis.
-"It is far from my desire to push war further against the
-people of Helium, and, your promise shall be recorded and
-a proclamation to my people issued forthwith."
-
-"It were better, Than Kosis," interrupted Dejah Thoris,
-"that the proclamation wait the ending of this war.  It would
-look strange indeed to my people and to yours were the
-Princess of Helium to give herself to her country's enemy
-in the midst of hostilities."
-
-"Cannot the war be ended at once?" spoke Sab Than.
-"It requires but the word of Than Kosis to bring peace.
-Say it, my father, say the word that will hasten my
-happiness, and end this unpopular strife."
-
-"We shall see," replied Than Kosis, "how the people of
-Helium take to peace.  I shall at least offer it to them."
-
-Dejah Thoris, after a few words, turned and left the
-apartment, still followed by her guards.
-
-Thus was the edifice of my brief dream of happiness
-dashed, broken, to the ground of reality.  The woman for
-whom I had offered my life, and from whose lips I had so
-recently heard a declaration of love for me, had lightly
-forgotten my very existence and smilingly given herself to
-the son of her people's most hated enemy.
-
-Although I had heard it with my own ears I could not
-believe it.  I must search out her apartments and force her
-to repeat the cruel truth to me alone before I would be
-convinced, and so I deserted my post and hastened through
-the passage behind the tapestries toward the door by which
-she had left the chamber.  Slipping quietly through this
-opening I discovered a maze of winding corridors, branching
-and turning in every direction.
-
-Running rapidly down first one and then another of them
-I soon became hopelessly lost and was standing panting
-against a side wall when I heard voices near me.  Apparently
-they were coming from the opposite side of the partition
-against which I leaned and presently I made out the tones
-of Dejah Thoris.  I could not hear the words but I knew
-that I could not possibly be mistaken in the voice.
-
-Moving on a few steps I discovered another passageway
-at the end of which lay a door.  Walking boldly forward I
-pushed into the room only to find myself in a small ante-
-chamber in which were the four guards who had accompanied
-her.  One of them instantly arose and accosted me, asking
-the nature of my business.
-
-"I am from Than Kosis," I replied, "and wish to speak
-privately with Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium."
-
-"And your order?" asked the fellow.
-
-I did not know what he meant, but replied that I was a
-member of The Guard, and without waiting for a reply
-from him I strode toward the opposite door of the ante-
-chamber, behind which I could hear Dejah Thoris conversing.
-
-But my entrance was not to be so easily accomplished.
-The guardsman stepped before me, saying,
-
-"No one comes from Than Kosis without carrying an
-order or the password.  You must give me one or the other
-before you may pass."
-
-"The only order I require, my friend, to enter where I
-will, hangs at my side," I answered, tapping my long-sword;
-"will you let me pass in peace or no?"
-
-For reply he whipped out his own sword, calling to the
-others to join him, and thus the four stood, with drawn
-weapons, barring my further progress.
-
-"You are not here by the order of Than Kosis," cried
-the one who had first addressed me, "and not only shall
-you not enter the apartments of the Princess of Helium but
-you shall go back to Than Kosis under guard to explain
-this unwarranted temerity.  Throw down your sword; you
-cannot hope to overcome four of us," he added with a grim
-smile.
-
-My reply was a quick thrust which left me but three
-antagonists and I can assure you that they were worthy of
-my metal.  They had me backed against the wall in no time,
-fighting for my life.  Slowly I worked my way to a corner
-of the room where I could force them to come at me only
-one at a time, and thus we fought upward of twenty minutes;
-the clanging of steel on steel producing a veritable bedlam
-in the little room.
-
-The noise had brought Dejah Thoris to the door of her
-apartment, and there she stood throughout the conflict with
-Sola at her back peering over her shoulder.  Her face was
-set and emotionless and I knew that she did not recognize
-me, nor did Sola.
-
-Finally a lucky cut brought down a second guardsman
-and then, with only two opposing me, I changed my tactics
-and rushed them down after the fashion of my fighting
-that had won me many a victory.  The third fell within ten
-seconds after the second, and the last lay dead upon the
-bloody floor a few moments later.  They were brave men
-and noble fighters, and it grieved me that I had been forced
-to kill them, but I would have willingly depopulated all
-Barsoom could I have reached the side of my Dejah Thoris
-in no other way.
-
-Sheathing my bloody blade I advanced toward my Martian
-Princess, who still stood mutely gazing at me without
-sign of recognition.
-
-"Who are you, Zodangan?" she whispered.  "Another enemy
-to harass me in my misery?"
-
-"I am a friend," I answered, "a once cherished friend."
-
-"No friend of Helium's princess wears that metal," she replied,
-"and yet the voice!  I have heard it before; it is not--it
-cannot be--no, for he is dead."
-
-"It is, though, my Princess, none other than John Carter,"
-I said.  "Do you not recognize, even through paint and
-strange metal, the heart of your chieftain?"
-
-As I came close to her she swayed toward me with outstretched
-hands, but as I reached to take her in my arms she drew back
-with a shudder and a little moan of misery.
-
-"Too late, too late," she grieved.  "O my chieftain that was,
-and whom I thought dead, had you but returned one little
-hour before--but now it is too late, too late."
-
-"What do you mean, Dejah Thoris?" I cried.  "That you
-would not have promised yourself to the Zodangan prince
-had you known that I lived?"
-
-"Think you, John Carter, that I would give my heart to you
-yesterday and today to another?  I thought that it lay buried
-with your ashes in the pits of Warhoon, and so today I have
-promised my body to another to save my people from the
-curse of a victorious Zodangan army."
-
-"But I am not dead, my princess.  I have come to claim
-you, and all Zodanga cannot prevent it."
-
-"It is too late, John Carter, my promise is given, and on
-Barsoom that is final.  The ceremonies which follow later are
-but meaningless formalities.  They make the fact of marriage
-no more certain than does the funeral cortege of a jeddak
-again place the seal of death upon him.  I am as good as
-married, John Carter.  No longer may you call me your
-princess.  No longer are you my chieftain."
-
-"I know but little of your customs here upon Barsoom,
-Dejah Thoris, but I do know that I love you, and if you
-meant the last words you spoke to me that day as the hordes
-of Warhoon were charging down upon us, no other man shall
-ever claim you as his bride.  You meant them then, my
-princess, and you mean them still!  Say that it is true."
-
-"I meant them, John Carter," she whispered.  "I cannot
-repeat them now for I have given myself to another.  Ah,
-if you had only known our ways, my friend," she continued,
-half to herself, "the promise would have been yours long
-months ago, and you could have claimed me before all others.
-It might have meant the fall of Helium, but I would have
-given my empire for my Tharkian chief."
-
-Then aloud she said: "Do you remember the night when
-you offended me?  You called me your princess without having
-asked my hand of me, and then you boasted that you had
-fought for me.  You did not know, and I should not have
-been offended; I see that now.  But there was no one to tell
-you what I could not, that upon Barsoom there are two
-kinds of women in the cities of the red men.  The one they
-fight for that they may ask them in marriage; the other kind
-they fight for also, but never ask their hands.  When a man
-has won a woman he may address her as his princess, or in
-any of the several terms which signify possession.  You had
-fought for me, but had never asked me in marriage, and so
-when you called me your princess, you see," she faltered,
-"I was hurt, but even then, John Carter, I did not repulse you,
-as I should have done, until you made it doubly worse by
-taunting me with having won me through combat."
-
-"I do not need ask your forgiveness now, Dejah Thoris,"
-I cried.  "You must know that my fault was of ignorance of
-your Barsoomian customs.  What I failed to do, through
-implicit belief that my petition would be presumptuous and
-unwelcome, I do now, Dejah Thoris; I ask you to be my wife,
-and by all the Virginian fighting blood that flows in my
-veins you shall be."
-
-"No, John Carter, it is useless," she cried, hopelessly,
-"I may never be yours while Sab Than lives."
-
-"You have sealed his death warrant, my princess--Sab Than dies."
-
-"Nor that either," she hastened to explain.  "I may not
-wed the man who slays my husband, even in self-defense.
-It is custom.  We are ruled by custom upon Barsoom.  It is
-useless, my friend.  You must bear the sorrow with me.  That
-at least we may share in common.  That, and the memory of
-the brief days among the Tharks.  You must go now, nor ever
-see me again.  Good-bye, my chieftain that was."
-
-Disheartened and dejected, I withdrew from the room,
-but I was not entirely discouraged, nor would I admit that
-Dejah Thoris was lost to me until the ceremony had actually
-been performed.
-
-As I wandered along the corridors, I was as absolutely
-lost in the mazes of winding passageways as I had been
-before I discovered Dejah Thoris' apartments.
-
-I knew that my only hope lay in escape from the city of
-Zodanga, for the matter of the four dead guardsmen would
-have to be explained, and as I could never reach my original
-post without a guide, suspicion would surely rest on me so
-soon as I was discovered wandering aimlessly through the
-palace.
-
-Presently I came upon a spiral runway leading to a lower
-floor, and this I followed downward for several stories until
-I reached the doorway of a large apartment in which were a
-number of guardsmen.  The walls of this room were hung with
-transparent tapestries behind which I secreted myself without
-being apprehended.
-
-The conversation of the guardsmen was general, and
-awakened no interest in me until an officer entered the room
-and ordered four of the men to relieve the detail who were
-guarding the Princess of Helium.  Now, I knew, my troubles
-would commence in earnest and indeed they were upon
-me all too soon, for it seemed that the squad had scarcely
-left the guardroom before one of their number burst in
-again breathlessly, crying that they had found their four
-comrades butchered in the antechamber.
-
-In a moment the entire palace was alive with people.
-Guardsmen, officers, courtiers, servants, and slaves ran
-helter-skelter through the corridors and apartments carrying
-messages and orders, and searching for signs of the assassin.
-
-This was my opportunity and slim as it appeared I grasped it,
-for as a number of soldiers came hurrying past my hiding place
-I fell in behind them and followed through the mazes of the
-palace until, in passing through a great hall, I saw the blessed
-light of day coming in through a series of larger windows.
-
-Here I left my guides, and, slipping to the nearest window,
-sought for an avenue of escape.  The windows opened
-upon a great balcony which overlooked one of the broad
-avenues of Zodanga.  The ground was about thirty feet below,
-and at a like distance from the building was a wall fully
-twenty feet high, constructed of polished glass about a foot
-in thickness.  To a red Martian escape by this path would have
-appeared impossible, but to me, with my earthly strength
-and agility, it seemed already accomplished.  My only fear
-was in being detected before darkness fell, for I could not
-make the leap in broad daylight while the court below and
-the avenue beyond were crowded with Zodangans.
-
-Accordingly I searched for a hiding place and finally found
-one by accident, inside a huge hanging ornament which
-swung from the ceiling of the hall, and about ten feet from
-the floor.  Into the capacious bowl-like vase I sprang with
-ease, and scarcely had I settled down within it than I heard
-a number of people enter the apartment.  The group stopped
-beneath my hiding place and I could plainly overhear their
-every word.
-
-"It is the work of Heliumites," said one of the men.
-
-"Yes, O Jeddak, but how had they access to the palace?  I
-could believe that even with the diligent care of your
-guardsmen a single enemy might reach the inner chambers,
-but how a force of six or eight fighting men could have
-done so unobserved is beyond me.  We shall soon know, however,
-for here comes the royal psychologist."
-
-Another man now joined the group, and, after making his
-formal greetings to his ruler, said:
-
-"O mighty Jeddak, it is a strange tale I read in the dead
-minds of your faithful guardsmen.  They were felled not by a
-number of fighting men, but by a single opponent."
-
-He paused to let the full weight of this announcement
-impress his hearers, and that his statement was scarcely
-credited was evidenced by the impatient exclamation of
-incredulity which escaped the lips of Than Kosis.
-
-"What manner of weird tale are you bringing me, Notan?" he cried.
-
-"It is the truth, my Jeddak," replied the psychologist.
-"In fact the impressions were strongly marked on the brain
-of each of the four guardsmen.  Their antagonist was a very
-tall man, wearing the metal of one of your own guardsmen,
-and his fighting ability was little short of marvelous for he
-fought fair against the entire four and vanquished them by
-his surpassing skill and superhuman strength and endurance.
-Though he wore the metal of Zodanga, my Jeddak, such a
-man was never seen before in this or any other country upon
-Barsoom.
-
-"The mind of the Princess of Helium whom I have examined
-and questioned was a blank to me, she has perfect
-control, and I could not read one iota of it.  She said that
-she witnessed a portion of the encounter, and that when she
-looked there was but one man engaged with the guardsmen;
-a man whom she did not recognize as ever having seen."
-
-"Where is my erstwhile savior?" spoke another of the
-party, and I recognized the voice of the cousin of Than Kosis,
-whom I had rescued from the green warriors.  "By the metal
-of my first ancestor," he went on, "but the description fits
-him to perfection, especially as to his fighting ability."
-
-"Where is this man?" cried Than Kosis.  "Have him brought
-to me at once.  What know you of him, cousin?  It seemed
-strange to me now that I think upon it that there should
-have been such a fighting man in Zodanga, of whose name,
-even, we were ignorant before today.  And his name too,
-John Carter, who ever heard of such a name upon Barsoom!"
-
-Word was soon brought that I was nowhere to be found,
-either in the palace or at my former quarters in the
-barracks of the air-scout squadron.  Kantos Kan, they had
-found and questioned, but he knew nothing of my whereabouts,
-and as to my past, he had told them he knew as little, since he
-had but recently met me during our captivity among the Warhoons.
-
-"Keep your eyes on this other one," commanded Than Kosis.
-"He also is a stranger and likely as not they both hail
-from Helium, and where one is we shall sooner or later
-find the other.  Quadruple the air patrol, and let every man
-who leaves the city by air or ground be subjected to the
-closest scrutiny."
-
-Another messenger now entered with word that I was still
-within the palace walls.
-
-"The likeness of every person who has entered or left the
-palace grounds today has been carefully examined," concluded
-the fellow, "and not one approaches the likeness of this new
-padwar of the guards, other than that which was recorded of
-him at the time he entered."
-
-"Then we will have him shortly," commented Than Kosis
-contentedly, "and in the meanwhile we will repair to the
-apartments of the Princess of Helium and question her in
-regard to the affair.  She may know more than she cared to
-divulge to you, Notan.  Come."
-
-They left the hall, and, as darkness had fallen without, I
-slipped lightly from my hiding place and hastened to the
-balcony.  Few were in sight, and choosing a moment when
-none seemed near I sprang quickly to the top of the glass
-wall and from there to the avenue beyond the palace grounds.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII
-
-
-LOST IN THE SKY
-
-
-Without effort at concealment I hastened to the vicinity of
-our quarters, where I felt sure I should find Kantos Kan.  As
-I neared the building I became more careful, as I judged,
-and rightly, that the place would be guarded.  Several men in
-civilian metal loitered near the front entrance and in the
-rear were others.  My only means of reaching, unseen, the
-upper story where our apartments were situated was through
-an adjoining building, and after considerable maneuvering I
-managed to attain the roof of a shop several doors away.
-
-Leaping from roof to roof, I soon reached an open window
-in the building where I hoped to find the Heliumite, and in
-another moment I stood in the room before him.  He was
-alone and showed no surprise at my coming, saying he had
-expected me much earlier, as my tour of duty must have
-ended some time since.
-
-I saw that he knew nothing of the events of the day at
-the palace, and when I had enlightened him he was all
-excitement.  The news that Dejah Thoris had promised her
-hand to Sab Than filled him with dismay.
-
-"It cannot be," he exclaimed.  "It is impossible!  Why no
-man in all Helium but would prefer death to the selling of
-our loved princess to the ruling house of Zodanga.  She must
-have lost her mind to have assented to such an atrocious
-bargain.  You, who do not know how we of Helium love
-the members of our ruling house, cannot appreciate the
-horror with which I contemplate such an unholy alliance."
-
-"What can be done, John Carter?" he continued.  "You are
-a resourceful man.  Can you not think of some way to save
-Helium from this disgrace?"
-
-"If I can come within sword's reach of Sab Than," I answered,
-"I can solve the difficulty in so far as Helium is concerned,
-but for personal reasons I would prefer that another struck
-the blow that frees Dejah Thoris."
-
-Kantos Kan eyed me narrowly before he spoke.
-
-"You love her!" he said.  "Does she know it?"
-
-"She knows it, Kantos Kan, and repulses me only because
-she is promised to Sab Than."
-
-The splendid fellow sprang to his feet, and grasping me
-by the shoulder raised his sword on high, exclaiming:
-
-"And had the choice been left to me I could not have
-chosen a more fitting mate for the first princess of Barsoom.
-Here is my hand upon your shoulder, John Carter, and my
-word that Sab Than shall go out at the point of my sword
-for the sake of my love for Helium, for Dejah Thoris, and for
-you.  This very night I shall try to reach his quarters in the
-palace."
-
-"How?" I asked.  "You are strongly guarded and a quadruple
-force patrols the sky."
-
-He bent his head in thought a moment, then raised it
-with an air of confidence.
-
-"I only need to pass these guards and I can do it," he said
-at last.  "I know a secret entrance to the palace through
-the pinnacle of the highest tower.  I fell upon it by chance
-one day as I was passing above the palace on patrol duty.
-In this work it is required that we investigate any unusual
-occurrence we may witness, and a face peering from the pinnacle
-of the high tower of the palace was, to me, most unusual.
-I therefore drew near and discovered that the possessor of
-the peering face was none other than Sab Than.  He was slightly
-put out at being detected and commanded me to keep the
-matter to myself, explaining that the passage from the tower
-led directly to his apartments, and was known only to him.
-If I can reach the roof of the barracks and get my machine
-I can be in Sab Than's quarters in five minutes; but how am
-I to escape from this building, guarded as you say it is?"
-
-"How well are the machine sheds at the barracks guarded?" I asked.
-
-"There is usually but one man on duty there at night upon
-the roof."
-
-"Go to the roof of this building, Kantos Kan, and wait
-me there."
-
-Without stopping to explain my plans I retraced my way to
-the street and hastened to the barracks.  I did not dare to enter
-the building, filled as it was with members of the air-scout
-squadron, who, in common with all Zodanga, were on the
-lookout for me.
-
-The building was an enormous one, rearing its lofty head
-fully a thousand feet into the air.  But few buildings in
-Zodanga were higher than these barracks, though several topped
-it by a few hundred feet; the docks of the great battleships
-of the line standing some fifteen hundred feet from the
-ground, while the freight and passenger stations of the
-merchant squadrons rose nearly as high.
-
-It was a long climb up the face of the building, and one
-fraught with much danger, but there was no other way, and
-so I essayed the task.  The fact that Barsoomian architecture
-is extremely ornate made the feat much simpler than I had
-anticipated, since I found ornamental ledges and projections
-which fairly formed a perfect ladder for me all the way to the
-eaves of the building.  Here I met my first real obstacle.  The
-eaves projected nearly twenty feet from the wall to which I
-clung, and though I encircled the great building I could find
-no opening through them.
-
-The top floor was alight, and filled with soldiers engaged
-in the pastimes of their kind; I could not, therefore, reach
-the roof through the building.
-
-There was one slight, desperate chance, and that I decided
-I must take--it was for Dejah Thoris, and no man has lived
-who would not risk a thousand deaths for such as she.
-
-Clinging to the wall with my feet and one hand, I unloosened
-one of the long leather straps of my trappings at the end
-of which dangled a great hook by which air sailors are hung
-to the sides and bottoms of their craft for various purposes
-of repair, and by means of which landing parties are lowered
-to the ground from the battleships.
-
-I swung this hook cautiously to the roof several times
-before it finally found lodgment; gently I pulled on it to
-strengthen its hold, but whether it would bear the weight of
-my body I did not know.  It might be barely caught upon the
-very outer verge of the roof, so that as my body swung out
-at the end of the strap it would slip off and launch me to
-the pavement a thousand feet below.
-
-An instant I hesitated, and then, releasing my grasp upon
-the supporting ornament, I swung out into space at the end
-of the strap.  Far below me lay the brilliantly lighted streets,
-the hard pavements, and death.  There was a little jerk at
-the top of the supporting eaves, and a nasty slipping, grating
-sound which turned me cold with apprehension; then the
-hook caught and I was safe.
-
-Clambering quickly aloft I grasped the edge of the eaves
-and drew myself to the surface of the roof above.  As I gained
-my feet I was confronted by the sentry on duty, into the
-muzzle of whose revolver I found myself looking.
-
-"Who are you and whence came you?" he cried.
-
-"I am an air scout, friend, and very near a dead one,
-for just by the merest chance I escaped falling to the avenue
-below," I replied.
-
-"But how came you upon the roof, man?  No one has
-landed or come up from the building for the past hour.
-Quick, explain yourself, or I call the guard."
-
-"Look you here, sentry, and you shall see how I came and
-how close a shave I had to not coming at all," I answered,
-turning toward the edge of the roof, where, twenty feet
-below, at the end of my strap, hung all my weapons.
-
-The fellow, acting on impulse of curiosity, stepped to my
-side and to his undoing, for as he leaned to peer over the
-eaves I grasped him by his throat and his pistol arm and
-threw him heavily to the roof.  The weapon dropped from
-his grasp, and my fingers choked off his attempted cry for
-assistance.  I gagged and bound him and then hung him
-over the edge of the roof as I myself had hung a few
-moments before.  I knew it would be morning before he would
-be discovered, and I needed all the time that I could gain.
-
-Donning my trappings and weapons I hastened to the
-sheds, and soon had out both my machine and Kantos Kan's.
-Making his fast behind mine I started my engine, and skimming
-over the edge of the roof I dove down into the streets of
-the city far below the plane usually occupied by the air
-patrol.  In less than a minute I was settling safely upon
-the roof of our apartment beside the astonished Kantos Kan.
-
-I lost no time in explanation, but plunged immediately
-into a discussion of our plans for the immediate future.
-It was decided that I was to try to make Helium while Kantos
-Kan was to enter the palace and dispatch Sab Than.  If successful
-he was then to follow me.  He set my compass for me, a clever
-little device which will remain steadfastly fixed upon any given
-point on the surface of Barsoom, and bidding each other farewell
-we rose together and sped in the direction of the palace which
-lay in the route which I must take to reach Helium.
-
-As we neared the high tower a patrol shot down from
-above, throwing its piercing searchlight full upon my craft,
-and a voice roared out a command to halt, following with a
-shot as I paid no attention to his hail.  Kantos Kan dropped
-quickly into the darkness, while I rose steadily and at terrific
-speed raced through the Martian sky followed by a dozen of
-the air-scout craft which had joined the pursuit, and later
-by a swift cruiser carrying a hundred men and a battery of
-rapid-fire guns.  By twisting and turning my little machine,
-now rising and now falling, I managed to elude their search-
-lights most of the time, but I was also losing ground by these
-tactics, and so I decided to hazard everything on a straight-
-away course and leave the result to fate and the speed of my
-machine.
-
-Kantos Kan had shown me a trick of gearing, which is known
-only to the navy of Helium, that greatly increased the speed
-of our machines, so that I felt sure I could distance
-my pursuers if I could dodge their projectiles for a few moments.
-
-As I sped through the air the screeching of the bullets
-around me convinced me that only by a miracle could I escape,
-but the die was cast, and throwing on full speed I raced
-a straight course toward Helium.  Gradually I left my
-pursuers further and further behind, and I was just
-congratulating myself on my lucky escape, when a well-directed
-shot from the cruiser exploded at the prow of my little craft.
-The concussion nearly capsized her, and with a sickening
-plunge she hurtled downward through the dark night.
-
-How far I fell before I regained control of the plane I do
-not know, but I must have been very close to the ground
-when I started to rise again, as I plainly heard the squealing
-of animals below me.  Rising again I scanned the heavens for
-my pursuers, and finally making out their lights far behind me,
-saw that they were landing, evidently in search of me.
-
-Not until their lights were no longer discernible did I
-venture to flash my little lamp upon my compass, and then
-I found to my consternation that a fragment of the
-projectile had utterly destroyed my only guide, as well as my
-speedometer.  It was true I could follow the stars in the
-general direction of Helium, but without knowing the exact
-location of the city or the speed at which I was traveling
-my chances for finding it were slim.
-
-Helium lies a thousand miles southwest of Zodanga, and
-with my compass intact I should have made the trip, barring
-accidents, in between four and five hours.  As it turned
-out, however, morning found me speeding over a vast expanse
-of dead sea bottom after nearly six hours of continuous
-flight at high speed.  Presently a great city showed
-below me, but it was not Helium, as that alone of all
-Barsoomian metropolises consists in two immense circular
-walled cities about seventy-five miles apart and would
-have been easily distinguishable from the altitude at
-which I was flying.
-
-Believing that I had come too far to the north and west,
-I turned back in a southeasterly direction, passing during
-the forenoon several other large cities, but none resembling
-the description which Kantos Kan had given me of Helium.
-In addition to the twin-city formation of Helium, another
-distinguishing feature is the two immense towers, one of
-vivid scarlet rising nearly a mile into the air from the
-center of one of the cities, while the other, of bright yellow
-and of the same height, marks her sister.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIV
-
-
-TARS TARKAS FINDS A FRIEND
-
-
-About noon I passed low over a great dead city of ancient
-Mars, and as I skimmed out across the plain beyond I
-came full upon several thousand green warriors engaged in
-a terrific battle.  Scarcely had I seen them than a volley of
-shots was directed at me, and with the almost unfailing
-accuracy of their aim my little craft was instantly a ruined
-wreck, sinking erratically to the ground.
-
-I fell almost directly in the center of the fierce combat,
-among warriors who had not seen my approach so busily
-were they engaged in life and death struggles.  The men
-were fighting on foot with long-swords, while an occasional
-shot from a sharpshooter on the outskirts of the conflict
-would bring down a warrior who might for an instant separate
-himself from the entangled mass.
-
-As my machine sank among them I realized that it was fight
-or die, with good chances of dying in any event, and so I
-struck the ground with drawn long-sword ready to defend
-myself as I could.
-
-I fell beside a huge monster who was engaged with three
-antagonists, and as I glanced at his fierce face, filled with
-the light of battle, I recognized Tars Tarkas the Thark.  He
-did not see me, as I was a trifle behind him, and just then
-the three warriors opposing him, and whom I recognized
-as Warhoons, charged simultaneously.  The mighty fellow
-made quick work of one of them, but in stepping back for
-another thrust he fell over a dead body behind him and
-was down and at the mercy of his foes in an instant.  Quick
-as lightning they were upon him, and Tars Tarkas would
-have been gathered to his fathers in short order had I not
-sprung before his prostrate form and engaged his adversaries.
-I had accounted for one of them when the mighty Thark
-regained his feet and quickly settled the other.
-
-He gave me one look, and a slight smile touched his grim
-lip as, touching my shoulder, he said,
-
-"I would scarcely recognize you, John Carter, but there
-is no other mortal upon Barsoom who would have done
-what you have for me.  I think I have learned that there is
-such a thing as friendship, my friend."
-
-He said no more, nor was there opportunity, for the
-Warhoons were closing in about us, and together we fought,
-shoulder to shoulder, during all that long, hot afternoon,
-until the tide of battle turned and the remnant of the fierce
-Warhoon horde fell back upon their thoats, and fled into
-the gathering darkness.
-
-Ten thousand men had been engaged in that titanic struggle,
-and upon the field of battle lay three thousand dead.
-Neither side asked or gave quarter, nor did they attempt
-to take prisoners.
-
-On our return to the city after the battle we had gone
-directly to Tars Tarkas' quarters, where I was left alone
-while the chieftain attended the customary council which
-immediately follows an engagement.
-
-As I sat awaiting the return of the green warrior I heard
-something move in an adjoining apartment, and as I glanced
-up there rushed suddenly upon me a huge and hideous
-creature which bore me backward upon the pile of silks and
-furs upon which I had been reclining.  It was Woola--faithful,
-loving Woola.  He had found his way back to Thark and,
-as Tars Tarkas later told me, had gone immediately to my
-former quarters where he had taken up his pathetic and
-seemingly hopeless watch for my return.
-
-"Tal Hajus knows that you are here, John Carter," said
-Tars Tarkas, on his return from the jeddak's quarters;
-"Sarkoja saw and recognized you as we were returning.  Tal
-Hajus has ordered me to bring you before him tonight.  I
-have ten thoats, John Carter; you may take your choice
-from among them, and I will accompany you to the nearest
-waterway that leads to Helium.  Tars Tarkas may be a cruel
-green warrior, but he can be a friend as well.  Come, we
-must start."
-
-"And when you return, Tars Tarkas?" I asked.
-
-"The wild calots, possibly, or worse," he replied.  "Unless
-I should chance to have the opportunity I have so long
-waited of battling with Tal Hajus."
-
-"We will stay, Tars Tarkas, and see Tal Hajus tonight.
-You shall not sacrifice yourself, and it may be that tonight
-you can have the chance you wait."
-
-He objected strenuously, saying that Tal Hajus often flew
-into wild fits of passion at the mere thought of the blow I
-had dealt him, and that if ever he laid his hands upon me
-I would be subjected to the most horrible tortures.
-
-While we were eating I repeated to Tars Tarkas the story
-which Sola had told me that night upon the sea bottom
-during the march to Thark.
-
-He said but little, but the great muscles of his face
-worked in passion and in agony at recollection of the
-horrors which had been heaped upon the only thing he had
-ever loved in all his cold, cruel, terrible existence.
-
-He no longer demurred when I suggested that we go before
-Tal Hajus, only saying that he would like to speak to
-Sarkoja first.  At his request I accompanied him to her
-quarters, and the look of venomous hatred she cast upon
-me was almost adequate recompense for any future misfortunes
-this accidental return to Thark might bring me.
-
-"Sarkoja," said Tars Tarkas, "forty years ago you were
-instrumental in bringing about the torture and death of a
-woman named Gozava.  I have just discovered that the warrior
-who loved that woman has learned of your part in the transaction.
-He may not kill you, Sarkoja, it is not our custom, but there is
-nothing to prevent him tying one end of a strap about your neck
-and the other end to a wild thoat, merely to test your fitness
-to survive and help perpetuate our race.  Having heard that he
-would do this on the morrow, I thought it only right to warn you,
-for I am a just man.  The river Iss is but a short pilgrimage,
-Sarkoja.  Come, John Carter."
-
-The next morning Sarkoja was gone, nor was she ever seen after.
-
-In silence we hastened to the jeddak's palace, where we were
-immediately admitted to his presence; in fact, he could
-scarcely wait to see me and was standing erect upon his
-platform glowering at the entrance as I came in.
-
-"Strap him to that pillar," he shrieked.  "We shall see who
-it is dares strike the mighty Tal Hajus.  Heat the irons; with
-my own hands I shall burn the eyes from his head that he
-may not pollute my person with his vile gaze."
-
-"Chieftains of Thark," I cried, turning to the assembled
-council and ignoring Tal Hajus, "I have been a chief among
-you, and today I have fought for Thark shoulder to shoulder
-with her greatest warrior.  You owe me, at least, a hearing.
-I have won that much today.  You claim to be just people--"
-
-"Silence," roared Tal Hajus.  "Gag the creature and bind
-him as I command."
-
-"Justice, Tal Hajus," exclaimed Lorquas Ptomel.  "Who are
-you to set aside the customs of ages among the Tharks."
-
-"Yes, justice!" echoed a dozen voices, and so, while Tal
-Hajus fumed and frothed, I continued.
-
-"You are a brave people and you love bravery, but where
-was your mighty jeddak during the fighting today?  I did
-not see him in the thick of battle; he was not there.  He
-rends defenseless women and little children in his lair, but
-how recently has one of you seen him fight with men?  Why,
-even I, a midget beside him, felled him with a single blow
-of my fist.  Is it of such that the Tharks fashion their jeddaks?
-There stands beside me now a great Thark, a mighty warrior
-and a noble man.  Chieftains, how sounds, Tars Tarkas,
-Jeddak of Thark?"
-
-A roar of deep-toned applause greeted this suggestion.
-
-"It but remains for this council to command, and Tal Hajus
-must prove his fitness to rule.  Were he a brave man he would
-invite Tars Tarkas to combat, for he does not love him,
-but Tal Hajus is afraid; Tal Hajus, your jeddak, is a coward.
-With my bare hands I could kill him, and he knows it."
-
-After I ceased there was tense silence, as all eyes were
-riveted upon Tal Hajus.  He did not speak or move, but the
-blotchy green of his countenance turned livid, and the froth
-froze upon his lips.
-
-"Tal Hajus," said Lorquas Ptomel in a cold, hard voice,
-"never in my long life have I seen a jeddak of the Tharks
-so humiliated.  There could be but one answer to this arraignment.
-We wait it."  And still Tal Hajus stood as though electrified.
-
-"Chieftains," continued Lorquas Ptomel, "shall the jeddak,
-Tal Hajus, prove his fitness to rule over Tars Tarkas?"
-
-There were twenty chieftains about the rostrum, and
-twenty swords flashed high in assent.
-
-There was no alternative.  That decree was final, and so
-Tal Hajus drew his long-sword and advanced to meet Tars Tarkas.
-
-The combat was soon over, and, with his foot upon the neck of
-the dead monster, Tars Tarkas became jeddak among the Tharks.
-
-His first act was to make me a full-fledged chieftain with
-the rank I had won by my combats the first few weeks
-of my captivity among them.
-
-Seeing the favorable disposition of the warriors toward
-Tars Tarkas, as well as toward me, I grasped the opportunity
-to enlist them in my cause against Zodanga.  I told Tars Tarkas
-the story of my adventures, and in a few words had explained
-to him the thought I had in mind.
-
-"John Carter has made a proposal," he said, addressing
-the council, "which meets with my sanction.  I shall put it
-to you briefly.  Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium, who
-was our prisoner, is now held by the jeddak of Zodanga,
-whose son she must wed to save her country from devastation
-at the hands of the Zodangan forces.
-
-"John Carter suggests that we rescue her and return her
-to Helium.  The loot of Zodanga would be magnificent, and
-I have often thought that had we an alliance with the people
-of Helium we could obtain sufficient assurance of sustenance
-to permit us to increase the size and frequency of our hatchings,
-and thus become unquestionably supreme among the green men of
-all Barsoom.  What say you?"
-
-It was a chance to fight, an opportunity to loot, and they
-rose to the bait as a speckled trout to a fly.
-
-For Tharks they were wildly enthusiastic, and before another half
-hour had passed twenty mounted messengers were speeding across
-dead sea bottoms to call the hordes together for the expedition.
-
-In three days we were on the march toward Zodanga,
-one hundred thousand strong, as Tars Tarkas had been able
-to enlist the services of three smaller hordes on the promise
-of the great loot of Zodanga.
-
-At the head of the column I rode beside the great Thark
-while at the heels of my mount trotted my beloved Woola.
-
-We traveled entirely by night, timing our marches so that
-we camped during the day at deserted cities where, even
-to the beasts, we were all kept indoors during the daylight
-hours.  On the march Tars Tarkas, through his remarkable
-ability and statesmanship, enlisted fifty thousand more warriors
-from various hordes, so that, ten days after we set out we halted
-at midnight outside the great walled city of Zodanga, one hundred
-and fifty thousand strong.
-
-The fighting strength and efficiency of this horde of
-ferocious green monsters was equivalent to ten times
-their number of red men.  Never in the history of Barsoom,
-Tars Tarkas told me, had such a force of green warriors marched
-to battle together.  It was a monstrous task to keep even a
-semblance of harmony among them, and it was a marvel to
-me that he got them to the city without a mighty battle
-among themselves.
-
-But as we neared Zodanga their personal quarrels were
-submerged by their greater hatred for the red men, and
-especially for the Zodangans, who had for years waged a
-ruthless campaign of extermination against the green men,
-directing special attention toward despoiling their incubators.
-
-Now that we were before Zodanga the task of obtaining
-entry to the city devolved upon me, and directing Tars
-Tarkas to hold his forces in two divisions out of earshot
-of the city, with each division opposite a large gateway, I
-took twenty dismounted warriors and approached one of
-the small gates that pierced the walls at short intervals.
-These gates have no regular guard, but are covered by
-sentries, who patrol the avenue that encircles the city just
-within the walls as our metropolitan police patrol their
-beats.
-
-The walls of Zodanga are seventy-five feet in height and
-fifty feet thick.  They are built of enormous blocks of
-carborundum, and the task of entering the city seemed,
-to my escort of green warriors, an impossibility.
-The fellows who had been detailed to accompany me were
-of one of the smaller hordes, and therefore did not know me.
-
-Placing three of them with their faces to the wall and arms locked,
-I commanded two more to mount to their shoulders, and a sixth I
-ordered to climb upon the shoulders of the upper two.  The head
-of the topmost warrior towered over forty feet from the ground.
-
-In this way, with ten warriors, I built a series of three
-steps from the ground to the shoulders of the topmost man.
-Then starting from a short distance behind them I ran
-swiftly up from one tier to the next, and with a final bound
-from the broad shoulders of the highest I clutched the top
-of the great wall and quietly drew myself to its broad expanse.
-After me I dragged six lengths of leather from an equal number
-of my warriors.  These lengths we had previously fastened together,
-and passing one end to the topmost warrior I lowered the other end
-cautiously over the opposite side of the wall toward the avenue below.
-No one was in sight, so, lowering myself to the end of my leather strap,
-I dropped the remaining thirty feet to the pavement below.
-
-I had learned from Kantos Kan the secret of opening
-these gates, and in another moment my twenty great fighting
-men stood within the doomed city of Zodanga.
-
-I found to my delight that I had entered at the lower
-boundary of the enormous palace grounds.  The building
-itself showed in the distance a blaze of glorious light, and
-on the instant I determined to lead a detachment of warriors
-directly within the palace itself, while the balance of
-the great horde was attacking the barracks of the soldiery.
-
-Dispatching one of my men to Tars Tarkas for a detail
-of fifty Tharks, with word of my intentions, I ordered ten
-warriors to capture and open one of the great gates while
-with the nine remaining I took the other.  We were to do
-our work quietly, no shots were to be fired and no general
-advance made until I had reached the palace with my fifty
-Tharks.  Our plans worked to perfection.  The two sentries
-we met were dispatched to their fathers upon the banks of
-the lost sea of Korus, and the guards at both gates followed
-them in silence.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXV
-
-
-THE LOOTING OF ZODANGA
-
-
-As the great gate where I stood swung open my fifty Tharks,
-headed by Tars Tarkas himself, rode in upon their mighty
-thoats.  I led them to the palace walls, which I negotiated
-easily without assistance.  Once inside, however, the gate
-gave me considerable trouble, but I finally was rewarded
-by seeing it swing upon its huge hinges, and soon my fierce
-escort was riding across the gardens of the jeddak of Zodanga.
-
-As we approached the palace I could see through the
-great windows of the first floor into the brilliantly
-illuminated audience chamber of Than Kosis.  The immense hall
-was crowded with nobles and their women, as though some
-important function was in progress.  There was not a guard
-in sight without the palace, due, I presume, to the fact
-that the city and palace walls were considered impregnable,
-and so I came close and peered within.
-
-At one end of the chamber, upon massive golden thrones
-encrusted with diamonds, sat Than Kosis and his consort,
-surrounded by officers and dignitaries of state.  Before them
-stretched a broad aisle lined on either side with soldiery,
-and as I looked there entered this aisle at the far end of
-the hall, the head of a procession which advanced to the
-foot of the throne.
-
-First there marched four officers of the jeddak's Guard
-bearing a huge salver on which reposed, upon a cushion
-of scarlet silk, a great golden chain with a collar and
-padlock at each end.  Directly behind these officers came
-four others carrying a similar salver which supported the
-magnificent ornaments of a prince and princess of the
-reigning house of Zodanga.
-
-At the foot of the throne these two parties separated
-and halted, facing each other at opposite sides of the aisle.
-Then came more dignitaries, and the officers of the palace
-and of the army, and finally two figures entirely muffled in
-scarlet silk, so that not a feature of either was discernible.
-These two stopped at the foot of the throne, facing Than
-Kosis.  When the balance of the procession had entered and
-assumed their stations Than Kosis addressed the couple
-standing before him.  I could not hear his words, but
-presently two officers advanced and removed the scarlet robe
-from one of the figures, and I saw that Kantos Kan had
-failed in his mission, for it was Sab Than, Prince of Zodanga,
-who stood revealed before me.
-
-Than Kosis now took a set of the ornaments from one
-of the salvers and placed one of the collars of gold about
-his son's neck, springing the padlock fast.  After a few more
-words addressed to Sab Than he turned to the other figure,
-from which the officers now removed the enshrouding silks,
-disclosing to my now comprehending view Dejah Thoris,
-Princess of Helium.
-
-The object of the ceremony was clear to me; in another
-moment Dejah Thoris would be joined forever to the Prince
-of Zodanga.  It was an impressive and beautiful ceremony,
-I presume, but to me it seemed the most fiendish sight I
-had ever witnessed, and as the ornaments were adjusted upon
-her beautiful figure and her collar of gold swung open in
-the hands of Than Kosis I raised my long-sword above my
-head, and, with the heavy hilt, I shattered the glass of the
-great window and sprang into the midst of the astonished
-assemblage.  With a bound I was on the steps of the platform
-beside Than Kosis, and as he stood riveted with surprise
-I brought my long-sword down upon the golden chain
-that would have bound Dejah Thoris to another.
-
-In an instant all was confusion; a thousand drawn swords
-menaced me from every quarter, and Sab Than sprang upon
-me with a jeweled dagger he had drawn from his nuptial
-ornaments.  I could have killed him as easily as I might a
-fly, but the age-old custom of Barsoom stayed my hand,
-and grasping his wrist as the dagger flew toward my heart
-I held him as though in a vise and with my long-sword
-pointed to the far end of the hall.
-
-"Zodanga has fallen," I cried.  "Look!"
-
-All eyes turned in the direction I had indicated, and
-there, forging through the portals of the entranceway rode
-Tars Tarkas and his fifty warriors on their great thoats.
-
-A cry of alarm and amazement broke from the assemblage,
-but no word of fear, and in a moment the soldiers and nobles
-of Zodanga were hurling themselves upon the advancing Tharks.
-
-Thrusting Sab Than headlong from the platform, I drew
-Dejah Thoris to my side.  Behind the throne was a narrow
-doorway and in this Than Kosis now stood facing me, with
-drawn long-sword.  In an instant we were engaged, and I
-found no mean antagonist.
-
-As we circled upon the broad platform I saw Sab Than
-rushing up the steps to aid his father, but, as he raised his
-hand to strike, Dejah Thoris sprang before him and then
-my sword found the spot that made Sab Than jeddak of
-Zodanga.  As his father rolled dead upon the floor the new
-jeddak tore himself free from Dejah Thoris' grasp, and again
-we faced each other.  He was soon joined by a quartet of
-officers, and, with my back against a golden throne, I fought
-once again for Dejah Thoris.  I was hard pressed to defend
-myself and yet not strike down Sab Than and, with him,
-my last chance to win the woman I loved.  My blade was
-swinging with the rapidity of lightning as I sought to parry
-the thrusts and cuts of my opponents.  Two I had disarmed,
-and one was down, when several more rushed to the aid of
-their new ruler, and to avenge the death of the old.
-
-As they advanced there were cries of "The woman!
-The woman!  Strike her down; it is her plot.  Kill her!  Kill
-her!"
-
-Calling to Dejah Thoris to get behind me I worked my
-way toward the little doorway back of the throne, but the
-officers realized my intentions, and three of them sprang in
-behind me and blocked my chances for gaining a position
-where I could have defended Dejah Thoris against any army
-of swordsmen.
-
-The Tharks were having their hands full in the center of
-the room, and I began to realize that nothing short of a
-miracle could save Dejah Thoris and myself, when I saw
-Tars Tarkas surging through the crowd of pygmies that
-swarmed about him.  With one swing of his mighty longsword
-he laid a dozen corpses at his feet, and so he hewed a pathway
-before him until in another moment he stood upon the platform
-beside me, dealing death and destruction right and left.
-
-The bravery of the Zodangans was awe-inspiring, not one
-attempted to escape, and when the fighting ceased it was
-because only Tharks remained alive in the great hall, other
-than Dejah Thoris and myself.
-
-Sab Than lay dead beside his father, and the corpses of
-the flower of Zodangan nobility and chivalry covered the
-floor of the bloody shambles.
-
-My first thought when the battle was over was for Kantos
-Kan, and leaving Dejah Thoris in charge of Tars Tarkas I took
-a dozen warriors and hastened to the dungeons beneath the
-palace.  The jailers had all left to join the fighters in the
-throne room, so we searched the labyrinthine prison without
-opposition.
-
-I called Kantos Kan's name aloud in each new corridor
-and compartment, and finally I was rewarded by hearing a
-faint response.  Guided by the sound, we soon found him
-helpless in a dark recess.
-
-He was overjoyed at seeing me, and to know the meaning
-of the fight, faint echoes of which had reached his prison
-cell.  He told me that the air patrol had captured him before
-he reached the high tower of the palace, so that he had not
-even seen Sab Than.
-
-We discovered that it would be futile to attempt to cut
-away the bars and chains which held him prisoner, so, at his
-suggestion I returned to search the bodies on the floor above
-for keys to open the padlocks of his cell and of his chains.
-
-Fortunately among the first I examined I found his jailer,
-and soon we had Kantos Kan with us in the throne room.
-
-The sounds of heavy firing, mingled with shouts and
-cries, came to us from the city's streets, and Tars Tarkas
-hastened away to direct the fighting without.  Kantos Kan
-accompanied him to act as guide, the green warriors commencing
-a thorough search of the palace for other Zodangans and for loot,
-and Dejah Thoris and I were left alone.
-
-She had sunk into one of the golden thrones, and as I
-turned to her she greeted me with a wan smile.
-
-"Was there ever such a man!" she exclaimed.  "I know that
-Barsoom has never before seen your like.  Can it be that all
-Earth men are as you?  Alone, a stranger, hunted, threatened,
-persecuted, you have done in a few short months what in
-all the past ages of Barsoom no man has ever done: joined
-together the wild hordes of the sea bottoms and brought them
-to fight as allies of a red Martian people."
-
-"The answer is easy, Dejah Thoris," I replied smiling.  "It
-was not I who did it, it was love, love for Dejah Thoris, a
-power that would work greater miracles than this you have seen."
-
-A pretty flush overspread her face and she answered,
-
-"You may say that now, John Carter, and I may listen, for I am free."
-
-"And more still I have to say, ere it is again too late,"
-I returned.  "I have done many strange things in my life, many
-things that wiser men would not have dared, but never in my
-wildest fancies have I dreamed of winning a Dejah Thoris
-for myself--for never had I dreamed that in all the universe
-dwelt such a woman as the Princess of Helium.  That you
-are a princess does not abash me, but that you are you is
-enough to make me doubt my sanity as I ask you, my princess,
-to be mine."
-
-"He does not need to be abashed who so well knew the
-answer to his plea before the plea were made," she replied,
-rising and placing her dear hands upon my shoulders, and so
-I took her in my arms and kissed her.
-
-And thus in the midst of a city of wild conflict, filled
-with the alarms of war; with death and destruction reaping
-their terrible harvest around her, did Dejah Thoris, Princess
-of Helium, true daughter of Mars, the God of War, promise
-herself in marriage to John Carter, Gentleman of Virginia.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVI
-
-
-THROUGH CARNAGE TO JOY
-
-
-Sometime later Tars Tarkas and Kantos Kan returned to
-report that Zodanga had been completely reduced.  Her forces
-were entirely destroyed or captured, and no further resistance
-was to be expected from within.  Several battleships had escaped,
-but there were thousands of war and merchant vessels under guard
-of Thark warriors.
-
-The lesser hordes had commenced looting and quarreling
-among themselves, so it was decided that we collect what
-warriors we could, man as many vessels as possible with
-Zodangan prisoners and make for Helium without further
-loss of time.
-
-Five hours later we sailed from the roofs of the dock
-buildings with a fleet of two hundred and fifty battleships,
-carrying nearly one hundred thousand green warriors, followed
-by a fleet of transports with our thoats.
-
-Behind us we left the stricken city in the fierce and brutal
-clutches of some forty thousand green warriors of the lesser
-hordes.  They were looting, murdering, and fighting amongst
-themselves.  In a hundred places they had applied the torch,
-and columns of dense smoke were rising above the city as
-though to blot out from the eye of heaven the horrid sights
-beneath.
-
-In the middle of the afternoon we sighted the scarlet and
-yellow towers of Helium, and a short time later a great fleet
-of Zodangan battleships rose from the camps of the besiegers
-without the city, and advanced to meet us.
-
-The banners of Helium had been strung from stem to
-stern of each of our mighty craft, but the Zodangans did
-not need this sign to realize that we were enemies, for our
-green Martian warriors had opened fire upon them almost
-as they left the ground.  With their uncanny marksmanship
-they raked the on-coming fleet with volley after volley.
-
-The twin cities of Helium, perceiving that we were friends,
-sent out hundreds of vessels to aid us, and then began the
-first real air battle I had ever witnessed.
-
-The vessels carrying our green warriors were kept circling
-above the contending fleets of Helium and Zodanga, since
-their batteries were useless in the hands of the Tharks who,
-having no navy, have no skill in naval gunnery.  Their small-
-arm fire, however, was most effective, and the final outcome
-of the engagement was strongly influenced, if not wholly
-determined, by their presence.
-
-At first the two forces circled at the same altitude, pouring
-broadside after broadside into each other.  Presently a great
-hole was torn in the hull of one of the immense battle craft
-from the Zodangan camp; with a lurch she turned completely
-over, the little figures of her crew plunging, turning
-and twisting toward the ground a thousand feet below; then
-with sickening velocity she tore after them, almost completely
-burying herself in the soft loam of the ancient sea bottom.
-
-A wild cry of exultation arose from the Heliumite squadron,
-and with redoubled ferocity they fell upon the Zodangan
-fleet.  By a pretty maneuver two of the vessels of Helium
-gained a position above their adversaries, from which they
-poured upon them from their keel bomb batteries a perfect
-torrent of exploding bombs.
-
-Then, one by one, the battleships of Helium succeeded in
-rising above the Zodangans, and in a short time a number
-of the beleaguering battleships were drifting hopeless wrecks
-toward the high scarlet tower of greater Helium.  Several
-others attempted to escape, but they were soon surrounded
-by thousands of tiny individual fliers, and above each hung
-a monster battleship of Helium ready to drop boarding parties
-upon their decks.
-
-Within but little more than an hour from the moment the
-victorious Zodangan squadron had risen to meet us from
-the camp of the besiegers the battle was over, and the
-remaining vessels of the conquered Zodangans were headed
-toward the cities of Helium under prize crews.
-
-There was an extremely pathetic side to the surrender
-of these mighty fliers, the result of an age-old custom which
-demanded that surrender should be signalized by the voluntary
-plunging to earth of the commander of the vanquished vessel.
-One after another the brave fellows, holding their colors
-high above their heads, leaped from the towering bows of
-their mighty craft to an awful death.
-
-Not until the commander of the entire fleet took the fearful
-plunge, thus indicating the surrender of the remaining vessels,
-did the fighting cease, and the useless sacrifice of brave men
-come to an end.
-
-We now signaled the flagship of Helium's navy to approach,
-and when she was within hailing distance I called out that
-we had the Princess Dejah Thoris on board, and that we
-wished to transfer her to the flagship that she might be
-taken immediately to the city.
-
-As the full import of my announcement bore in upon
-them a great cry arose from the decks of the flagship, and
-a moment later the colors of the Princess of Helium broke
-from a hundred points upon her upper works.  When the
-other vessels of the squadron caught the meaning of the
-signals flashed them they took up the wild acclaim and
-unfurled her colors in the gleaming sunlight.
-
-The flagship bore down upon us, and as she swung gracefully
-to and touched our side a dozen officers sprang upon
-our decks.  As their astonished gaze fell upon the hundreds
-of green warriors, who now came forth from the fighting
-shelters, they stopped aghast, but at sight of Kantos Kan,
-who advanced to meet them, they came forward, crowding
-about him.
-
-Dejah Thoris and I then advanced, and they had no eyes
-for other than her.  She received them gracefully, calling
-each by name, for they were men high in the esteem and
-service of her grandfather, and she knew them well.
-
-"Lay your hands upon the shoulder of John Carter," she
-said to them, turning toward me, "the man to whom Helium
-owes her princess as well as her victory today."
-
-They were very courteous to me and said many kind and
-complimentary things, but what seemed to impress them
-most was that I had won the aid of the fierce Tharks in my
-campaign for the liberation of Dejah Thoris, and the relief
-of Helium.
-
-"You owe your thanks more to another man than to me,"
-I said, "and here he is; meet one of Barsoom's greatest
-soldiers and statesmen, Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark."
-
-With the same polished courtesy that had marked their
-manner toward me they extended their greetings to the great
-Thark, nor, to my surprise, was he much behind them in
-ease of bearing or in courtly speech.  Though not a garrulous
-race, the Tharks are extremely formal, and their ways lend
-themselves amazingly well to dignified and courtly manners.
-
-Dejah Thoris went aboard the flagship, and was much put
-out that I would not follow, but, as I explained to her, the
-battle was but partly won; we still had the land forces of
-the besieging Zodangans to account for, and I would not leave
-Tars Tarkas until that had been accomplished.
-
-The commander of the naval forces of Helium promised
-to arrange to have the armies of Helium attack from the
-city in conjunction with our land attack, and so the vessels
-separated and Dejah Thoris was borne in triumph back to
-the court of her grandfather, Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium.
-
-In the distance lay our fleet of transports, with the thoats
-of the green warriors, where they had remained during the
-battle.  Without landing stages it was to be a difficult matter
-to unload these beasts upon the open plain, but there was
-nothing else for it, and so we put out for a point about ten
-miles from the city and began the task.
-
-It was necessary to lower the animals to the ground in
-slings and this work occupied the remainder of the day and
-half the night.  Twice we were attacked by parties of Zodangan
-cavalry, but with little loss, however, and after darkness shut
-down they withdrew.
-
-As soon as the last thoat was unloaded Tars Tarkas gave
-the command to advance, and in three parties we crept upon
-the Zodangan camp from the north, the south and the east.
-
-About a mile from the main camp we encountered their
-outposts and, as had been prearranged, accepted this as the
-signal to charge.  With wild, ferocious cries and amidst the
-nasty squealing of battle-enraged thoats we bore down upon
-the Zodangans.
-
-We did not catch them napping, but found a well-entrenched
-battle line confronting us.  Time after time we were repulsed until,
-toward noon, I began to fear for the result of the battle.
-
-The Zodangans numbered nearly a million fighting men,
-gathered from pole to pole, wherever stretched their ribbon-
-like waterways, while pitted against them were less than a
-hundred thousand green warriors.  The forces from Helium
-had not arrived, nor could we receive any word from them.
-
-Just at noon we heard heavy firing all along the line between
-the Zodangans and the cities, and we knew then that
-our much-needed reinforcements had come.
-
-Again Tars Tarkas ordered the charge, and once more the
-mighty thoats bore their terrible riders against the ramparts
-of the enemy.  At the same moment the battle line of Helium
-surged over the opposite breastworks of the Zodangans and in
-another moment they were being crushed as between two
-millstones.  Nobly they fought, but in vain.
-
-The plain before the city became a veritable shambles ere
-the last Zodangan surrendered, but finally the carnage ceased,
-the prisoners were marched back to Helium, and we entered
-the greater city's gates, a huge triumphal procession of
-conquering heroes.
-
-The broad avenues were lined with women and children,
-among which were the few men whose duties necessitated
-that they remain within the city during the battle.  We were
-greeted with an endless round of applause and showered with
-ornaments of gold, platinum, silver, and precious jewels.
-The city had gone mad with joy.
-
-My fierce Tharks caused the wildest excitement and enthusiasm.
-Never before had an armed body of green warriors entered the
-gates of Helium, and that they came now as friends and allies
-filled the red men with rejoicing.
-
-That my poor services to Dejah Thoris had become known
-to the Heliumites was evidenced by the loud crying of my
-name, and by the loads of ornaments that were fastened upon
-me and my huge thoat as we passed up the avenues to the
-palace, for even in the face of the ferocious appearance of
-Woola the populace pressed close about me.
-
-As we approached this magnificent pile we were met by a
-party of officers who greeted us warmly and requested that
-Tars Tarkas and his jeds with the jeddaks and jeds of his
-wild allies, together with myself, dismount and accompany
-them to receive from Tardos Mors an expression of his
-gratitude for our services.
-
-At the top of the great steps leading up to the main
-portals of the palace stood the royal party, and as we reached
-the lower steps one of their number descended to meet us.
-
-He was an almost perfect specimen of manhood; tall, straight
-as an arrow, superbly muscled and with the carriage and
-bearing of a ruler of men.  I did not need to be told that he
-was Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium.
-
-The first member of our party he met was Tars Tarkas
-and his first words sealed forever the new friendship
-between the races.
-
-"That Tardos Mors," he said, earnestly, "may meet the
-greatest living warrior of Barsoom is a priceless honor, but
-that he may lay his hand on the shoulder of a friend and
-ally is a far greater boon."
-
-"Jeddak of Helium," returned Tars Tarkas, "it has remained
-for a man of another world to teach the green warriors of
-Barsoom the meaning of friendship; to him we owe the fact that
-the hordes of Thark can understand you; that they can appreciate
-and reciprocate the sentiments so graciously expressed."
-
-Tardos Mors then greeted each of the green jeddaks and jeds,
-and to each spoke words of friendship and appreciation
-
-As he approached me he laid both hands upon my shoulders.
-
-"Welcome, my son," he said; "that you are granted, gladly,
-and without one word of opposition, the most precious
-jewel in all Helium, yes, on all Barsoom, is sufficient
-earnest of my esteem."
-
-We were then presented to Mors Kajak, Jed of lesser Helium,
-and father of Dejah Thoris.  He had followed close behind
-Tardos Mors and seemed even more affected by the meeting
-than had his father.
-
-He tried a dozen times to express his gratitude to me, but
-his voice choked with emotion and he could not speak, and
-yet he had, as I was to later learn, a reputation for ferocity
-and fearlessness as a fighter that was remarkable even upon
-warlike Barsoom.  In common with all Helium he worshiped
-his daughter, nor could he think of what she had escaped
-without deep emotion.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVII
-
-
-FROM JOY TO DEATH
-
-
-For ten days the hordes of Thark and their wild allies were
-feasted and entertained, and, then, loaded with costly
-presents and escorted by ten thousand soldiers of Helium
-commanded by Mors Kajak, they started on the return journey
-to their own lands.  The jed of lesser Helium with a small
-party of nobles accompanied them all the way to Thark to
-cement more closely the new bonds of peace and friendship.
-
-Sola also accompanied Tars Tarkas, her father, who before
-all his chieftains had acknowledged her as his daughter.
-
-Three weeks later, Mors Kajak and his officers, accompanied
-by Tars Tarkas and Sola, returned upon a battleship that
-had been dispatched to Thark to fetch them in time for
-the ceremony which made Dejah Thoris and John Carter one.
-
-For nine years I served in the councils and fought in the
-armies of Helium as a prince of the house of Tardos Mors.
-The people seemed never to tire of heaping honors upon me,
-and no day passed that did not bring some new proof of
-their love for my princess, the incomparable Dejah Thoris.
-
-In a golden incubator upon the roof of our palace lay a
-snow-white egg.  For nearly five years ten soldiers of the
-jeddak's Guard had constantly stood over it, and not a day
-passed when I was in the city that Dejah Thoris and I did
-not stand hand in hand before our little shrine planning for
-the future, when the delicate shell should break.
-
-Vivid in my memory is the picture of the last night as we
-sat there talking in low tones of the strange romance which
-had woven our lives together and of this wonder which was
-coming to augment our happiness and fulfill our hopes.
-
-In the distance we saw the bright-white light of an
-approaching airship, but we attached no special
-significance to so common a sight.  Like a bolt of
-lightning it raced toward Helium until its very speed
-bespoke the unusual.
-
-Flashing the signals which proclaimed it a dispatch bearer
-for the jeddak, it circled impatiently awaiting the tardy
-patrol boat which must convoy it to the palace docks.
-
-Ten minutes after it touched at the palace a message
-called me to the council chamber, which I found filling with
-the members of that body.
-
-On the raised platform of the throne was Tardos Mors,
-pacing back and forth with tense-drawn face.  When all were
-in their seats he turned toward us.
-
-"This morning," he said, "word reached the several
-governments of Barsoom that the keeper of the atmosphere
-plant had made no wireless report for two days, nor had
-almost ceaseless calls upon him from a score of capitals
-elicited a sign of response.
-
-"The ambassadors of the other nations asked us to take
-the matter in hand and hasten the assistant keeper to the
-plant.  All day a thousand cruisers have been searching for
-him until just now one of them returns bearing his dead
-body, which was found in the pits beneath his house horribly
-mutilated by some assassin.
-
-"I do not need to tell you what this means to Barsoom.  It
-would take months to penetrate those mighty walls, in fact
-the work has already commenced, and there would be little
-to fear were the engine of the pumping plant to run as it
-should and as they all have for hundreds of years now; but the
-worst, we fear, has happened.  The instruments show a rapidly
-decreasing air pressure on all parts of Barsoom--the engine has stopped."
-
-"My gentlemen," he concluded, "we have at best three days to live."
-
-There was absolute silence for several minutes, and then
-a young noble arose, and with his drawn sword held high
-above his head addressed Tardos Mors.
-
-"The men of Helium have prided themselves that they have
-ever shown Barsoom how a nation of red men should live,
-now is our opportunity to show them how they should die.
-Let us go about our duties as though a thousand useful years
-still lay before us."
-
-The chamber rang with applause and as there was nothing
-better to do than to allay the fears of the people by our
-example we went our ways with smiles upon our faces and
-sorrow gnawing at our hearts.
-
-When I returned to my palace I found that the rumor already
-had reached Dejah Thoris, so I told her all that I had heard.
-
-"We have been very happy, John Carter," she said, "and I thank
-whatever fate overtakes us that it permits us to die together."
-
-The next two days brought no noticeable change in the
-supply of air, but on the morning of the third day breathing
-became difficult at the higher altitudes of the rooftops.
-The avenues and plazas of Helium were filled with people.
-All business had ceased.  For the most part the people looked
-bravely into the face of their unalterable doom.  Here and
-there, however, men and women gave way to quiet grief.
-
-Toward the middle of the day many of the weaker commenced
-to succumb and within an hour the people of Barsoom
-were sinking by thousands into the unconsciousness
-which precedes death by asphyxiation.
-
-Dejah Thoris and I with the other members of the royal
-family had collected in a sunken garden within an inner
-courtyard of the palace.  We conversed in low tones, when
-we conversed at all, as the awe of the grim shadow of death
-crept over us.  Even Woola seemed to feel the weight of the
-impending calamity, for he pressed close to Dejah Thoris
-and to me, whining pitifully.
-
-The little incubator had been brought from the roof of
-our palace at request of Dejah Thoris and now she sat gazing
-longingly upon the unknown little life that now she would
-never know.
-
-As it was becoming perceptibly difficult to breathe Tardos
-Mors arose, saying,
-
-"Let us bid each other farewell.  The days of the greatness
-of Barsoom are over.  Tomorrow's sun will look down upon a
-dead world which through all eternity must go swinging through
-the heavens peopled not even by memories.  It is the end."
-
-He stooped and kissed the women of his family, and laid
-his strong hand upon the shoulders of the men.
-
-As I turned sadly from him my eyes fell upon Dejah
-Thoris.  Her head was drooping upon her breast, to all
-appearances she was lifeless.  With a cry I sprang to her
-and raised her in my arms.
-
-Her eyes opened and looked into mine.
-
-"Kiss me, John Carter," she murmured.  "I love you!
-I love you!  It is cruel that we must be torn apart who
-were just starting upon a life of love and happiness."
-
-As I pressed her dear lips to mine the old feeling of
-unconquerable power and authority rose in me.  The fighting
-blood of Virginia sprang to life in my veins.
-
-"It shall not be, my princess," I cried.  "There is, there
-must be some way, and John Carter, who has fought his way
-through a strange world for love of you, will find it."
-
-And with my words there crept above the threshold of my
-conscious mind a series of nine long forgotten sounds.  Like a
-flash of lightning in the darkness their full purport dawned
-upon me--the key to the three great doors of the atmosphere plant!
-
-Turning suddenly toward Tardos Mors as I still clasped my
-dying love to my breast I cried.
-
-"A flier, Jeddak!  Quick!  Order your swiftest flier to the
-palace top.  I can save Barsoom yet."
-
-He did not wait to question, but in an instant a guard was racing
-to the nearest dock and though the air was thin and almost gone
-at the rooftop they managed to launch the fastest one-man,
-air-scout machine that the skill of Barsoom had ever produced.
-
-Kissing Dejah Thoris a dozen times and commanding Woola,
-who would have followed me, to remain and guard her,
-I bounded with my old agility and strength to the high
-ramparts of the palace, and in another moment I was headed
-toward the goal of the hopes of all Barsoom.
-
-I had to fly low to get sufficient air to breathe, but I took
-a straight course across an old sea bottom and so had to rise
-only a few feet above the ground.
-
-I traveled with awful velocity for my errand was a race
-against time with death.  The face of Dejah Thoris hung
-always before me.  As I turned for a last look as I left
-the palace garden I had seen her stagger and sink upon the
-ground beside the little incubator.  That she had dropped
-into the last coma which would end in death, if the air
-supply remained unreplenished, I well knew, and so, throwing
-caution to the winds, I flung overboard everything but the
-engine and compass, even to my ornaments, and lying on my
-belly along the deck with one hand on the steering wheel
-and the other pushing the speed lever to its last notch I
-split the thin air of dying Mars with the speed of a meteor.
-
-An hour before dark the great walls of the atmosphere
-plant loomed suddenly before me, and with a sickening thud
-I plunged to the ground before the small door which was
-withholding the spark of life from the inhabitants of an
-entire planet.
-
-Beside the door a great crew of men had been laboring
-to pierce the wall, but they had scarcely scratched the flint-
-like surface, and now most of them lay in the last sleep from
-which not even air would awaken them.
-
-Conditions seemed much worse here than at Helium, and
-it was with difficulty that I breathed at all.  There were
-a few men still conscious, and to one of these I spoke.
-
-"If I can open these doors is there a man who can start
-the engines?" I asked.
-
-"I can," he replied, "if you open quickly.  I can last but a
-few moments more.  But it is useless, they are both dead
-and no one else upon Barsoom knew the secret of these awful
-locks.  For three days men crazed with fear have surged
-about this portal in vain attempts to solve its mystery."
-
-I had no time to talk, I was becoming very weak and it
-was with difficulty that I controlled my mind at all.
-
-But, with a final effort, as I sank weakly to my knees I
-hurled the nine thought waves at that awful thing before me.
-The Martian had crawled to my side and with staring eyes
-fixed on the single panel before us we waited in the silence
-of death.
-
-Slowly the mighty door receded before us.  I attempted to
-rise and follow it but I was too weak.
-
-"After it," I cried to my companion, "and if you reach the
-pump room turn loose all the pumps.  It is the only chance
-Barsoom has to exist tomorrow!"
-
-From where I lay I opened the second door, and then the
-third, and as I saw the hope of Barsoom crawling weakly on
-hands and knees through the last doorway I sank unconscious
-upon the ground.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVIII
-
-
-AT THE ARIZONA CAVE
-
-
-It was dark when I opened my eyes again.  Strange, stiff
-garments were upon my body; garments that cracked and
-powdered away from me as I rose to a sitting posture.
-
-I felt myself over from head to foot and from head to
-foot I was clothed, though when I fell unconscious at the
-little doorway I had been naked.  Before me was a small
-patch of moonlit sky which showed through a ragged aperture.
-
-As my hands passed over my body they came in contact
-with pockets and in one of these a small parcel of matches
-wrapped in oiled paper.  One of these matches I struck, and
-its dim flame lighted up what appeared to be a huge cave,
-toward the back of which I discovered a strange, still figure
-huddled over a tiny bench.  As I approached it I saw that it
-was the dead and mummified remains of a little old woman
-with long black hair, and the thing it leaned over was a small
-charcoal burner upon which rested a round copper vessel
-containing a small quantity of greenish powder.
-
-Behind her, depending from the roof upon rawhide thongs,
-and stretching entirely across the cave, was a row of human
-skeletons.  From the thong which held them stretched another
-to the dead hand of the little old woman; as I touched
-the cord the skeletons swung to the motion with a noise as
-of the rustling of dry leaves.
-
-It was a most grotesque and horrid tableau and I hastened
-out into the fresh air; glad to escape from so gruesome a place.
-
-The sight that met my eyes as I stepped out upon a small
-ledge which ran before the entrance of the cave filled me
-with consternation.
-
-A new heaven and a new landscape met my gaze.  The silvered
-mountains in the distance, the almost stationary moon
-hanging in the sky, the cacti-studded valley below me
-were not of Mars.  I could scarcely believe my eyes, but the
-truth slowly forced itself upon me--I was looking upon Arizona
-from the same ledge from which ten years before I had gazed
-with longing upon Mars.
-
-Burying my head in my arms I turned, broken, and sorrowful,
-down the trail from the cave.
-
-Above me shone the red eye of Mars holding her awful
-secret, forty-eight million miles away.
-
-Did the Martian reach the pump room?  Did the vitalizing
-air reach the people of that distant planet in time to save
-them?  Was my Dejah Thoris alive, or did her beautiful body
-lie cold in death beside the tiny golden incubator in the
-sunken garden of the inner courtyard of the palace of Tardos
-Mors, the jeddak of Helium?
-
-For ten years I have waited and prayed for an answer to
-my questions.  For ten years I have waited and prayed to be
-taken back to the world of my lost love.  I would rather lie
-dead beside her there than live on Earth all those millions of
-terrible miles from her.
-
-The old mine, which I found untouched, has made me
-fabulously wealthy; but what care I for wealth!
-
-As I sit here tonight in my little study overlooking the
-Hudson, just twenty years have elapsed since I first opened
-my eyes upon Mars.
-
-I can see her shining in the sky through the little window
-by my desk, and tonight she seems calling to me again as
-she has not called before since that long dead night, and I
-think I can see, across that awful abyss of space, a beautiful
-black-haired woman standing in the garden of a palace,
-and at her side is a little boy who puts his arm around her
-as she points into the sky toward the planet Earth, while at
-their feet is a huge and hideous creature with a heart of gold.
-
-I believe that they are waiting there for me, and something
-tells me that I shall soon know.
-
-
-End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of A PRINCESS OF MARS
-